This is an archived blog from when I ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. from 2008-2018. Excuse the potential outdated-ness!
I came across an awesome article on GOOD about a Design company in New York called TYTHEdesign (named after the old word tithe) that donates a percentage of their time to pro bono design work for non-profit clients in need.
It made me think of how I can give back through Conscious PR, and not just in choosing the type of clients I work with or the campaigns that we work on together. Because I don’t have a formal program in place, I am not sure if I would qualify as a “Social Enterprise” in the eyes of others. I already give 10% discounts or cash bonuses for referrals (more of a marketing thing, I guess), and last year ended up doing about 5 hours of pro bono work in addition to the volunteer work that I do. But is there more that can be done?
My current mentor suggests that instead of cash for referrals, I could give back Seed Stock, a new community currency that has started in Vancouver that one can use to pay for goods & services at select locations, while helping local non-profits. I could also choose to accept up to 10% of Seed Stock currency, an idea I like very much and works if the client did not come from a referral.
I could also go TYTHE’s route and donate a certain amount of time to pro-bono work, something I have already thought of doing, but mostly during times when I have enough paid work to sustain the business and be able to work on other projects.
I’m very excited about the time we are living in and the creative ways other businesses are choosing to do their work while helping the community; I am learning something new from them each time I read a story like this.
