Business and Charity are MADE for each other

Businesses and charity are Made for each other

Coming to Made gives you a chance to think outside the box, to talk about disruption and innovation – Our Third Sector Café Made Fringe event is just that – a chance to explore how charities can move from being a tick in a corporate social responsibility box to a relationship which brings lasting impact to the charity and to the business bottom line.

Mark Gregory, from Unleash to Engage an acclaimed Lean expert, author and member of the Government Task Force for Employee Engagement. Will lead the conversation, he believes that “Partnering with charities can be a way to increase employee engagement”. He’s been working with major organisations to change their businesses, establishing lasting and real employee engagement. Local Sheffield businesses are doing that, a recent tweet from Ali at SDL Sheffield describes perfectly what impact it can have “Active employee engagement and development; creativity/skills/morale whilst benefiting charity. Two way relationship. #RoR”

It can also help to differentiate you with your customers, your clients and in your market place Landlord Lettings have taken a proactive approach to working with charities in the establishing of their business, by working with charities such as St Wilfred’s, Roundabout and Free Cakes for Kids. “The way we set up our business means people trust us”

Engagement can also lead to unintended benefits, such as winning awards, Peter and Paul, a creative communications agency in Sheffield, worked with Under The Stars a music based social enterprise run by and for people with a learning disability to produce the artwork for the album. As they got more involved with the project they were able to pull in contacts such as leading photographer Jonny Carr, among others. “The whole experience of creating the album and launching it at the Leadmill was absolutely amazing for the members of The Stars Band.” Says Ruth Parrott, business manager for Under The Stars “They got a different kind of job satisfaction, knowing that a group of people who couldn’t normally access their services benefited from their expertise and got something really amazing out of the project. They also had the satisfaction of knowing that they’d helped Under The Stars to do something we couldn’t do for ourselves.” Peter and Paul won a prestigious Roses Award for their album cover. “this wasn’t a planned part of the project, but a brilliant side benefit”.

Come along on Wednesday to our Made Fringe event at 2pm to find out more about how innovative charities are looking to entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo and create more dynamic relationships which seek to bring benefits to their organisations and the businesses they are working with. Join our conversation and see if you can answer our question, Philanthropy what’s in it for me….

Ends

Notes

The Third Sector Café is a Sheffield based networking organisation founded by Sophy Hallam and Laura Lashmar. It meets monthly looking at topics of relevance and interest to anyone working with, in or interested by charities and social enterprises.

The Café is sponsored by:

Harland Works, office spaces, co-working opportunities and events space in central Sheffield.

Spiky Communications a creative marketing agency helping businesses reach their targets.

Cadence Works a social research consultancy, specialising in tenders with a strong experience in the third sector.


About The Third Sector Cafe

The Third Sector Cafe was set up to provide a resource for people working with or in the third sector, so charities and social enterprises. It works to bring together knowledge and experience to add value to a sector that is going through a challenging period.