Several years ago, my career unexpectedly veered from the world of business to the world of charities and non-profits. My learning curve was steep and focused on helping those people in our community who daily experienced barriers I could not even begin to understand much less appreciate.

Every day was an eye-opening experience; I had a passing familiarity with the needs of the community, but nowhere near as much as I should have. The more I learned, the more I discovered how much more there was to understand. Perhaps the most revealing truth was how much each of us could do to make a difference. My skills as a businessperson were easily transferrable to my new role and this revelation only strengthened my belief that not only can each of us make a difference, but that we have a responsibility to do so.

Now, four years on, my encouragement and challenge to you is to read what I have written, use these ideas, add to them, and do something; large or small your efforts will create ripples that will build and multiply with the efforts from other people who also take up the challenge.

Foster the belief that you can make a difference. Perhaps the single most important point in this post is that you can make a difference. Challenge ideas, get involved, volunteer, critically analyze what your politicians tell you, and open your eyes to the marginalization in your community. Awareness is important, but finding and implementing solutions is the key to making a difference.

Begin to appreciate where we live. A common bias many share is that our personal situation is representative of everyone else, and this is not true. The problems we face in Canada pale in comparison to the living conditions in many places on our planet. Our veneer of safety and civilization is a localized phenomenon and is not shared in many parts of our world; for example, think about the current atrocities occurring in Gaza, Ukraine, Haiti, and other places currently being torn apart by war and unrest. Additionally, the lack of basic freedoms for women occurs daily in many parts of the world. The extremes of poverty, even here, are not fully appreciated by many and should be. We are among the most fortunate people in this world and we have a responsibility to help those more vulnerable than us.

Diversity, equity, inclusiveness, and belonging must become ingrained in our everyday decisions. Each of these “ways of working” is vital to breaking down stigma, and bias, and most importantly to allowing every person to feel welcome to fully participate in our communities. Our communities should strive to remove barriers and foster a sense of “team” as we struggle in a world of increasing rhetoric, division, and fearmongering.

Hire and support people experiencing barriers in your community. Most communities have untapped valuable resources available to help in their employment markets. People experiencing barriers have great skills and the ability to make contributions, only needing an opportunity and appropriate support to show what they can do.

Vote and encourage your co-workers, friends, and family to vote. In many community elections, the percentage of eligible voters who participate has been declining well past 50% for several years. As a result, certain segments of voters can dictate how the entire population is represented without actually having a majority. If everyone learned more about the issues and solutions, and not only voted themselves but took one extra person to the polling stations, our democracy would be stronger and our representation much more in line with our full population.

Learn about the issues affecting your community and social equity. Today in the small community in which I live, we have substantial issues with people experiencing homelessness, hunger (food insecurity), slavery (human trafficking), drug and addiction issues caused by trauma, poverty, and multi-generational poverty, people without access to proper medical care, discrimination and bias, and the lack of equal opportunity. The more we collectively learn, the more we understand, and the easier it is to rally support and assistance from everyone.

Promote sustainable conservation programs. Socially responsible organizations and individuals have a large role in helping reduce the effects of climate change and conserve our limited resources, for example,

• Turning off computer screens when organizations are closed.
• Only leaving the minimal amount of lighting on while organizations are closed.
• Having bathroom/lunchroom/warehouse/office lights on motion sensors so they shut off when no one is in the room.
• Actively reducing the amount of waste generated by individuals and organizations.
• Ensuring that any recyclables are properly sorted and taken to the recycling center.
• Everyone and every organization to use a vehicle monitoring system to measure vehicle fuel mileage so that when it drops below a certain efficiency, it automatically triggers a warning for servicing.
• Run a wine/beer bottle/can drive for staff and customers to bring in their “empties” and donate the proceeds to a different local charity each time a level like $500 is achieved.
• Encourage customers, clients, and staff to donate food and/or money to local food banks, community kitchens, and community gardens, once per quarter and promote it on social media. It is a great way to help the community and create a “buzz” about your organization.
• Host a community garden – If you can, even consider existing flower beds being converted to vegetables and fruit. Community gardens are staffed by volunteers and they can generate much-needed fresh produce for the community and raise money to sustain the program. If you have extra property, even small amounts, consider this option. Offering space for controlled composting is another way to participate in community gardening programs.

