SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Consider the Positive Impact of your Business

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:

Dear Reader,

When you think of a company you admire, what do you think of first? Chances are, what causes the company stands for may be high on your list.

More than ever social responsibility has become an important part of brand choice and brand loyalty. For millennial and Gen Z audiences, especially, making decisions such as using environmentally friendly packaging, sourcing local ingredients or donating profits to charity can be a huge purchase driver when it comes to choosing one organization over another.

So what does social responsibility mean to your brand? It involves addressing social, ethical and environmental factors in the promotion of products or services and showing the positive impact and direct benefits of the offering to your target audience. It also means giving back to the community where you do business.

No matter your business size or industry, you can employ a socially responsible marketing strategy to expand your business. In this issue, we’ll focus on crafting a socially responsible business plan that makes sense for you.

Looking for more tips? As always, I invite you to get in touch.

Your partner in success,

DAVID WEED ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS SERVICES SERVICECU.ORG/BUSINESS

Supporting Our Communities

THE IMPACT FOUNDATION HELPS BROADEN SERVICE CREDIT UNION’S PHILANTHROPIC REACH

Doing what is right for members by improving financial wellbeing, as well as supporting the communities they serve — that’s the Service Credit Union mission. The Impact Foundation’s mission is to impact the standard of living and the ability to pursue education for everyone to reach their full potential.

The Soggy Po Boys (left) and comedian and magician Mark Robinson (right) perform at the Inaugural Spring Gala.

Sarah Kuhl is one of the people at Service CU carrying out that mission. She is the credit union’s foundation specialist, overseeing and managing the Impact Foundation, the nonprofit philanthropic arm of the credit union. “The foundation broadens our community reach and provides a way for us to make even more of an impact in New Hampshire and beyond,” she says.

In the two years since its inception, the Impact Foundation has raised more than $1.1 million that has supported, in broad terms, education, human services, and care for veterans and the military. The fundraising has been nurtured through efforts such as the Spring Gala, the Annual Golf Charity Classic and, more recently, a cash raffle.

For the golf tournament, Service CU partners with the Robert Irvine Foundation, which focuses on providing support for veterans and the military. “We’re able to expand our reach nationally, even internationally, through our partnership with the Robert Irvine Foundation,” says Kuhl. This year, the tournament raised nearly $450,000 to support veteran organizations locally in New Hampshire, across the United States and in Germany.

The money raised supported more than a dozen local organizations, among them: Honor Flight New England, which provides veterans with flights to Washington, D.C., so they can visit and reflect at their memorials. Proceeds also benefited Liberty House, based in Manchester. The organization helps homeless and struggling veterans by connecting them to available resources and providing a safe, substance-free transitional home.

In addition, the Service CU Impact Foundation, together with the Robert Irvine

BELOW:

Foundation, donated an iBOT to a two-term Vietnam Veteran. An iBOT is a personal mobility device that can raise the user from a seated position to up to 6 feet tall, as well as “walk” up and down stairs. “It was so amazing,” says Kuhl. “Robert Irvine [of the eponymous foundation] was there and announced that we were donating the iBOT to the veteran, who attended the event with his family. It was such an emotional, wonderful moment.”

Another event, the Spring Gala, funds the human services component of the Impact Foundation’s work. The Inaugural Spring Gala was held this past May, raising $105,000. “We donated all proceeds from the gala to the New Hampshire Community Action Partnership (NHCAP) agencies,” Kuhl says. NHCAP is a collaboration of the five Community Action Agencies in the state that work to connect

people in need with resources and support to help them thrive.

The county-based CAP agencies used the money in a variety of ways: to help with housing stability, provide furniture for families moving into an apartment, to retrofit a bus to distribute food to the unhoused population, to store household supplies and donated furniture, and to support case management. “CAP agencies are doing important work for those who are experiencing homelessness. We’re really happy to have the opportunity to partner with them,” Kuhl adds.

Another area of focus of the Impact Foundation is education. Each year, the Impact Foundation provides scholarships to high school students and adult learners. “We give away $50,000 in scholarships each year,” Kuhl says, “and we’re looking to increase that.”

