How Non Profit Organizations Support Social Change

In a world where several organisations are striving to make a great impact, incorporating social change into an organization’s goals can help improve credibility. From small ideas within communities to large nonprofit organization projects, the opportunity to make a difference is enormous.

Now more than ever, career-driven employees choose to work only for organizations (for-profit and non-profit organizations) that conduct themselves honestly and ethically. This trend is now forcing organizations to rethink the image they are portraying to their prospective employees.

Before going any further on this topic, we will define the term social change. What is it? And what does it stand for?

Social change modifies the social order of society. By and large, this includes changes in social institutions, behaviours or relationships. With this definition in mind, How can organizations support social change?

Below are some tips on how organizations support social change

1)  Clearly define values: To begin with, defined values are a key factor that impacts social change. Organizations should ask critical questions such as:

• What do we stand for?
• What difference are we trying to make in the world?

Also, to redefine values, organizations can leverage collective thinking. This can be putting together workshops where employees are encouraged to suggest values that they believe can reflect social changes.

2) Foster Healthy dialogue around social issues: Secondly, having a conversation around social change is not always the most comfortable thing to do, but it can be a great strategy for transformation. In a bid to foster social change dialogue, having a social change champion is a good tactic to employ. Find out the employees who are passionate about promoting social issues. Consider appointing them as activists to lead the conversation around important social topics. Being present in the discussion is how organizations support social change.

3) Create Volunteering programs: Furthermore, a good way to show your support for meaningful and impactful social change is to partner with organizations that are already making social strides in the community. Encourage your employees and partners to take part in volunteering by organizing events within your organization that introduce them to these social causes. Most people love the idea of giving back and by doing this you create a win-win situation in your organization. This is a great way to establish an environment where people feel that they are doing more than just building a career.

4) Encourage customers to participate in social changes: This might work best for an organization with a large customer base but it is worth pursuing regardless of the size. Creating an engaging event around a social cause is a good way to kick-start an organization’s social change project. For example, Innocent Drinks, a UK-based smoothie manufacturer started putting little knitted hats on their smoothies back in 2003. The organisation also gives 25p to Age UK (A UK Nonprofit that promotes causes for the elderly) for every behatted bottle sold (These knitted hats were made by their customers).

Lastly, you can directly sponsor your employees to take part in social causes.

We hope that by reading this article you now have more ideas on how organizations support social change.  Also, with these tips, you can turn your goals into actionable projects. As part of our social change vision, PACTMAN offers a fundraising platform that leverage technological change to help people give back to causes they are passionate about.

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