Moensie Rossier.
Taking on pro bono projects is a great way to give back, but it’s also a powerful tool to ignite creative energy and growth. Moensie Rossier explains.
We owe much to the Romans (and Monty Python). Sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads and public health all come to mind. But they also perfectly encapsulated the spirit and benefits of professional voluntary work.
Pro bono publico – Latin for “the public good”.
Businesses give back in many ways, from volunteering for good causes to fundraising. But I’d argue there’s a better way. Instead, why not focus your time and effort on doing what you specialise in to maximise the impact of your actions?
This was the thinking behind the Principals Good Ideas Foundation. Set up to help social impact organisations, the foundation uses Principals’ branding expertise as a force for good.
When companies take on pro bono work, the good spreads to many different publics. Not only the beneficiaries of a charity, their employees and volunteers, but everyone in the organisation that took on the project sees a return on their investment.
Pro bono work doesn’t need to be 100 per cent out of pocket. Find a level that works for your business and weigh up the benefits. And there are many to consider.
Investing in their business and yours
Pro bono work gives us a golden opportunity to not only invest in worthy causes and organisations, it’s also an excellent way to invest internally. Through this work, new starters get trained and senior leaders flex their mentorship skills as everyone hones their craft.
Doing pro bono work can help your business expand into sectors it may not have worked across while developing fascinating case studies with a personal twist. This work will have broad relevance as you highlight transferable skills you can apply across any organisation, charity or commercial.
Case in point, our work with Australian Red Cross. Working with the organisation, we helped to put their purpose and ability to mobilise back at the core. And this led to a dramatic simplification of the Australian Red Cross identity and sub-brands. This kind of architecture challenge is common in branding with lessons for all.
Open unexpected doors
The more good work you do, the more exposure you have to all sorts of opportunities. Attracted by broad and deep experience, prospective clients knock on the door, and former clients return, some in new roles, closing a virtuous circle of good.
We saw this in action through our work with Social Ventures Australia (SVA), an organisation created to help solve systemic social problems by redesigning systems, helping institutions think differently and working with partners and communities to take action. Our efforts to crystallise the organisation’s positioning and elevator pitch have helped SVA attract new long-term partners and raise its profile, while raising our own profile in the eyes of SVA’s influential stakeholders.
Inspire your people
Knowing we’ve contributed to something important gives our people the warm and fuzzies, a heightened sense of accomplishment, a feeling of pride. Energy levels lift. We tell our friends and families. They may still be baffled by what it is we do for a living, but they share a smile, an insight into what drives us, a window into our world. Friends’ ears prick up, their curiosity sparked about joining our team.
Recently, we’ve helped Pankind raise the urgency of action to solve pancreatic cancer once and for all and give those affected a fair chance of survival. It’s work to be proud of, something that genuinely makes a difference in people’s lives. The kind of work you want to tell people about.
In recent months, financials have consumed many companies amid global uncertainty, a race to harness AI and increased competitiveness. Targets and quarterly figures have sucked energy out of the room.
If your organisation needs a counterpoint to the pressures of commercialisation, it’s time to take the plunge and lift spirits, creativity and productivity with pro bono work that harnesses your specialism. Consider it an investment in your business.
Moensie Rossier is the Strategy Director and Principal at branding agency Principals.