Philanthropy only works if it's real. At J&Y Law, we don't do community work to get attention. We do it because we live here and we care. After the wildfires, we went on KTLA to warn people about fake FEMA scams and offered free legal support. We awarded our Distracted Driving Scholarship to a soon-to-be USC student who survived a head-on crash. We've helped local shelters get dogs adopted through Fix'n'Fidos. These things don't bring in cases for us, but that's not why we do them. We do them because people need help and we're in a position to give it. We hope that if we ever went through something difficult as a firm, people would remember that we showed up for them. That's what it's really about. Doing good without expecting anything back. And if something comes back, great. If not, we still did something good. That's never a loss. Again, my name is Jason Javaheri, and I'm the Co-founder & CEO of J&Y Law. Let me know if you have any follow-up questions. Thank you!

It is a form of goodwill. Corporate philanthropy is misunderstood. It is not the magic fix people assume it to be. If you do it with the expectation to fix your image during a crisis, you have already lost. Credibility comes from earned consistency. It is not always about the big gestures. We support local tech hubs and back niche open-source tools used by system admins. It is our go-to because these are people we rely on and supporting them keeps our ecosystem strong. We do it for self-preservation and as goodwill and it pays back. In June last year, a misconfiguration knocked out services for two fintech clients. It was the worst possible timing since it was during a weekend deployment. Luckily, since we had earlier spent time mentoring the developers for one of the fintech clients, the backlash didn't come. They called us, informed us about the inconvenience and asked us how much time we needed to fix it. The assumption that philanthropy will save you is misguided. What saved us was that we were part of their community long before the mistake happened. The branding value of philanthropy is in the muscle memory people develop when they decide whether you are worth trusting. You build it over years of low-key and unglamorous support with zero ROI on paper.

At Here I Am, we don't delegate the responsibility of corporate philanthropy to a small team under the finance department. It is the foundation of our brand's identity. We believe our entire business should benefit society, not just a small portion of our profits. We pursued our B Corp certification to demonstrate our commitment to our philanthropic values. As a certified B Corp, we stand out in a crowded self-care market because every decision we make is rooted in purpose: promoting women's well-being and supporting women-owned small businesses. Corporate philanthropy is not an afterthought for us; it is a key strategic element of our business. It builds trust, deepens loyalty, and provides us with the resilience to face challenges with clarity and care. After our first year as a startup, it was the B Corp community that supported us. Our fellow mission-driven brands helped amplify our story, opened doors, and facilitated our growth. In turn, we have poured all our energy and focus into helping other small businesses build their own sustainable brands. For us, philanthropy is not just about donating to a few worthy causes; it's about belonging to a values-aligned ecosystem where we work together to lead with integrity and make an impact. As the co-founder and CEO of Here I Am (hereiambox.com), I have built our brand on the idea of helping women and giving back.

I am the founder and CEO of 3DModels, a service that sells a package of 3D images in the B2B/B2C segments. I have 20+ years of experience in business development and marketing. Our company has grown from a small studio employing 2 designers to the largest 3D models provider in the world, with more than 50 people. Over the 20 years of my career, I've seen changes in the market, tools, people's marketing behavior, etc.. But there are things that never change - reputation and trust. That is why we regularly participate in supporting programs aimed at developing technologies. For example, we have recently sponsored a program of experience exchange and cooperation between scientific institutions in a number of countries with a focus on the implementation of AI in various systems. My team and I strongly believe in the continuous development of new technologies and tools, and we want to be a part of this development. When people see that you are investing not for profit, but for joint development, they start to take you more seriously and with more trust. And that's exactly what we need - strong and reliable relationships that will strengthen your business and make it more resilient to crises.

We're developing a groundbreaking medical device that empowers people with tetraplegia through hands-free computer control. For us, philanthropy is not an add-on - it's foundational. We're crowdfunding our development not just to raise money, but to unite a community where users, supporters, and investors are often the same people. Today you give. Tomorrow you might need help. This mutual understanding builds not just brand loyalty, but a deeply human, equal community - something no traditional marketing can replicate. Credentials: Taras Kosik, CEO and founder of Tip Assistive Technologies LLC, a Red Dot award-winning startup redefining accessibility through universal oral controllers for people with severe spinal injuries.

One way in which we've done this (corporate philanthropy) is through our engagement with a youth mentoring nonprofit in Los Angeles. We donate free rides for underprivileged teens to get to job training programs, furthering our brand as a community-centered, accessible company. We saw a crisis in 2023, when customer issues of mind and service outages caused a negative social media ripple. We launched a campaign called "Ride for Push" to deal with this condition. For every booking during the crisis, one ride was donated to a nonprofit. This generous act of goodwill got us exactly the right kind of coverage and, with a big fat dollop of transparent apology, went a long way in re-setting the narrative with a 24% increase in positive sentiment towards our brand and a 15% spike in bookings in just 1 month.

At 2ULaundry and LaundroLab, we built relationships with local shelters and nonprofits through initiatives like Free Laundry Day and Load for Load. We offered clean laundry to families in need, supported local school drives, and partnered with organizations like HELP of Southern Nevada to serve real community needs. These efforts were a consistent part of how we operated in each market. Our team remained active in those efforts and made a point to show up with reliability. Customers developed their perception of the brand through that consistent presence. At Franzy, we continue this same approach. We support underrepresented franchise owners, spotlight their stories, and back mentorship organizations that align with our mission. Philanthropy guides how we grow, strengthens our reputation, and reinforces the brand across every community we serve.

