Small businesses make a big difference!

Naomi Dainty, Marketing Manager

Deafblind UK receives generous support each year through working with businesses across the UK. We find that, for large organisations, there are often well established systems for identifying and supporting charities. However, it is not always be clear to small businesses how they can get involved.

We are all facing a great deal of uncertainty at the moment, but this could also be a good time to consider changes to make in the future.

Charities need support now more than ever. So, if you run, or work for, a small business and want to make a big difference to a charity, the following pointers will help get you started:

Look for a flexible approach

As a small organisation ourselves, we understand that it’s not always possible to commit staff to spend a large proportion of their time volunteering or fundraising for a charity. Therefore, we are always happy to suggest quick and easy activities that suit the businesses who support us. This might include a small bake sale, a sponsored event that can take place outside of work hours or your staff taking part in one of our pre-organised challenge events. Depending on your business, you could consider offering pro-bono work.

Simply sharing a charity’s social media posts or having a collection tin on your reception desk can also really help!

Benefits to your business

Supporting a charity will bring a number of benefits to your business. Showing your support to good causes reflects well on your organisation and can be an important element in your corporate social responsibility policies. Through the PR opportunities created by your fundraising or volunteering activities, there will also be lots of potential to increase your profile to both local and national audiences.

Your staff can also develop and learn new skills by working with a charitable organisation. For example, staff working for businesses who support Deafblind UK learn about how to communicate with people living with sensory loss. Skills they can then demonstrate at work to help you make your products and services as accessible as possible!

Fundraising for charity is also helps team building. Challenge events such as Snowdon at Night, which takes place in September, are fun, encourage team work and create a great sense of achievement!

Benefits to the charities you support

We work hard to support anyone affected by combined sight and hearing loss through a wide range of services including our information and advice line, support groups and digital inclusion work. This helps people who are deafblind live the lives they want. The donations we receive from businesses make a big difference in allowing us to continue this vital work.