I think that most adventure brand owners have a deep well of respect for person, place, and planet. They are the three things we rely on for our livelihoods. It’s nearly impossible to run a business that is so rooted in these without wanting to give back in some capacity—and why shouldn’t we? We’re in a unique position where we are at the helm of a business that has the power to truly connect with people, and making giving a part of our business model is entirely within our ability.

Here are some ways that you can work giving back into your business model:

Determine a monetary amount or percentage from annual revenue, annual profits, or every sale, to donate to a cause your company chooses.

This is one of the easiest methods of building charity into your business model. It takes very little effort and is easy to manage when tax season rolls around. All you need to do is figure out what you want to base your amount on, choose the cause you want to support, and continue to remind people of what it is you’re doing.

Examples:

  • $1 from every sale will go to named cause(s).
  • 10% of every sale will go to named cause(s).
  • 15% of all business profit will go to named cause(s).
  • 1% of all revenue will go to named cause(s).

Run giving campaigns periodically throughout the year.

Developing campaigns is a favorite way to build giving back into a business model for a number of reasons. Not only is it easy to set up, but working within clear start and end dates make tracking the success of the campaign easy, too. It’s also a breeze to replicate the campaign over and over again once you’ve created it, making it a favorite for holiday seasons and/or slower times of the year.

Examples:

  • 50% of all profits for the month of December
  • For every ticket sold, we’ll donate 5 non-perishable food items.
  • Plant a tree for every Spring purchase
  • For every t-shirt bought in store, we’ll donate one t-shirt to cause.

Incorporate awareness into your everyday business operations.

Certain causes may directly affect your adventure brand, and developing a program within your business that helps raise awareness for the cause is an easy, free, and highly beneficial way for you to making giving a part of your business model.

For example, dive shops in Key Largo are directly affected by issues like coral restoration and preservation, so they’ve made education on best practices while out on the reef a focal point in their marketing materials, dive boat briefings, etc. This allows these dive shops to nurture a good relationship with one of the leading non-profit organizations for coral restoration, which has meant more exposure for them, too.

Make it easy for your employees to participate in giving.

Your brand’s culture speaks directly to the values you embrace as an adventure brand, and there are great benefits to involving your employees in the act of giving.

  • Every employee can be given a predetermined number of hours they can put towards volunteering with a non-profit organization of their choice.
  • Certain payroll services make it easy to opt into giving back from every paycheck.
  • Encourage suggestions and support employee-driven initiatives.

We also suggest taking it one step further, and making time at least once a month to connect with your employees and ask them what they’ve been grateful for, lately; to begin practicing gratitude as a collective means becoming more aware of places where you can show up to—and offer more of—your amazing team.

Develop a pro-bono initiative for the year.

As an adventure brand, you are in a unique position to share the gift of adventure with a cause you’re passionate about.

There is great good that can come from you and your team coming together and identifying an initiative to support throughout the year. This can easily tie into any other ways to give listed above, too, so don’t feel like you’re limited.

  • Help an organization run a benefit.
  • Invite an organization to bring their staff for a free day with you.
  • Support a community-focused event, or spearhead one yourself.

At the end of the day, the Universe makes sure you get back what you give ten-fold.

Call it Karma if you prefer—but when you shift your attention to making sure you’ve made giving back a part of your adventure brand business model, you’ll see the benefits through the lives you touch, the experiences you share, and the gratitude you express.