It’s often heard that philanthropic technology companies donate millions to projects, aiming to inspire social change as well as improve their brand perception.

Most companies worth their salt are doing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) schemes, right? So they should be, too! At WhaleSlide, the philanthropic privacy conscious search engine, we’re huge fans of using power for good – so much so that we made it a USP with great results.

Let philanthropy be a selling point… attract loyal customers

We’re not just talking about tech billionaires donating some of their money to charity, but creating a company that either increases social change or fundraises as part of its function. Making philanthropy and ethics intrinsic to a brand can quickly help give a company a Unique Selling Point, often attracting loyal customers.

When philanthropy is intrinsic to a company’s function, you can find customers being attracted purely for that reason.

For example, if consumers can raise money for a charity with no financial or time cost to them (passive giving) then it increases socially conscious consumers using their power for good and makes it hard for any competition unless their products or services are far superior.

Who doesn’t want to make social change with a click of a button?

Let customers choose what to support

Some consumers will be happy knowing they’re improving any worthy cause, but when we decided we would make passive giving part of our business, we decided it would be great if users could choose which charity they could support.

Reminiscent of the feeling you get when dropping a little green token into your chosen Waitrose local charity container after a shop, our users can sign up anonymously or with an email address and choose one of over 300 charities to support when they shop online with over 17,000 retail partners.

They can then track how much they raise throughout the year, encouraging them to keep fundraising through passive giving.  This could tap into potentially billions of fundraising windfall that struggling charities are missing out on.

In 2016 there was a potential £1bn in charitable donations available. If 50 supporters spend £500 a month online and every purchase raises 1%, they can raise £3,000 a year for a struggling charity – that’s a huge game changer that shows what an amazing difference would be made if more companies followed a philanthropic model.

Stay ethical. Protect customer data

It’s widely reported that consumers are likely to stop shopping with unethical companies, with one Mintel study even showing over one third of consumers will stop when there isn’t a substitute available.

A survey we commissioned revealed that 53% of Brits are mostly concerned with privacy when it comes to search engines and 43% prefer them being ad free.

We’ve kept completely stuck to our founding ethical pillars by making privacy and philanthropy intrinsic to our function with no data sharing, ads and super easy fundraising. It’s worth evaluating how you can be as respectful and ethical to your customers as possible - it can be a huge pulling point when they know they can trust you.

There are plenty of mutually beneficial ways to help

Many people aren’t in the position to start out a completely philanthropic company, but perhaps you could get involved in other ways like taking your team on a fun night out to The Tech Off or signing up to donate time as part of The Drum’s Do It Day.

These are great ways of networking and getting inspired. The Tech Off has been taking the creative and tech worlds by storm, with shows at Cannes, SXSW and around the world! Leading tech or creative experts present ideas, which often use expertise to improve or save lives then compete to win.

Do It Day also is a similar concept where people donate their time and skills to launch CSR campaigns or initiatives around the world. Both are great ways to do some good as well as network and position your company as an ethical thought leader.