LEFT: Sarah Kuhl, Foundation Specialist at the Impact Foundation.

RIGHT: Julia Calomiris at the 3rd Annual Golf Charity Classic.

Dennis Yates and others enjoying a meal prepared by the Chef Robert Irvine team.

A brand-new fundraiser is a cash raffle. “We sell 3,000 tickets, and once those tickets are gone, a winner is drawn, and they receive $20,000,” Kuhl says. “The winner of the first raffle is a Service CU member overseas, who is serving our country.” The raffle was just launched at the end of September, and the hope is to hold it, at minimum, every other month.

For Kuhl, the work with the Impact Foundation is rewarding: “I go home smiling. Not only are we doing so much good for our community and beyond, but it's fun. And I work with a great team too. I love what I do.” n

Strategies for Small Businesses

The benefits of social responsibility aren’t limited to helping people, it’s also good for your business. SCORE — a national network of volunteer, expert business mentors dedicated to helping small businesses plan, launch, manage and grow — says giving back can help increase brand recognition, attract better talent and loyal customers, expand the network of people who could help with your business, and boost your social media engagement. Here are SCORE’s five strategies to give back smartly:

➀ Volunteer with your team

£ Encourage your teammates to volunteer for a cause. Ask them to participate in events, make small donations, and share the cause with their network and friends. Later on, you can work together to get involved in nonprofit projects and even host an event to collect funds for the charity. These kinds of activities won’t only help people but will also build a strong company culture and increase productivity.

➁

Donate your time

£ If you can’t donate money, donate your time instead. Nonprofits require as much people-power as money, so schedule some time to use your team’s skill sets to volunteer for a nonprofit. It doesn’t have to be big, but it has to be meaningful — perhaps working at a soup kitchen.

➂ Support other small businesses in your community

£ You can show support to other SMBs by buying their products (especially if they’re local), leaving reviews on their website and getting them in touch with people in your network.

➃

Partner with nonprofits

£ Nonprofits benefit greatly from partnerships. It’s good PR to openly support a specific cause that’s highly relevant to your industry and your community’s life. Promoting their message isn’t the only thing you can do — you can also collaborate on hosting campaigns and organizing events. Most of the time, it’s a win-win situation.

➄ Allow your customers to participate

£ Take one percentage of your profits to donate to a charity, allow customers to make small donations while purchasing, or build a program where you contribute a certain amount for every new referral. Whatever it is, involve your customers with the cause.

For more information, visit score.org.

A Man and a Mountain

HE CAME AS A YOUNG MAN, AND NEVER LEFT

iving a stage full of people up the Auto Road to the 6,288-foot summit of Mount Washington — that was Howie Wemyss’ first job with the company that owns the historic road. It was also beginning of his deep passion for the mountain.

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That was in the mid-1970s. He would leave the company and the mountain a few years later, but he soon returned as the Auto Road’s General Manager. He says it was an unlikely leap from driving a stage. (It’s really a van but called a stage because it has been since the days of the horse-drawn stages that climbed the mountain.)

“I was a bit terrified about running this big, historic business,” he says. “I had no business experience.”

But he was finally convinced he could do it by the retiring general manager and a member of one of the four families that, for six generations, has comprised the Auto Road’s ownership group, the Mount Washington Summit Company. Wemyss became the first non-family person to be General Manager.

Wemyss would, as he puts it, “stick around” for 34 years. During his tenure, he led the company to new

heights. His main focus was on expanding the number of events at the Auto Road beyond the races that were already taking place. “People want to challenge themselves on the mountain,” he says. “I felt there was a potential to not only get a lot of publicity from events but make money.”

One of the major moves he and his team (which over the years grew from 25 to three times that) made was to reinstitute the historic Climb to the Clouds car race. The crowds of people that over the years came to watch have seen the cars reduce the time taken to race up the 7.6-mile road from just over two hours in 1899, the first official climb, to just over five minutes.

In 1994, the Auto Road ownership group decided to expand its operations to its nearby property, building the Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center. Wemyss was tasked with running that as well as the Auto Road. Working only with the Auto Road, he had winters off. No longer. “It went from just coming into the office to keep things going in the winter to working seven days a week,” he says.

