How Your Car Wash Business Can Benefit from Supporting a Charity
Owning a car wash gives you the opportunity to give back to the community by supporting a charity or nonprofit organization. Every day, there are organizations that are looking for funding and volunteers to help achieve various objectives. Deciding to support their efforts is not only rewarding on a personal level but can also bring benefits to your car wash business.
Why Supporting a Charity Is the New Marketing
Thanks to social media and the digital age, businesses that support charities and nonprofits have the opportunity to share their generosity. As a result, people will view their efforts as doing something good for the local community.Additionally, people will associate small businesses with their efforts as being good. As such, people are more likely to have a favorable view of the business and are more likely to purchase products and services from them.
For example, many car wash owners donate money and time to local community sports teams. They often pay for jerseys and sports equipment, all for free. The business name or logo is featured somewhere on the jerseys in return for their generosity.
So, the car wash not only shows they care about supporting local community sports but also gets free advertising to introduce themselves to new, potential customers who support local businesses that give back to the community.
As you can see, supporting a local charity or nonprofit can create free marketing opportunities for your car wash business. Yet, how do you decide what local charity or nonprofit to support? What other benefits of a business donating to a charity, beyond doing good for the local community, could you gain?
Employee Satisfaction
Finding employees who enjoy their job and are satisfied with your car wash business can be challenging with so many different employment opportunities these days. Fortunately, one sure thing is people enjoy working for businesses that support local charities and nonprofits. Furthermore, they are more likely to volunteer their time and money to help those organizations.So, not only can you keep your employees happy but also provide them the opportunity to volunteer for events, boost their morale, and enjoy interacting with each other outside of work. At the same time, they get the satisfaction of supporting the local community.
Tax Perks
Small business owners can get a tax break when they donate cash to local charities and nonprofits. These donations could include sponsoring events, donations in kind, donations of products, or donations of services.Your employees can also take advantage of tax breaks when they mark charitable donations to offset their adjusted gross income and tax bracket. However, they need to follow the rules for taking the deduction to avoid tax issues.
Customer Satisfaction
You can improve customer satisfaction with your customers and potential customers because they will positively view your car wash business since you give back to the community. Satisfied customers translate to repeat business and customer loyalty for your car wash.Free Marketing and Publicity
Another benefit of supporting a local charity is you can take advantage of free marketing opportunities and free publicity for your car wash. You can increase awareness about a specific charity or nonprofit and its cause while also promoting your business.Depending on the type of event and support, your business could be featured on the local news, in the local newspaper, or on various social media sites. As a result, you can reach more potential customers who could decide to visit your car wash.
Increases Revenues
A side effect of doing good and donating your time or money to support a local charity or nonprofit can lead to increased sales and revenues for your car wash. People like to support local businesses that do good and give back to the community.You could even encourage your customers to give back by inviting them to round up the sales to donate the difference to a charity you support. So not only do they feel good about visiting your car wash but also leave feeling good about themselves since they were able to do something good too.
How Your Car Wash Can Support a Local Charity or Nonprofit
Now that you know the benefits of a business donating to a charity, the first thing you need to do is decide what local charity or nonprofit you want to support. It can be tempting to choose multiple charities and nonprofits. However, this can spread your donations and efforts too thinly to make any sort of impact.It is better to choose a single charity or nonprofit initially. If you have narrowed down your selections to several different ones and cannot pick one, get input from your employees. When they have a say in what organization you are going to support, they are more likely to donate their time and cash as well.
Once you select a charity or nonprofit to support, the next step is to contact the organization and find out what they need. For example, some organizations might be looking for volunteers for various events. Other organizations could need cash donations.
After finding out what the charity or nonprofit needs, then you and your employees can start coming up with different ideas on how your car wash can give back to the community, such as:
Holiday Charity Donations
The holidays are a great time for you and your employees to donate your time and money. You could even encourage your customers to spread some holiday cheer by collecting holiday charity donations from them when they visit your car wash.Company Matching
Another great way to get your employees in on supporting a local charity is to offer company matching. Essentially, you agree to match whatever your employees contribute to the charity. You could also use company matching to match donations made by your customers.Charity Fundraisers
Hosting charity fundraisers at your car wash is a great way to raise money for a charity. For example, you could set up a kids carnival with a bouncy castle, carnival games, and various types of snacks and treats.Donate Time
Donating your time to a good cause is another way to give back. For example, you and your employees could work with a local charity that helps provide meals for those in need by assisting with packaging the meals.Donate Free Car Washes
You could donate different types of free car washes to a local charity that they could use for a raffle drawing or auction off. Another option is to give your customers the option of donating a car wash to an organization you support by donating the cost of the wash.Sponsor a School Organization
Many schools seek donations to support the costs of band equipment, band uniforms, sports uniforms, and sports equipment. Different types of school clubs also can seek donations for various events, such as traveling to national competitions.Donate a Portion of Your Earnings
An easy way to raise money for a charity you want to support is by donating a portion of your earnings. For example, you could choose a percentage amount, like 1% or 2%, or a specific dollar amount, such as promoting you will donate 10 cents for every car wash and 1 cent for every air freshener sold.We hope these ideas will inspire you to decide how your car wash can give back to the community and raise money for a charity you want to support.
