Businesses often associate corporate social responsibility (CSR) with philanthropy. While charitable acts are noble, businesses might not only be missing out on making a bigger positive impact, but also on opportunities to build brand value. Entrepreneur, traveller, and founder of Buy1Give1 (B1G1) Masami Sato shares the logic behind her social enterprise, and the key to unlocking the business benefits of giving.
Forward Thinking: As an entrepreneur running a food manufacturing business, you and your business partner David believed quite strongly in philanthropy and “giving back.” Could you explain what that meant for you running the business, and where your thinking was at the time?Masami Sato: As you know, the way business works in our world continuously evolves and that fascinates me and drives me to become ever more curious. There is no end to what we can learn in business. And I enjoy it the most when I see how a simple business idea can impact our life in a meaningful way.
We first went into the food business 10 years ago. I used to be a chef and I believed that everyone deserves to eat nutritious and wholesome food no matter how our lifestyles change. So running a business that could provide what we believed was one way for us to take an active role in creating a better world.
But there was something more. I traveled a lot when I was in my twenties and saw different realities of life. While there were people who had so much and were still feeling dissatisfied, there were people who had very little yet they were feeling more connected and contented. I’ve come to think that it’s not about how much we have or how much we get that make us feel fulfilled; it’s about how much we care and contribute that really nourishes our life.
By running a company that aimed to do more than just trading commodities and making money, we wanted to be part of creating a new movement – creating a giving culture in business and as a result, in our everyday activities.
FT: How would you best communicate the business imperative for giving and get new businesses involved? What was the experience of giving like for you as an entrepreneur and business operator?
MS: Every business owner strives and thrives by creating value for others. The values are usually for the customers, for the stakeholders and for the employees. Without these value-drivers, businesses cannot exist. And on top of that, businesses with a strong sense of mission and what we might call ‘connection’ naturally attract more. Many businesses are now starting to give more regularly to causes as a part of their commitment to give back — to make a difference.
While giving is becoming a new trend in corporate world, most small to medium size enterprises are not yet giving. For smaller companies, giving is not a priority.
So now in B1G1, to create more awareness, we often host events or educational programs to spread the idea. We write articles. We also get invited to speak at events hosted by different organizations.
We believe in the B1G1 way of transaction-based giving (or what we call ‘embedded gratitude’) because in this way, we all get to see and feel the tangible impact rather than just the monetary values we contribute. It’s so much more rewarding. And businesses need that sense of contribution. Because without it, the organization is not connected.
As a business owner, I want to feel that I am creating a positive impact every day, and as a member of a team who all dedicate so much effort, I want to share the joy of making a difference with all our team members. B1G1 giving allows me to do that and we believe that B1G1 does that for all other business owners.
FT: You eventually moved to a different view on philanthropy, one that more directly connected businesses and their products with customers and worthy causes. How did that evolution take place?
MS: Well yes, in the food business we gave back in a really simple way. Every meal we sold contributed a meal for children in India. And the B1G1 initiative was born accidentally one day when someone who saw what we were doing pointed out that it was ‘buy one give one’ instead of ‘buy one get one’.
It was a casual comment but we realized there was something very profound about this way of business giving. By then, we had about 150 retail outlets in Australia that were selling our organic frozen meals. Eight months later, we sold the food business to launch B1G1 — an initiative that enabled all kinds of businesses to give through every transaction.
The public is now becoming more aware of the fact that taking without giving back is not sustainable. It takes time to change our habits because we’ve become so used to having more without paying the full price. The best way to change a habit is to make it easy and rewarding to do so. B1G1 works on creating the way to make it easy to turn giving into our everyday habit rather than something we do once off or from a sense of guilt and obligation.
FT: Could you explain briefly how B1G1 came to be and how it works?MS: Through our own food business, we wanted to see more undernourished children and people receive nutrition. And we realized that other businesses all had different focus. So it came to us that this kind of giving would create a more balanced ecosystem of giving and receiving in the commercial world.
Now B1G1 system matches all kinds of business products and services to giving projects. You’ll see more on the ‘how’ we do that on the B1G1 site at www.b1g1.com When businesses join B1G1 and start giving, they get listed on a giving business list and they choose their own giving from over 600 projects that is still growing. B1G1 takes on the administration and assessment of charity partners so that it is very simple and effortless for even small companies to give effectively.
