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Maintaining Your Community Commitments During Tough Times By Linda Gornitsky, Ph. D. President & Founder, LBG Associates    Most economic pundits seem to agree that we are either already in a recession, or headed that way. The dreaded “R” word leads to expense reduction, downsizing, or worse. In the midst of all this belt-tightening, what can a community involvement professional do to make sure his or her company’s social mission and obligations are still being fulfilled—and that the company continues to have a strong presence in the community?           In tough times, the more savvy companies maximize business and social ROI by consciously thinking outside the box and strategically leveraging their valuable noncash company resources. These collectively are often referred to as a company’s intangible, or knowledge-based assets, and include talent, services, and intellectual property. Providing these highly prized resources can help improve nonprofits’ bottom lines, promote your social agenda, and achieve your strategic giving goals, with very little cost to your company.         There are a number of knowledge-based assets and resources a company can offer a nonprofit, including:

WELCOME Welcome to our first issue of Communiqué,  LBG Associates' new quarterly communication on community involvement trends and best practices. Communiqué will bring you our insights, opinion, and the latest research findings related to all of today's most pressing community relation issues. Please do not hesitate to let us know your thoughts on this new quarterly newsletter, and feel free to send us ideas for any future topics you would like to see covered here. Sign up to receive a copy of Communiqué by email: Click Here.

 •    Skills-based volunteerism/pro-bono activities—using employee talents and skills to help provide additional resources to nonprofit organizations (this could include a wide variety of volunteered activities, including pro bono services such as communications, graphic design, HR, training, IT or technical support, and financial or legal work).
•    Board service—allowing company executives to sit on a nonprofit’s board of directors and provide guidance.
•    Loaned executives—offering a loan of one or more company executives to a nonprofit for a set amount of time, while still paying their company salary.
•    Shared intellectual capital—providing company materials, such as handbooks, training modules, white papers, research, etc., at no cost to a nonprofit.

     Granted, companies have been providing these kinds of services to nonprofits for years. The difference is that during tight economic times, consciously and strategically increasing these human and intellectual capital donations can offset a decline in cash funding commitments, and result in enhanced community relationships. Moreover, sending your employees and executives out into the nonprofit world can help them build new and valuable skills—a substantial payoff for a relatively pain-free investment.•