I am the CMO of the pop-up service Claspo. I have expertise in Growth Marketing and Strategic Marketing Management. I also have a deep understanding of communications and brand positioning, which makes me competent to answer this question. Corporate philanthropy yields results only if it is systematic and part of a brand strategy. In this case, it resonates with the audience. Some of the noticeable results of corporate philanthropy are increased awareness of the company or foundation, increased trust, and engagement of leads. Our company regularly participates in social programs, educational support programs, and technology projects. We share the facts and results of our participation in such events on our social networks and website. Of course, social initiatives benefit the company, in particular, the growth of its image and increased conversions, which support the company during the crisis. This is because posts and videos of such initiatives work as company advertising; they are distributed on the Internet, expanding your reach, showing you as a reliable supplier of goods or services.

Philanthropy has the ability to give your brand a human voice. When your brand is consistent in its motives and not just reactive to crisis, the company and brand's positive outcome is grounded in real people and real stories. Making philanthropy as part of your culture, with it showing up in your team talks, acts and contributions on a regular basis shows that you really care and instantly gives you credit with your audience and community. Only then, when a crisis hits, will your community be willing to give your company or brand another chance as they have seen the 'human' side of your brand and keeps a strong positive image in their heads that has the ability to overcome tough times, instead of being canceled out when things go bad. That second chance or humanized aspect to your brand's image that allows mistakes is just why philanthropy is so important and should be part of the whole journey, not just a way to save face when things go south.

Most companies treat philanthropy as a PR tool to be deployed during a crisis, and it almost always backfires. Today's customers can spot inauthentic gestures from a mile away. A one-off donation after a mistake doesn't build goodwill. It generates cynicism and mockery online, which social media algorithms then amplify. This negative sentiment can actually increase your customer acquisition costs because platforms see your brand as a liability. It's often worse than doing nothing at all. The only philanthropy that builds brand value is the kind that is deeply and authentically integrated into your company's mission, long before any crisis occurs. It has to be a consistent story you tell, not a sudden announcement. When your support for a cause is genuine, your customers and the community you help become your advocates. This creates a layer of brand affinity that makes all your marketing efforts more effective. It’s not about having a story to tell when things go wrong. It’s about building a brand that is strong enough to withstand challenges in the first place.

Many organizations use philanthropy as a way to publicly demonstrate what they stand for, or to simply let the public know that they are an organization that does good for the world in some way. There are lots of organizations that are very genuine in their philanthropic efforts - but there are also lots of organizations that mainly do it for image-related reasons. Often, if an organization gets super involved in philanthropy following a crisis, the primary reason for that is image repair. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, but organizations should be aware of the fact that a lot of people do see through disingenuous intentions regarding CSR.

Hi there, I'm the President of 2 Hounds Design and would love to share that our company is fully built on philanthropy. We started out working with Greyhound Adoption and generously donated product, hosted fundraising auctions (using custom script that I wrote in PERL to host on our website), and have created custom products with a portion of profits going to select groups. As a 22 year old company, we've expanded past just Greyhound Adoption and now we offer several programs that help adoption/rescue groups raise funds and get needed equipment (harnesses, collars, and leashes) for the dogs waiting for adoption. Our hero product is the Freedom No-Pull harness, which helps dogs learn how to walk nicely on the leash. This makes dogs more adoptable, as it is hard to want to adopt a dog who just pulled you over while walking. This has created and maintained our reputation over the years as a company that cares about community and as a result, we get a lot of word of mouth referrals and customers. Happy to respond further if this is helpful. Thanks so much! Alisha http://www.2houndsdesign.com @2houndsdesign (Meta, Youtube, Tiktok)

Corporate philanthropy can help organizations be more public about the causes they support. Also, the very act of philanthropy in general can help boost an organization's image, so that's usually a top reason why organizations will get more heavily involved in philanthropy following a crisis. It's a way for a company to not just apologize for whatever the crisis was but actually take positive steps forward, which can help their image.

Even before Cafely, I've already spent years helping SaaS and e-commerce startups grow resilient brands. One lesson I carry with me to every business is that philanthropy isn't just good karma, it is a long game of brand strategy. Relationships: this is what we want. I started Cafely with a strong commitment to ethically sourcing products and giving back to farming communities in Vietnam, not because it was trending but because it is close to my heart. I am Vietnamese, and giving back to the people behind our product made sense to me. Fast forward to a tough Q4 last year, a supplier delay late in the year resulted in many angry customers. But something interesting happened: lots of people remained loyal. Some even sent messages like, "We believe in what you are doing. Take your time" That loyalty did not come from perfect marketing; it came from the credibility we built through consistent actions that stayed true to our values. Corporate philanthropy will not solve a crisis, but it can soften the blow. It humanizes your business. It builds loyalty in advance. It gives customers a reason to care, even when you're imperfect.

As the owner and founder of Mexico-City-Private-Driver.com, I know a good deal about how planned philanthropy can change your brand perception at a key moment in time. At the beginning of 2021, following cancellations due to the pandemic, we had reached a point in uncertainty over the safety of travel, so we did something that helped reshape our perceived brand image. We turned part of our operating budget into a program to provide free round-trip transportation for COVID-vulnerable seniors in Mexico City, to vaccination centers, safely, and privately. The endeavor wasn't part of a planned PR strategy; it was a local responsibility. However, the results were staggering; we experienced over a 40% increase in bookings over the following six months, and there was a change in tone in the inbound inquiries. Clients were acknowledging our community work during calls and in reviews. This is when I realized philanthropy was more than just good will, it was a bond of trust. When done correctly and authentically in alignment with brand values, corporate philanthropy can do more than help an organization weather an emergency crisis, it can restore humanity to your company. In our case, we demonstrated we were not just another luxury service, we were neighbors. Credentials: I am Martin Weidemann, owner and founder of Mexico-City-Private-Driver.com, a trusted private transportation brand to the premium traveling person and executive in Mexico City. I have been working in, and running digital and service businesses around Latin America for more than 20-years.