The Unexpected Perks of A Social Business
By: Brian Roland
Tags: Company Culture, Social Enterprise, Giving, Purpose Driven Business, Leadership

#1. Competitive-Edge

Whether you like it or not, customers are no longer evaluating products and services on their merits alone. Customers want to know your story and why you exist. They want to see the impact you’re making, and they want your values to align with their values.

And while it’s certainly true that people tend to do business with people they like, I think it’s time to add, “and companies they trust.”

“People tend to do business with people they like and companies they trust.”

People may like you if you make a good first impression, but trust is what encourages them to become loyal customers. Trust isn’t free — it is earned through relationship and reputation; it requires authenticity, consistency, and transparency.

81% of consumers say it’s a deal breaker if they can’t trust a brand to do what’s right. — 2019 Edelman Report

86% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support — Stackla, Consumer Content Report

66% of consumers think transparency is one of a brand’s most attractive qualities — Accenture’s The Rise of the Purpose-Led Brand

77% of consumers prefer to buy from companies who share their values. — 2019 Havas Group Report

One of the unexpected perks of a well-established Social Mission is the instant trust it creates for your brand. Outsiders can quickly see the passion of your employees and the impact you’re making. Ironically, prior to 2014, we were reluctant to share our charitable ambitions out of fear that people would perceive our announcement as bragging or having ulterior motives. We were secretly running a social enterprise. Today, we discovered the opposite is true. Customers are motivated to do business with people they like and brands they trust, and our Social Mission helps us accomplish both.

“One of the unexpected perks of a well-established Social Mission is the instant trust it creates for your brand.”

To see all that we’ve accomplished through our caused-based business, download a free copy of Abenity’s Impact Report.

#2. Meaningful Teamwork

I left my first real job and a six figure income to pursue more meaningful work. This pursuit inspired the Social Mission of my company, Abenity, and today it provides our employees with the opportunity to work for a cause that’s bigger than our product, bigger than our industry, and bigger than ourselves.

In 2017, BetterUp surveyed 2,200+ American workers and found that employees who find work meaningful:

Work an extra hour per week

Take two fewer days of paid leave per year

Are happier, more productive, and harder working

Generate an average of $9,078 in productivity gains for their company

Work 7.4 months longer for their respective company than employees in comparable positions elsewhere

“Our Social Mission provides our employees with the opportunity to work for a cause that’s bigger than our product, bigger than our industry, and bigger than ourselves.”

For more on this, check out BetterUp’s Meaning and Purpose At Work report.

#3. Cultural Alignment

Purpose-driven people are attracted to purpose-driven places. So, when like-minded individuals align their professional ambition with meaningful work, you get a highly engaged workforce with a shared purpose. According to Gallup, that’s a great thing for your cause because highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability.

“Engaged employees are more present and productive; they are more attuned to the needs of customers; and they are more observant of processes, standards and systems.” — Gallup

#4. Shared Purpose

As more purpose-driven people joined our team, our company’s culture began to take shape around our cause. The combination of cultural alignment with a shared purpose produced a cause-centered culture with committed team members. We’ve found that when times get tough (during a pandemic, for example), we have the fortitude and desire to stay the course and fight for the success of a common mission that’s bigger than ourselves.

“We’ve found that when times get tough (during a pandemic, for example), we have the fortitude and desire to stay the course and fight for the success of a common mission that’s bigger than ourselves.”

For more on this topic, check out Purpose is Good. Shared Purpose is Better by Mark Bonchek.

#5. Purpose-Driven Metrics

Let’s be honest — successfully executing a strategy is much harder than coming up with a strategy to execute. In my experience, it’s almost impossible to achieve your goals without the right KPI’s (key performance indicators).

So when it comes to our Social Mission, we measure the following achievements to make sure we reach our impact goals.

Abenity’s V.P. of Sales converts her sales targets into “sponsorship” goals.

Recurring Revenue: As a SAAS platform, client subscriptions play a major role in the number of children we are able to sponsor. So, instead of basing our revenue goals on the number of clients we’d like to acquire, we focus our efforts around the number of children we’d like to sponsor. Our V.P. of Sales even converts her key metrics into “sponsorship” goals within her personal office.

Cash Positive Day: We celebrate cash positive day (when revenue received exceeds expenses out) with an internal trivia question where the winner gets to select a cause from World Vision for us to support that month.

Year-End Gifts: Instead of sending out gift cards, or swag, we celebrate year-end by letting each of our employees, their families, our clients and suppliers select a hand-crafted gift of their choice or a donation in their name to a special cause. Every gift supports the artisan selected as well as children and families within the communities World Vision serves.

These gifts provide our stakeholders with a personal and annual reminder of our Social Mission. It’s not unusual to see our gift recipients “pay it forward” by creating a cause-based campaign of their own.

#6. Community

Peter Drucker famously said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” —but how does a fast-growing company maintain a consistent set of positive values and a healthy culture with an increasingly diverse workforce?

Matt Cronin opens his Enterpreneur.com article, Community Is the Best Company Culture, with a statement I completely support, “Entrepreneurs love to talk about how great their company cultures are, but the best businesses don’t push culture — they build communities.”

“Entrepreneurs love to talk about how great their company cultures are, but the best businesses don’t push culture — they build communities.”

So, how do you achieve this level of community at work, especially if your team is remote like ours? For us, the recipe for a flourishing professional community started with meaningful work and purpose-driven people, which, with consistency and transparency, developed cultural alignment and shared purpose.

Looking back, I’m amazed by the many unexpected ways our community has expanded the scope and impact of our cause.

Here are just a few examples of the initiatives our team independently created over the years under the banner of our Social Mission:

Letter sent by my 6 year old daughter welcoming a new child we sponsored.

Family Involvement: One of my favorite initiatives that our team independently developed around our Social Mission is a pen pal program with the 231+ kids we sponsor at World Vision. Many of our team members have both their spouses and children writing letters back and forth with the kids we sponsor.

Special Projects: We come together annually to pack Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and we provide each employee with a couple dozen $5.00 McDonalds Gift Cards to keep in their car so they’re able to quickly provide a meal to people they encounter in need.

Prayer: Company-wide prayer requests are one of the most unexpected perks of the community we built. In fact, it’s not uncommon for us to receive prayer requests during a sales presentation or routine support call. We take these requests seriously and it’s an honor to pray for the needs of our community.

Comp Programs: Our team loves to support great causes, and one of their new ideas in 2020 is to annually give-away four perks programs ($6,000+ value) to deserving non-profits. This program brings our entire community together to nominate and select high performance non-profits who can use our gift to further the impact of their individual cause.

External Partnerships: When we selected World Vision, we expected them to fulfill our giving goals, but we didn’t anticipate the impact they’d make in our lives. Over the years, my family and I have had the opportunity to serve with them as volunteers at concerts, attend their conferences, speak at their corporate office, meet other like-minded donors, and develop authentic relationships with their local and senior-level leadership.