Wikipedia defines social entrepreneurship as an approach by start-up companies and entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. That definition has evolved and now there are many entrepreneurs who are contributing to these solutions even if they aren’t their core business.
Having spent the majority of my working life in a corporate environment I did what most people did and that was to go to work every day then spend my time with family and friends on weekends. Rinse and repeat. You were too tired to do good.
I was one of the lucky ones to work for a company like UPS, their Supply Chain Division and no I never got to wear the brown uniform. They had some great programs to get employees involved with their big charity partner (United Way) and they had a program that so many people I worked with never took advantage of in dollar matching for a charity of my choice up to $500 (giving the charity $1000). We did this with our local Education Foundation for many years.
Now as an entrepreneur, from day 1 really, I’ve LOVED giving back to my community and am an active volunteer over a decade later. I’ve never done it out of wanting to set an example or anything I just truly fell in love with the feeling it gave me to know I was doing something that made someone else’s life a little bit easier or better in some way. I also made a promise to myself that while my husband and I make monetary donations it was important to be involved and do the work needed.
I’m proud to be part of organizations like SBBWA.com that provides scholarships to the women in my community and WalkWithSally.org that provide mentoring and support for children who are affected by a family member going through Cancer. These are the two organizations that speak to my heart and that I choose to give my time, energy and money to.
I’m excited that our team is now creating a program within Buying Time that allows our employees to choose what speaks to their hearts and allows them the space to give back to their communities.
I know that around the holidays more people give/volunteer out of the feeling of joy and that’s greatly needed. Finding opportunities within your business to give back, maybe a percentage of a particular offering or during a specific time period can also be beneficial in creating a positive flow of your “Happy Money” (book by Ken Honda). If you have a team as we do, there are also opportunities for everyone to come together and volunteer as a group.
We hope you choose to do something……
CEO Bibi Goldstein
