How Your Company Can Help Hurricane Sandy Victims

 One of the best ways to simultaneously improve your business’ reputation and save it a little bit of money come tax time is to donate and help out charitable organizations. While there is a plethora of philanthropic organizations to choose from, right now it’s good to focus particularly on those that are working hard to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy. When you look at Charles Phillips White House profile, it doesn’t mention all of the work he has done to help others through his foundation, Phillips Charitable Organizations. The foundation serves as a portal to help Veterans, engineering students and single parents. Currently the foundation is focused on awarding grants to those who lived in the areas that were hit the hardest during the hurricane. Apple made a splash in the news recently when it donated 2.5 million dollars to Hurricane Sandy relief. The company donated the large sum to the Red Cross and did it not just via their own monetary reserves but through the customers on iTunes. The company set up a link that iTunes users could use to contribute to the fund too. This doesn’t just help the company donate more money, it helpes make their customers feel like they were a part of the action as well, which provided them with incentive to donate as much as they could (and to think more highly of Apple and its subsidiaries).

Obviously donating money to the Red Cross is a good idea for any business. The donation can be written off on the company taxes and, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the organization is more in need of funding than ever. If you feel the need to do more, however, you should contact them and ask them to help you set up a blood drive. The Red Cross lost a sizable portion of its donated blood reserves in the hurricane and is in desperate need of new donations. Setting up and running the blood drive (and, of course, donating your own blood if you are able) helps the Red Cross and shows your community just how dedicated you are to helping people who need it. If you live nearby (or have staff that live nearby) you can also volunteer in person. You might even coordinate efforts with people in your local community to head over as a group. Your business can sponsor lodging and travel in exchange for people donating their time and energy to physically helping with the cleanup and aftermath of the storm. There are a lot of ways that your business can contribute to the cleanup of Hurricane Sandy and to help the people who are victims of the storm. Remember: helping isn’t just good for business purposes (charitable donations and activities are tax deductible), it’s good for building up your business’s reputation as well (and, of course, it feels really good to help people who need it).

 {*Thanks for the guest post Sam Peters*)