Two years ago, he retired from both jobs, though he’s still not far from the mountain and the Auto Road. In fact, he's just across the street at the new Glen House, a four-

The new Glen House that sits across the road from the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road.

ABOVE, RIGHT: A stage (aka van) taking people on a guided tour of Mount Washington.

season, 65-room, three-story hotel, which opened its doors in 2017. It’s owned by the Mount Washington Summit Company, but Wemyss and his wife are investors and actively involved in its operation.

“We invested in it because it has long been one of my goals to bring it back before I retired,” he says. “There was a need for a hotel here. The property was without one for 51 years.” The newly built hotel is the fifth iteration of the Glen House, the original built in the mid-1800s. The earlier hotels were all destroyed by fire.

The new Glen House has state-of-the-art fire detection and suppression. But that’s not the only contemporary advantage the hotel has; it also gets high marks for sustainability. There is geothermal heating and cooling, elevators that can generate some of their own electricity to run, solar panels that provide one-quarter of the hotel’s electricity, and a hydro-electric plant that provides 100% of the electricity to the Auto Road Lodge across the street.

The goal, Wemyss says, is to get away from fossil fuels completely. “Aside from saving money,

It’s a good business move,” he says. “There are people who will make a decision about where to stay based on the fact we’re trying to be as sustainable as possible.”

All of their efforts are paying off. Wemyss says the new Glen House has “bumped up” both the Auto Road business and the Great Glen Trails business. “The hotel is doing fabulously. It ramped up much faster than anyone expected,” he says. That was helped along by high praise from publications like USA Today (“One of top 10 best family resorts in the Northeast”) and Condé Nast Traveler (“One of the top hotels in New England”).

Service Credit Union is providing all of the financing for the hotel. “They’ve been great to work with, really great,” Wemyss says. “They cared about us and are proud to be a part of this historic operation. So that feels very good.” n

‘‘People want to challenge themselves on the mountain.’’

— HOWIE WEMYSS

Howie and Sue Wemyss take a moment to relax.

On a Mission

THE WE CARE FOOD PANTRY

To feed the community

physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally — that is the mission that Roger and Betty Eaton set out for themselves when they created two food pantries in New Hampshire, one in Milton and one in Plymouth. The two pantries now serve a total of more than 300 families every week, providing up to 5,000 pounds of food in Milton and up to 3,000 pounds in Plymouth. And that’s just the beginning of all that they do.

It was Roger — a veteran, retired, and a longtime volunteer in all kinds of organizations — who started the ball rolling back in 2016. He knew the person running the pantry at his church was leaving, so he asked Betty what she thought about running it. Betty, who was looking for new volunteer work at the time, said yes.

The first pantry, now distinct from the church, soon grew into two. In both, Betty says, “We never say no to anybody; it’s a food pantry that does not turn anyone away.” And it’s not just food that people get. The Eatons, with Roger as Chair of the Board and Betty as Director, also act as an informal social service agency.

If someone needs food stamps, an application for disability, housing, insurance, they’re told how to get them. Sometimes UNH Cooperative Extension will have an informational display about nutrition, giving out samples and recipes. Or a nurse intern from UNH will conduct a blood pressure or COVID-19 clinic and give flu shots. And every Friday, clothes and household items are given out. “Basically, we give our clients the resources they need, all for free,” Betty says. “It’s a one-stop shop for them.”

Roger and Betty Eaton started their first food pantry in 2016.

The Eatons do their good work, completely unpaid, with the help of a lot of volunteers —39 of them. Many are older people, one 92 years old. “He’s amazing,” Betty says. “He shows up every Friday in Milton, sets up the sign, sets up tables for clothing. And there’s another man, 84 years old, who cooks hot dogs for everyone. They once again feel like they have a purpose.”

When there’s a need, a volunteer will often step in. One of the volunteers saw the food supplies dwindling, so she bought a freezer to accommodate more donations. Then, another volunteer started to bring in food to fill that freezer every week.

