The facts are clear: companies that offer opportunities for their employees to get involved in helping better their community distinguish themselves from their competitors, and see many benefits, including loyal customers and happier employees.

Learn all about BombBomb’s service impact efforts, the benefits of corporate community service efforts, and how you can implement a similar program into your business in the article below!

Read Time: 3 minutes, 27 seconds
Video Length: 3 minutes, 13 seconds
Takeaway: The Importance of Corporate Community Service!

Community Service at BombBomb:

BombBomb employees volunteering at the Springs Rescue Mission in April of 2017.

In April 2016, BombBomb launched a new program to give employees the ability to volunteer two hours of on-the-job time each quarter. Our company founders chose two local non-profit organizations to partner with for this program. Learn more about them below!

The BombBomb Core Values:

Relationships
Fun
Humility
Flexibility
Service

The first local non-profit that BombBomb has partnered with is Mary’s Home. Mary’s home is a community helping single mom families make the transition from homelessness to a healthy, stable living environment where they can experience holistic transformation and interdependence. The families will participate in a life-building program through phases offering health and hope as they work to rebuild their dreams and reach their goals. BombBomb assists Mary’s Home by working alongside the families within the community through picking up trash, pruning trees, and maintaining their home and neighborhood.

Additional BombBomb employees alongside Mary’s Home volunteers in March of 2017.

The second local non-profit that BombBomb partners with is the Springs Rescue Mission. Springs Rescue Mission has been helping neighbors in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region since 1996. They are making a real difference in the lives of poor and struggling families by providing critically needed food, clothing, household supplies and services to our neighbors.

Last week, 20+ BombBomb employees participated in a “kitchen takeover” at the Springs Rescue Mission. Each day, five team members donated two hours to assist with distributing food and drinks to both homeless individuals as well as low-income families. The Director of Community Relations at the Springs Rescue Mission, Stu Davis, stopped by our office last Friday, and discussed all the amazing things that their organization is up to. Check out his videos below!

The Benefits of Encouraging Community Service in Your Workplace:

Fortune published a list in 2016 with the “50 Best Places to Work for Giving Back.” To compile this list, they examined thousands of employee surveys. The results indicated that by letting employees guide charitable efforts, the winning companies create high levels of commitment and pride among their teams.

“When employees are actively involved in giving back it can lead to a deeper commitment and connection to the work,” says Elizabeth Stocker, a consultant at Great Place to Work.

Additional benefits that companies that volunteer see is an increase in consumer loyalty and brand buy-in, as well as improved leadership and team-building skills. A UnitedHealth Group study from 2012 found that 87 percent of people who volunteered that year said that volunteering had developed teamwork and people skills, and 81 percent agreed that volunteering together strengthens relationships among colleagues. [Read more here]

BombBomb People Director, Lindsey Kirchhoff, explains her take on corporate service impact: “The value of doing service in our community gives us perspective on life, and a tangible opportunity to place our core values into action.”

Kirchhoff also adds, “It’s easy for a business to only focus on revenue, but by focusing on community impact our employees know that they are a part of a bigger cause.”

Three Tips When Implementing a Service Impact Team into your Corporation:

When creating a company volunteer plan, it’s important to focus on your company’s core values, and employee strengths, and select a program that draws upon those specific strengths. For example, if you’re an outdoors company, you may want to focus on a non-profit’s that focuses on maintaining national parks, or promoting younger generations to remain active.

It’s also important to determine how much company time your business is able to devote to community outreach each year, taking demand into account.

Finally, let your customers know all of the good work you’re putting back into your community by showcasing photos and results in your business and digitally on your website. According to a Cone Cause Evolution Survey, the number of consumers who say they would switch from one brand to another if the other brand were associated with a good cause has climbed to 87 percent, which is a dramatic increase in recent years! [Via Entrepreneur]

If you’d like to read more on corporate community impact check out the articles below. If your company already has a corporate community service team, tell us about it in the comments section. We’d love to hear what other like-minded companies are doing to help better the world around them.