And right now, B1G1 Business Members in 14 countries are proudly supporting over 600 projects in 28 countries.
FT: Many businesses, especially in APAC, are involved in philanthropic efforts. Executives seem to long for photos of themselves in the media, presenting a big fat check to a charity. Are they in some ways missing a larger opportunity to build brand value and customer loyalty?
MS: Well, I wouldn’t say ‘many’ businesses. US statistics show that staggeringly that 96% of all giving is done by individuals. We seek to change that in B1G1 so that business can come together as one united force to make our world a much happier place.
We can remember that we all like giving and being of a value to someone. So, the more we can share the privileged experience (being the giver) with every stakeholder of the business activities including the customers and staff members, the more united the spirit of organization becomes. The sense of contribution connects us all.
And what we love about B1G1 is that our every action counts in this way of giving. Small is big. Small and continuous is more powerful than big, flashy and one-off. We believe in changing the habit of businesses and lives by embedding the giving culture into the core of organizations.
When the message is truly expressed as a core of the organization (through the caring culture), people resonate with it and become more loyal to the brand. That is a clear fact. No matter what great things we say, if we don’t demonstrate that message with our actions, we cannot create sustainable relationships.
EB: How do you think businesses could better connect their products, their customers, and noteworthy causes? (Or, what is better than the “big fat check” approach?)
MS: Transaction-based giving is a way to give back from every gift we receive. So, as just one simple example, businesses may choose to give education to others if their products and services have a strong education focus. Or some companies may choose to give back to the environmental causes because they see that by producing what they sell, they are benefiting from natural resources.
There are so many issues in our world. We know that we cannot fix them all on our own or by one kind of solution. The key to this way of giving is collaboration NOT competition.
With B1G1 Giving, businesses and their teams (and indeed their customers) can all find a cause that is closely aligned with the mission of the company, the team and the customers. And then how we articulate the mission and the giving message so that it resonates with the heart of the stakeholders becomes as important as choosing the right match.
FT: What ways could businesses positively capitalise on this brand alignment and their charitable activity?
MS: Business becomes more than a commercial entity that makes money to pay people when the mission of the company is greater than what they directly provide to their own customers. We’ve seen that in some businesses recently that business can indeed become a social movement.
A business with great products with good prices can maintain a large customer base only until people discover another company with better products with better prices. However, a social movement is not about the products or prices alone. The loyal customers support the brand and its mission because it becomes about them – what they believe and what they care about. One of the world’s foremost leadership consultants and commentators, Simon Sinek, puts it this way, “People don’t buy what you have, they buy what you believe in.”
FT: With B1G1, what businesses are you currently working with, and why do you think they’ve come along?
MS: Most of the companies we currently work with are small to medium size enterprises. B1G1 focuses on enabling the companies that do not have their own CSR departments to effectively and impactfully give back by giving them a simple giving platform. Whilst giving definitely has commercial values like creating a better brand identity, we believe that the businesses we work with right now got attracted to B1G1 largely because they want to make a difference.
For smaller companies, dedicating time and effort to giving back to different causes is not so easy. So by bringing all these companies together, we are able to establish a new brand “BusinessesThatGive” and every company’s giving enhances this shared initiative.
FT: Along these lines, what shifts do you think are taking place globally with regards to CSR and philanthropy? Are there new business trends emerging?
MS: These days, almost all established international corporations have CSR departments. This is a massive change already. However, the new movement is not just about how much money we give. It is about how connected we are to the cause and how we share the mission with all stakeholders.
Having a clear mission at the core of the organization aside from what products and services we provide is becoming the new thing. People are now looking for ‘meaning’ more than ever before.
FT: What advice would you give to CEO’s and other key decision makers on their approach to CSR, and especially philanthropy?
MS: Leaders of companies now have a great opportunity to lead and inspire the world. Real leadership exists in strong belief and a cause bigger then the direct activities of the company.
People are now looking for more meaningful lives and want to be associated with brands and companies that really care. Businesses in this decade have more power to change the direction of our world than ever before because of the globalization of the consumer market. A business with a clear mission can really impact the way our world works.
Chris Tobias is Lead Strategist at Forward (www.creatingpositivefutures.net), Southeast Asia’s innovative sustainability consultancy, and correspondent for Eco-business.com