“We’ve become a family,” Betty says. “I make something for lunch every Thursday and Friday, and we all sit down around a table together and socialize and fellowship. We’re literally loving, nurturing and encouraging the volunteers as well. So it’s like two big things that you’re doing.”

Those two big things are supported by donations from individuals and businesses, including Service Credit Union. “The credit union is a big one,” Roger says. “They give us a substantial donation.” He adds that when there’s been a need, Service CU has been there for them, whether it’s a food drive or help paying the bills.

It’s helpful because there are a lot of expenses. “Wintertime is especially rough,” Betty says. “We have a lot more clients coming in, and more bills coming in, so we’re usually very low on finances at that point.” They also have the expense of buying and maintaining three trucks to transport food from the New Hampshire Food Bank to their two pantries.

Both Roger and Betty work long hours, sometimes 12 or 14 hours a day. Ask Roger why they do it, and his answer is simple: “We like to help people, and it seemed like something we could do.” n

The We Care Food Pantry marked Veterans Day by allowing veterans to be first to shop. There was also a table display and patriotic music.

‘‘It seemed like something we could do.’’ — ROGER EATON

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Giving Back

COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE STATE BENEFIT

If money was not an issue, what are your dreams?” That’s the question that was posed by Service Credit Union’s Jaime Yates to Justin Munroe, the owner of Grow Nashua, an organization that’s creating community gardens in “food deserts.” Munroe said he would create free farmstands for people in need and buy a van for transporting the produce.

That dream was realized, thanks to Service CU. It is just one of the many community investments that the credit union has made over the years. “We support the communities we serve, creating value and enduring relationships,” Yates says. “It’s about more than getting seats at a table, sending them our logo and saying that we're a sponsor. I like to talk to these organizations to hear what their needs are, see where their gaps are.”

Yates, who is Manager of Community Relations, works to carry out the mission of community support, especially in relation to the areas of basic needs, the arts, education, youth sports, STEM, and military and veterans. “We look at all of our 35 branches across New Hampshire when we’re deciding where the most impact would be, what relationships and what partnerships we’re going to form, and what will impact the most people,” Yates says.

The most fulfilling for her are the partnerships with organizations that support veterans, which are a particular focus of Service CU. One of those organizations is Easterseals, which has a program called Veterans Count. It’s designed to provide veterans, service members and their families with critical and timely clinical and social services, as well as financial assistance.

“What’s unique about the Veterans Count program,” says Yates, “is that they match veterans with a care coordinator to help them get their individual needs met. As far as I know, they’re the only organization in the state with a program like that.” Just this year, $1.3 million was raised and donated to 25 veterans organizations.

Financial literacy is another focus. “We know that there’s a need for education about financial literacy,” Yates says. “Most of us don’t learn about that in school, those conversations aren’t being had. So what we’re doing is using fun ways to incorporate financial literacy information into the schools.”

Jaime Yates, Manager of Community Relations at Service Credit Union

‘‘ I think our members take pride in how we give back.’’

— JAIME YATES

One of the ways is through sports. Service CU is the official credit union of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA), and Yates says part of that relationship will be to provide financial literacy education to the high schools, through a program called Bite of Reality — a hands-on app that gives teens a taste of real-world financial situations and planning. This interactive activity will teach teens how to make financial decisions and give them a better understanding of the challenges of living on a budget.

Their efforts will be helped by the fact that New Hampshire just made personal financial literacy a high school curriculum requirement. This decision goes into effect in the next school year.

But Yates says it's also important to create new programs: “Outside of the organizations that we support, we also like to look at what's missing in the state, or how else we can show up in our own way and create something new.”

One new program is to provide warmth for people in need. For the past three years, Service CU volunteers have packed bags full of

hats, scarves, gloves and blankets, and distributed the items to numerous organizations across the state. “It’s a really beautiful program,” Yates says. “We are incredibly proud of it.”

Another program that was created a few years ago: Random Acts of Kindness. “This year,” Yates says, “when gas and grocery prices were rising, our staff went to gas stations and grocery stores and, as people

were checking out, staff members randomly paid for what people were buying.”

