Community Sharing and Working Together

From defining community to revisiting our younger days when we were told to share, we learn that community sharing can help determine basic business practices. So, what is a community? It is a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society. Community is also described as a feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals.

As we all have been taught from a young age, sharing is to partake of, use, experience, occupy or enjoy things and experiences with others. When you put the two together, it becomes a strong sense of belonging. And when businesses adopt these practices, their business will grow exponentially!

Community sharing with people wearing lanyards and name tags while serving others.

“The key benefit of the sharing economy that we are the most passionate about is that it empowers people,” says Rachel Botsman, founder and director of Collaborative Consumption and author of the book What’s Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption is Changing the Way We Live. “It empowers people to live more sustainably, to build community in new ways, to make money from their existing assets and most importantly, to rediscover a human connection we have lost somewhere along the way.”

When businesses get together in their communities and take pride in everyone’s work, they will see growth and camaraderie that can only be accomplished together.

As the sharing economy picks up momentum, its reach has become global. In cities and towns around the world, people are creating ways to share everything from baby clothes to boats, hardware to vacation homes. There are also groups emerging that consciously identify with the big picture sharing movement. These groups focus on education, action and community building and advocate for a cultural shift toward widespread sharing.

From neighborhood level cooperatives to global organizations, these groups work to bring sharing into the mainstream. They see sharing as a new paradigm; a means to a more democratic society, and they understand that sharing is not a new fad but an ancient practice that technology is reinvigorating.

Connecting to Others Through Community Sharing

Identification products are more valuable than you might think when you involve them with your community sharing. From neighborhood get togethers to corporation events, name tags and ribbons are the best tools to get your brand out there. In addition, adding your logo to these products at community events can increase your brand reach.

Building these social connections can also help you reach your professional goals. By building relationships with people at work and in your community, you form a strong network of people who trust your abilities and are willing to support your business. And, in turn, you prove to your community that you are eager to help them succeed.

Building community: how sharing ideas can bring us all together

As the world grows more connected, digitally and physically, people are living closer together and interacting in ways they never have before. As a result, the process of building communities – coming together with people across cultures to share goals and ideas – is more important than ever before.

When it comes to joining together to make our neighborhoods, our cities, and our world better, one of the most important things we can do is to find out what we have in common. When we share something with the people around us – no matter how small or insignificant it seems – it can help us make connections we never realized we could.

Public art projects, community development groups, and museums are some of the people and organizations who are using this principle to bring us all closer. Check out these amazing examples of people getting together in completely new ways.

The idea here is that your community doesn’t just buy your product or service. The community stays with your business because they trust how you make them feel. You are providing solutions to their problems. So, the more you know about your community, the more you can help it grow. And by supporting your community, you help your business grow.

Building Customer Relationships

The key to any good relationship is communication. Keeping open lines between yourself, your employees and your customers is crucial to your success. Without this communication, those customer relationships that keep you in business will fall short of where you need them. And remember that without your customers, you will go nowhere.

You must meet the standards that the customer expects from you. This could mean products or services rendered. Make sure that everything your business does is for the customer. Not only will this help with the retention of current customers, but this can also bring in others that your clientele tells about your wonderful company.

Identification and Community Sharing

Name tags, personalized ribbons and other identification products will help your brand reach. However, and more importantly, these products will let you reach out to your community and let them know who you are and that you are there to help. Here are three products with ways they will help in your community.

Three stock rosette ribbons that are for first, second and third place.

Everyone Deserves an Award (Place Rosettes)

Community recognition can happen anywhere: school art shows or neighborhood events, so be prepared with award ribbons. Reward those in attendance as well as winners at any gathering.

A black reusable speedy badge with a printed insert for a community sharing event.

Reusable Speedy Badges and Community Sharing

Come together in your community by sharing products and services with those around you (name tags included). These reusable badges will identify everyone at your next community event.

Gold imprinted custom badge ribbon for a community event award.

Using Badge Ribbons as Show Passes

Create unique awards and passes with custom imprinted badge ribbons attached to contestants and given to guests. These ribbons are the perfect way to make sure that everyone at your event feels invited and welcome.

Read More: Better Your Brand with Community Service

Building a brand is something every business regularly focuses on. From excellent customer service to high quality products, brand reputation is everything you do to retain customers. This reputation directly impacts your customer’s behavior toward your company. Making sure that you better your brand will help you stay in business. You are building your brand reputation by producing high quality interactions with clients and customers.

Donations are a great way to show your customers how much you care about their needs. Giving something away is about adding value to your community, no matter if it is time or money. The joy we get from giving our products to those in need helps us to better our brand by investing in our community. By building this reputation, we continue to help those around us and improve our brand.

Community Networking & Donating Yourself

Donating time, money or product is necessary to keep in tandem with your community networking.

community networking and focusing on company branding through donations

A community is a group of people with common interests and unique, shared values.

