Whether your business is a small, one-person office or a large, multi-tentacled financial empire, your company can raise its consciousness and its profile as a charitable giver by becoming an Imagine Canada Caring Company.

Imagine Canada is an organization that supports charities and non-profit organizations across Canada and helps socially conscious businesses direct their efforts to worthwhile causes, all in the belief that caring companies build strong communities. Businesses of all sizes have signed on to the ICCC program, which involves paying annual membership dues and committing to specific charitable practices every year.

These practices include giving a minimum of 1% of pretax profits to a charitable or non-profit community organization, lending direct support to at least one community project and publishing a public record of corporate citizenship activities.

The annual report or the corporate Web site are logical places for this information to be published.

“Some companies already have community support ingrained in their corporate culture, whether it’s supporting art, children’s causes or health,” says Lisa Hartford, communications manager for Imagine Canada. “We will help make matches and find good causes for companies to support in their communities.”

Imagine Canada holds a variety of networking events and professional development seminars across Canada to help companies build philanthropy into their culture. There is also an ICCC logo that can be used by participants to demonstrate their community spirit.

“Companies see valuable public relations in supporting the community. There’s no question that having the company name on soccer jerseys is good stuff, and people like to do business with good corporate citizens,” says Hartford. “In addition, many employees prefer to work for an organization in which part of the corporate value is to operate ethically and responsibly in the community.”

The membership fee to become an ICCC is $500 per year for companies with less than 500 employees, rising in stages to $5,000 for companies with more than 1,000 employees.

“It’s not just chequebook philanthropy, which is a bit old school,” Hartford says. “When companies participate in community projects that are publicly supported by the CEO, it creates a sense of direct involvement.”

— JADE HEMEON