Social responsibility is not a trend we’ll be following

Social responsibility has been one of the trends we’ve seen predicted for 2023. It’s all over our feeds and in our inboxes. Even Forbes named accountability and demonstrating social responsibility as one of their top 6 trends to practice this year.

But trends are fleeting. They’re a fad - as quick to leave as they are to come in. That’s the last thing caring for other people should be. Instead of being a trend, care should be embedded in the fabric of your business.

Many will argue that business is business, and there is a truth to that. But as humans, we live in a community, which means we have a choice of the impact we wish to make.

In our latest episode of The Generosity Podcast, we chatted with two savvy business owners - Bryar Stewart from Powered by Impact and Tahlia Charleson (Jones) from The Pilates Fix.

As someone who deals with different businesses every day - both through her own business and her role at development platform Icehouse - Bryar shared one of the reasons why business owners want to do good, and spoiler alert, it’s not because of a trend.

“It’s part of us as humans that we want to do something bigger than ourselves, to support the people around us and to leave that legacy piece”

The tricky part is how. How do businesses make social responsibility part of their business, without it being the quick fix a trend asks for?

The answer lies in thinking of business and philanthropy as one, rather than trying to do both.

Tahlia has this nailed, but not without a journey to get there. In the past, she has taken her own time and money to reach demographics who couldn’t afford to come to her pilates studio otherwise.

“When you want to be charitable in your business, generally you go through this trial and error of learning what works and what doesn’t. What’s time and labour-intensive? What is the gain? What have you been able to reward and help people with off the back of that for all of that effort and sometimes money invested? And what things work best?”

For her, the lightbulb moment came when she found a way to make sure her business costs were covered while opening her studio to those who really need the rehabilitation but can’t financially prioritise it. In her case that was through the GoGenerosity model allowing her to do more of what she was already doing, without the burden of extra costs or energy.

Based on Tahlia’s journey and success, we’ve pulled out three key things to ask yourself when trying to incorporate social responsibility into your business. They could be the difference between a quick trend, or a sustainable impact.

1. Is it authentic for your business? Whatever you’re looking to do has to tie into what you’re already doing, as well as be something you and your team can passionately get behind. Without that, it’s hard to gain momentum.
2. Can you measure your impact? Doing something measurable helps keep that passion ignited, and makes it easier to communicate with your audience about the impact your business has had.
3. Is it easy? Running a business is hard, and the curveballs of the last few years haven't helped. If your social impact ties into what you’re doing or fits into your operations, it’s much more likely to stick.

If you want to hear the full podcast episode and make sure your social responsibility is more than just a trend, head here for more generosity gems from Tahlia and Bryar.