Yates says it’s important for Service CU to know it’s “doing right” by its members. “I think our members take pride in how we give back in the communities that they live and work in, and doing it in a way that is inclusive, that's wholesome.” n

At the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival, T-shirts brand the message about financial wellness.

The staff plays paintball at a Swim with a Mission event.

Financial Literacy (or FinLit, for short)

At Service Credit Union, part of our mission is to provide the resources needed to improve our members’ financial well-being. One of those resources is financial literacy, which allows people to make informed decisions about their finances. Here, sourced from Investopedia, is a list of the different types of corporate social responsibility. A company may choose to engage in any of these separately, and lack of involvement in one area does not necessarily exclude a company from being socially responsible.

Environmental Responsibility

Environmental responsibility is the pillar of corporate social responsibility rooted in preserving mother nature. Companies often pursue environmental stewardship through:

• Reducing pollution, waste, natural resource consumption and emissions through its manufacturing process.

• Recycling goods and materials throughout its processes including promoting re-use practices with its customers.

• Offsetting negative impacts by replenishing natural resources or supporting causes that can help neutralize the company's impact.

• Distributing goods consciously by choosing methods that have the least impact on emissions and pollution.

• Creating product lines that enhance these values.

Ethical Responsibility

Ethical responsibility is the pillar of corporate social responsibility rooted in acting in a fair, ethical manner. Instances of ethical responsibility include:

• Fair treatment across all customers regardless of age, race, culture or sexual orientation.

• Positive treatment of all employees including favorable pay and benefits in excess of mandated minimums.

• Expansion of vendor use to utilize different suppliers of different races, genders, veteran statuses or economic statuses.

• Honest disclosure of operating concerns to investors in a timely and respectful manner.

Philanthropic Responsibility

Philanthropic responsibility is the pillar of corporate social responsibility that challenges how a company acts and how it contributes to society. This includes:

• Whether a company donates profits to charities or causes it believes in.

• Whether a company only enters into transactions with suppliers or vendors that align with the company philanthropically.

• Whether a company supports employee philanthropic endeavors through time off or matching contributions.

• Whether a company sponsors fundraising events or has a presence in the community for related events.

Financial Responsibility

Financial responsibility is the pillar of corporate social responsibility that ties together the three areas above. A company makes plans to be more environmentally, ethically and philanthropically focused; however, the company must back these plans through financial investments. This includes spending on:

• Research and development for new products that encourage sustainability.

• Recruiting different types of talent to ensure a diverse workforce.

• Initiatives that train employees on DEI, social awareness or environmental concerns.

• Processes that might be more expensive but yield greater CSR results.

• Ensuring transparent and timely financial reporting including external audits.

Resources for Small Businesses

If you’re ready to set up a corporate social responsibility program, here are some resources that will help. You’ll find information that underscores why it’s important to your business to take that step, as well as guidance about what types of programs are possible, how to set them up, and their benefit to both your business and society.

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA’s “What Your Small Business Needs to Know” will tell you how to get started, the types of business structures that support CSR programs, and how a CSR program can help drive employment recruitment.

SCORE. The business mentoring organization provides a statistical infographic that highlights the growing impact of CSR programs in the business world. Among the statistics: 55% of customers are willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies.

Forbes Magazine. The story “How Small Businesses Are Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility Missions” provides information on a survey by UpCity, a business networking platform. Among other things, the survey shows 67% of businesses practice sustainability and 54% allow customers to donate a portion of their purchase to charity.

Harvard Business Review. Small businesses have an advantage over larger businesses with CSR programs, according to HBR’s story, Businesses Know About Corporate Responsibility.” The advantage, it reports: Small business owners are closer to their communities every day and can more easily see what issues matter the most.

Business News Daily. In “14 Great Examples of Socially Responsible Businesses,” companies that put social good at the heart of their business are listed. The story notes that consumers are paying attention to what your company supports, how you create your products and the impact you have on the environment.

Investopedia. The website provides examples and types of corporate social responsibility, as well as showing how CSR programs can improve the morale of employees.