So you’ve done your research and figured out that philanthropy can be a huge benefit to your company. You are ready to commit employee hours and expertise, your company product or service, and make a public commitment to community work. You are excited, your team is excited, you are ready to do this!

I am going to pop your balloon right now, because while I, too, am a very enthusiastic about your philanthropy, your enthusiasm, if not well directed, can be catastrophic. The thing about enthusiasm, is it fades with time. And true community work takes time. Years. And so many corporations make this “commitment” and build the strategy and start the work, then a new trend comes up, they are faced with a decision between philanthropy commitment and short-term profit, they get bored, and they abandon ship. And the community and partners they were working with are likely worse off than they were before the company got involved. When partnerships are being built, projects funded and staffed, services and products provided, then all snatched away, not only are those projects unfinished and resources no longer present, trust is eroded among these partners and communities. And this has happened so many times, that the strategy we design together MUST begin with some trust building or your company won’t be able to work within these communities and form partnerships. And while it seems unfair, in order to do the work, you have to show a community you are different than the last one. You have to meet them where they are, just like they will meet you where you are, to work together. And that means starting the process with trust building. Trust building can be long, seem redundant, and can be a damper to enthusiasm, but is it the most important part of the process for the community AND for your company.

Building a community and solving social issues is a very long term project. And that means that in order to succeed, your company has to commit, from the C-Suite all the way down the chain. That means that you are in it for the long-haul, even if there is another trend that comes up, even when your people aren’t as enthused as they were before, even when you have to put short-term profit aside in order to stick to that commitment. Because if you don’t make that commitment, you aren’t helping. You’re hurting. Are you ready to take the plunge?