At Bridges To Hope, we empower the local community by providing the formerly incarcerated population of Nebraska with clothing and housing resources. This not only helps men and women stay out of jail or prison, it also helps provide the housing stability needed to find and stay employed, reinvigorating the community’s economy. How can you help, especially as a smaller business? The relationship between companies and nonprofit organizations is often mutually beneficial. Here are some ways your business can help give back.
Host a Volunteer Day
Volunteering is at the heart of any strong community: it promotes trust, encourages good citizenship, and provides a safe environment to learn about civic involvement. We would not be where we are today without the selflessness of our volunteers. Hosting a volunteer day not only helps us, it helps you understand the heart of what we do and have a direct impact. A volunteer day with us could lead to many opportunities to work with us, leading to stronger partnerships in the future.
Match employee donations
If your employees enjoy donating to certain charities, why not incentivize them to donate to Bridges To Hope by matching their donations? Matching donations to nonprofits is something many larger businesses have been doing for a while, but small businesses are more than capable of matching these donations as well. Just make sure you match it to a dollar amount your business is capable of generating. When you match employees’ donations to Bridges To Hope, you help double your business’ impact! As an added bonus, you can use your matching program to demonstrate your corporate social responsibility to the community.
Create a Resource Page on your website
Many nonprofits (including Bridges To Hope) have places on their websites which list monetary and/or in-kind donation options. This page exists to inspire users still considering supporting the organization. Your business can create a resource page to give your employees a list of ways to give, including:
Online donation forms
Fundraising events
Volunteering opportunities
Crowdfunding pages
Text-to-give software
Corporate giving programs
Etc.
Offer skills-based services
If your employees have skills or talents that they can lend to us, please encourage them to do so. Legal, accounting, marketing, or other skills can go far with us! Nonprofits are often unable to pay for this kind of assistance, and we would be extremely grateful to any professional willing to give some of their time and effort to helping us become a more-well rounded force within the Lincoln community and beyond.
Attend an event
Events are an amazing way for your employees to have shared experiences outside of work. It is also an inexpensive way to show your public support for our mission. Attending an event helps your employees develop a close relationship with us that they may not have otherwise. Contact us to learn more about specific events.
A relationship between a local nonprofit and local business is known to be beneficial for both parties. There are many ways to achieve your own mission while helping us realize ours. If you have an idea that could form a relationship between Bridges To Hope and your organization, we would love to hear from you! Regardless of your ideas, please contact us so that we can discuss logistics and work out the expectations to and from each party. You can call us at (402) 420-5696 or email info@bridgestohope.org.