Help change attitudes about the prevalence of poverty. There is a prevailing opinion among some people that low-income people deserve their place in life and somehow, they may abuse the charity that is providing for them unless they are carefully watched. Being poor isn’t a crime, it is a symptom though of social inequality and is something all of us should concerned about.

Hire full-time people as much as possible. Leaders, managers, and supervisors can start encouraging their organizations to recognize living in our community is very expensive. For many years, the trend has been to replace full-time jobs with part-time or contracted-out positions, and as a result, many people struggle to provide for themselves and their families. For example, due to the high cost and lack of affordable housing instead of people paying 30-40% of their income on housing as is suggested, for many people the percentage is 70-80%, leaving little money for food, clothing, and “life”. Someone working part-time has virtually no opportunity for decent housing, and in many cases sometimes they work two or three jobs just to barely meet their housing needs much less anything else.

Organizations can also benefit from hiring more full-time people as they attract applicants drawn to the security and work/life balance advantages of full-time employment. Employee retention will improve and your people will be less stressed as they will not have to juggle multiple part-time positions, and by offering full-time positions, you may enjoy increased loyalty, better continuity, and actually save money by not having to recruit, train, recruit train, etc.

Providing benefits helps retain people and strengthen loyalty. Many businesses have attempted to reduce costs by cutting benefits or not offering them to staff. While benefits are expensive, even benefits that are financed 50/50 by you and your people will help build retention and ease the financial strain felt by many workers.

Question and critically examine the motivations of the organization. As a businessperson I previously supported several lobby groups that were in favor of annual 0% tax increases, fought the drive to raise minimum wages or guarantee basic incomes; and, unfortunately, I never considered the social costs to society, but only looked at how it affected me. I have learned good business practices can function in a society where social responsibility is a priority and vice versa, they are not mutually exclusive.

A government that is proud of annual 0% tax increases is actually cutting programs each year when they don’t allow for inflation. If you think the minimum wage is too high, I suggest that you try living on it; our poverty spiral is almost impossible to break when people have to decide whether to pay the rent or buy food for their children.

Host an annual charity event. If each business in Canada did this one day per year, just imagine the impact that this would have on breaking the poverty cycle in Canada or helping to eliminate issues in our communities.

Encourage donation of time, products, and services, to build support for local charities. For example, Furniture companies – donate returned customer merchandise to groups like Habitat for Humanity; Banks and financial institutions – donate associates to help teach financial literacy; Accountants – do free seminars for seniors on tax preparation; and Garages – set one day aside to do free vehicle inspections. Also, organizations could donate space and facilities during “off-hours” for meeting areas and allow employees to participate in activities by leaving work early or by adjusting schedules.

Many charities need financial support. Even small monthly donations can make a huge difference, as the few paid members of some charitable organizations live as precariously as many of their clients. Volunteers carry a heavy load making disproportionate contributions to their numbers and more people are constantly desired. Beware of the myth that administrative costs for a charity are a “bad thing,” as program spending requires qualified people to run them.

Become aware of the available services. While our social “safety net” is not as comprehensive as it should be, far too many people are not aware of the services available to assist them and the people they know. Resources such as 211 are available, but the general lack of awareness hinders vulnerable people. Individually, we can educate our people, family, friends, and others to make use of this free service that is available 24/7 either online or by phone.

Additionally, we should encourage everyone to file their taxes, even if their income is very low, as many government programs are triggered by filing a tax return.

After almost three years working in this sector, I returned to the “for-profit” world when an opportunity arose, although I could do the work, I found the experience to be lacking and unfulfilling.

It made me realize again just how much work needs to be done to help our communities. I believe more than ever that operating a profitable organization and building strong communities are not mutually exclusive. I am redoubling my efforts to send a message to all sectors of our economy and to every single person who reads this. We can, and we must try to make a difference in whatever capacity we can, from simply turning off our lights in our office to hiring more full-time people, everything we do can make a difference.

Good luck,

Paul

Making a difference in your world.