How small businesses can give back during the holidays

The support of a local community is how small businesses thrive, so it’s important that small businesses also give back to these communities that fuel them. While showing appreciation and support for your community isn’t confined by one specific time of year, the holiday season is a great time to give a little extra love. Here are five great ways you can give back during the holidays.

1. Host a Donation Drive or Become a Donation Site

There are so many ways to donate during the holidays, whether that be food, clothing, toys, or cash donations. To contribute, your small business can host a donation event on-site where community members, employees, and customers can bring donations for you to then deliver to a local nonprofit or shelter.

There are also a plethora of holiday donation drives that are set up by nonprofit organizations such as Toys for Tots, your local food bank, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Holiday Wish Drive, and so much more. Through these programs your small business can sign up to host a drive, make direct donations to the site, or become a designated drop-off site for donation boxes. We encourage you to involve your employees and customers in these donation events and turn it into a fun and rewarding experience for everyone.

2. Sponsor a Local Charity or Family in Need

Many local charities and organizations sponsor families in need to help collect wish list items from the family, purchase those items, and deliver them. These families have a wide range of needs from clothing to groceries to toys for their children. Local charities and nonprofits often organize “Adopt-a-Family” events where your small business can select a family to support, and your employees and/or customers can purchase the requested items on their wish list to then donate directly or through the organization.

3. Match Cash Donations

If you are encouraging your employees or customers to make donations to a designated charity this holiday season, your small business can make a pledge to match those donations. This not only doubles the impact of your employees’ and customers’ efforts, but it encourages more participation and shows that your company cares!

4. Organize a Team Volunteering Event

There are dozens of local shelters, soup kitchens, food banks, or community centers that need extra help, especially during the holiday season. Put together a day for your team to volunteer at one of these locations—it is not only a great way to give back to the community, but it is also a chance to bond and connect over the joy of helping others.

If you can’t organize a company-wide day for volunteering, you can also consider offering employees a paid day off to volunteer and provide for causes that they care about.

5. Donate a Portion of Your Sales

During the holiday season, you can create a special offer letting customers know that a certain percentage of either all sales or sales of a particular product will be donated to a designated charity. You can even promote a limited time holiday-themed product or service to stay in the spirit of the holidays.

Happy Holidays from Republic Bank!

At Republic Bank, we recognize the massive importance of connecting with and supporting your local communities and sharing in the joy of giving back where you can. We have been deeply rooted in the community since we opened our first branch on Chicago’s southwest side in 1964. And we’ve never lost that focus. We work hard in our communities every day to serve businesses and individuals and are proud to support a number of worthy causes so that our neighborhoods—and Chicago’s spirit of ingenuity—continue to thrive.

Happy Holidays from our local small business to yours!

For more information, give us a call at 800-526-9127 or browse our other posts for more helpful information!