A general definition of community typically appears as a group of people with diverse characteristics who are linked by social ties, share common perspectives and engage in joint action in geographical locations or settings.

Networking is the bringing together of like minds for a like purpose.

Having a supportive system of sharing and exchanging information and services among individuals, groups or institutions that have a mutual interest better defines networking. Specifically, it is the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business. It is fundamental to note that networking is also an active development of these current business relationships.

Donations help those around us to feel like they belong and bring to aid to those in need.

Commonly used as a gift for charity, humanitarian aid or to benefit a cause, donations can benefit not only the receiver but also the giver. These donations may take various forms, including money, alms, services or goods such as clothing, toys, food or transportation services.

But, what do those three things have in common?

Let’s turn to the relationship you find when you look at Coller Industries Incorporated and the Granite Education Foundation (GEF). For nearly 10 years, the relationship between these two companies has been a stable feature in many lives. From recognizing outstanding teachers and other educators to winning over the hearts of students in the Salt Lake Valley, Coller Industries’ reach into the Granite School District is felt by many. And not only felt, but appreciated in a plethora of ways.

Yes, this relationship is primarily built on product and monetary donations. However, it is also formed on trust and fellowship. From name tags for school events to money for shoes and coats for students in the school district, everything Coller Industries gives to the Granite Education Foundation builds into a network of creating community understanding. This understanding reaches far beyond what even we could initially see.

Creating Community Understanding

Understanding the community concept teaches that no matter the setting, there are things which must be done to keep it healthy. These insights are supported and managed by people feeling that they belong somewhere. And this comes with accepting each other and the diversity of those around you. This community understanding makes us responsible for those around us. In turn, this community responsibility not only aids those in need, but it assists everyone influenced by any actions in that community.

Donations are one way that makes us more responsible in our community. And, building trust in our community is not only a requirement but also the best way to maintain any community. This is why we, as a company, are always looking to help out in our neighborhood and surrounding areas. And what better way than in our local schools. The Granite Education Foundation manages the school district where our office is located. Its reach, however, is so much farther. And, by partnering and networking with the GEF, we can extend our reach as well.

Here’s to Thank Yous

Every year the GEF sends Coller Industries tokens of the student’s appreciation for our donations. These wonderful expressions of thankfulness have touched all of us here at Coller Industries. And, in turn, we want them to reach out into our community so that everyone can see the benefits of community networking.

valentines from our community of students in the Granite Education Foundation

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Granite Education Foundation and students from across the district wanted to express a heartfelt thanks for all you do. Enclosed you will find hand-made Valentine’s Day cards our students created with YOU in mind. Thank you for being a part of our last 30 years, and we look forward to spending many more with you.

Yours truly,

The Granite Education Foundation Team

 

Seeing these simple expressions of gratitude helps us to understand what these continued donations provide for our community. And, they also help us to know where we can make more of an impact. Although our brand reaches out in our community and networks with other companies, it is crucial that we focus on the humanity of these donations.

This expression of gratitude gives us the opportunity to learn from other businesses and continue to grow and maintain our networking experiences. And, through this networking in our community, we can show how to sustain a positive business culture of quality and understanding. Networking is vital to this development. We are continually working with our customers to retain and develop working relationships through other donations means as well.

Bringing Community into Networking

By reaching into our community and taking part in networking opportunities for organizations like the GEF, we can see how much our brand resonates in others. We also find how our brand reflects in our community.

One of the most important benefits of networking that people tend to overlook is that it allows you to help other people. Granted, our motives in the professional world are rarely altruistic, but helping someone else with their career goals can be truly rewarding.

By finding and networking within your community, you can become a trendsetter and an industry leader. And, isn’t that what every business desires? To take a lead and direct their community should be every entrepreneur’s dream and goal. So, by donating time, money or product to your community, you are not only giving someone a hand up in life, but you also help your brand. While this may seem a little selfish at first, these donations help sustain the growth and reach of your community. So, don’t take these business relationships for granted. Use them to support yourself while helping others.

Improving your reputation and finding support are also benefits of networking.

If you are successful at networking, you might get a reputation for being a person people will want to talk to and get to know. A good reputation leads to support. You may have valuable information, ideas, and resources those in your network may need. Establishing your desire to assist a colleague increases your credibility. The important thing to remember about networking is the growth you will experience by putting yourself “out there” and taking steps to improving yourself and your organization.

By donating to the Granite Education Foundation and helping them with their needs, we benefit the lives of countless children. In turn, this helps each student’s family retain their position in their neighborhood. And that’s only the beginning of the chain. By paying our efforts forward, and nourishing our networking relationships, we are cultivating our community. We also set higher standards for those around us.

And this is how businesses thrive. So, by donating in your community, your networking experiences flourish, and your business grows. Commit to your business quality and brand all while helping those around you by this simple method: donations.