Why and How Transparency Matters when Trying to Make a Social Impact

Transparency builds trust and legitimacy of a brand among consumers. Suppose our organizations are into fundraising and crowdfunding for various purposes like education and medical treatments. In that case, they should be transparent to have a great social impact on the people. A brand is built by the trust of the people it is willing to serve, so transparency of our brand’s motives and purposes is necessary to gain people’s confidence.

Ketto is a crowdfunding website or platform that easily creates several fundraisers and charitable channels. This could help us generate support for our campaign within a few clicks. 

Social impact investments are made for various purposes ranging from environmental causes to societal changes. Such investments are made to change the idea of getting tax benefits also. This article follows the outlines of why and how transparency matters while creating social impact efforts.

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Tax benefits & Social Impact 

The enterprises or organizations that believe in creating social impact often enjoy tax benefits.

Section 80G of the income tax act in India provides organizations associated with certain crowdfunding websites and makes regular donations towards fundraising campaigns with a tax rebate from 50% to even 100%, according to the Act. Similarly, the government of the UK introduced social investment tax relief in 2014 to encourage organizations to step up for a good cause. The tax benefits we can enjoy from such programs could easily range from financial returns, tax relief benefits, tax deductions, and social impact returns.

We can fill out the tax returns in India; if we have the following documents:

1. PAN

2. Aadhaar

3. Bank account details

4. Form 16

5. Investment details.

That’s all we need. Filing for returns is no hassle. Follow the below-mentioned steps, and we are good to go:

• Log on to the income tax department portal

• Download the income tax return

• Enter the asked details in form 16

• Calculate the tax details

• Confirm all the above done

• Submit the return

It is that easy! If we want to enjoy these benefits of social impact efforts, we should also step up toward the well-being of society. We can start a quick medical treatment fundraiser/cancer treatment fundraiser/educating India through crowdfunding campaigns on Ketto!

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Transparency and social impact efforts

Why Transparency?

Social impact efforts taken by our brand or organization need to be transparent because of various reasons:

• The consumers of our product or brand should be aware of our motto behind the fundraising. Our contributions should be transparent; we need to keep it clear that if we contribute towards the medical treatment fundraising, it is due to the lack of funds at the patient’s end and not because their medical insurance gets rejected.

• Transparency will help people understand the objective of our organization. Only donating or fundraising is not enough, as it could easily be shown as a marketing ploy. Transparency about our contributions and our purpose of contribution for making a social impact can build a sense of trust and legitimacy of our social betterment claims among people. 

• Transparency widens the horizon of speaking or taking a firm stand on multiple social issues. Most people believe that many brands and organizations are only interested in tax rebates. It is essential to make people understand that we are into social service and environmental protection and will take a stand to create a better social impact.

How Transparency Matters? 

• Social impact efforts matter, and so does being transparent about them. These could affect the shopping pattern of consumers. For instance, people do not prefer buying items from brands that are not cruelty-free and tested on animals, whereas products made while taking care of the environment and animals are in great demand. Delivering the customers an eco-friendly and socially contributed experience product can make them loyal and long-term partners.

• The actions we are implying and steps we are taking to benefit society give us an upper hand with tax rebates and reliefs and accommodate the goal of being kind toward the surroundings and people.

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Conclusion

Being transparent about our good deeds can benefit us in the long run. Not only will people get attracted to our ideas, but they also will trust us with our franchise. On the other hand, the tax benefits of social impact efforts and charitable contributions are enormous. So being inclined with our objective of doing good and earning profits could be fulfilled by taking specific steps. We only have to determine how and what to do to make a difference in society and the environment.

The second most important step is talking to people about what we are up to. If our firm or brand is investing in social impact services for which we are charging a bit higher than before, then we must mention the reason for it to the public. This will help us get a hold of our customers, fulfilling our purpose of doing good for communication.