Banish the bin: removing barriers to in-kind giving
In-kind giving provides companies with the opportunity to improve their corporate citizenship profile without complicating current corporate responsibility programmes or existing partnerships. There is little extra work involved if giving programmes are well organised and such projects can add a necessary practical element to companies CR activities – corporate citizenship is not simply about raising money for good causes or turning off all the photocopiers at the end of the day – vital those these actions are.
Many companies already donate in-kind gifts to charities that contact them, usually as reactive one-off donations. This means the donor company has to make a decision about each request and has no way of checking the impact of the donation. Also it means that companies do not get the major benefits that a full in-kind giving programme would give them such as increased employee morale and obtaining feedback on how the goods have been used for both internal and external reporting.
Last year a survey commissioned by In Kind Direct, estimated that the consumer goods sector produces £1.37 billion worth of surplus and off-spec products. Of this £800 million (at cost) is sent to landfill and external recycling. A good proportion of those items sent to landfill could be used. So what prevents companies from making in-kind donations?
‘Many companies just don’t make the connection between the need charities have for goods and the surplus they have in their warehouses,’ says Robin Boles, CEO of In Kind Direct. ‘When I was asked to set up In Kind 12 years ago by HRH The Prince of Wales, it was the landfill issue that he was trying to solve. Since then, In Kind has worked with 750 companies and over 5,000 UK charities but there is more we can do to help companies use their surplus products to benefit deprived communities at home and abroad.
‘Companies may be wary of giving product that might be off-spec to charities as they are rightly concerned about protecting their brands. However having the right checks and procedures in place, like those at In Kind, removes those concerns.’
Another barrier is the administrative cost of dealing with multiple requests for support that would come from a publicised in-kind giving programme. There are organisations that can help companies donate their surplus stock to a multitude of charities covering every kind of cause. Boles explains: ‘In Kind Direct specialises in this activity acting as the go-between for companies and charities. For companies, it is more efficient to work with a single point of contact with all the appropriate controls in place. The donations hugely benefit small charities which don’t have the resources, or perhaps the gravitas or time to research and approach a variety of potential donors. Some companies like to give locally themselves and use our service for the rest of the country; others redirect all requests for in-kind donations to us, saving them staff time.
‘Charities register with us and contractually agree that the goods will not be sold, bartered or traded, giving donating companies reassurance that their brands will be protected. The charities select what they need from an online catalogue and we deliver their requests directly to their doors. It is free for them to join our network and begin benefitting. They pay a handling charge for our service to contribute towards the costs of transportation, warehousing, repackaging and overheads. Charities save a tremendous amount stretching their tiny resources with the goods going to where they are needed most.’
Benefiting society and the environment are key objectives for companies aiming to be good corporate citizens and in-kind giving is a straight forward way of expanding corporate responsibility programmes.
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