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There is no firm in business today that isn't inundated regularly by requests for contributions, whether they are for charitable, community or political causes. For the community-minded firm, the requests can be overwhelming, as is the feeling that you do indeed want to help the organization requesting your help. But how can you serve your community ' and frequently, your firm ' without hurting your own firm's budget and community relations? You can say yes too often and dissipate your budget and your firm's time and energy, but how do you say no without seeming to be coldhearted and indifferent to community or charitable needs?
The array of charitable and political requests is vast, and puts many a firm in the position of having to make painful decisions about each request. A firm giving policy can help. It serves to depersonalize the process, without diminishing its value, and is understood by most professional fund raisers. A firm policy defines, as well, the role and limits of individual activities performed under the firm's aegis. At the same time, it should be remembered that firm giving is, in many respects, a marketing decision.
A well-defined ' and written ' firm policy clearly delineates the firm's contribution practices, including the budget. By having it set forth in writing, it is then the policy, and not the management of the firm, that's accepting or declining requests for contributions. It enables you to say: 'We'd love to contribute, but it's beyond our budget for contributions,' or: 'We'd love to help, but our firm giving policy has limited the causes to which we're able to contribute. Try us again next year.'
Beyond civic and humanitarian reasons for giving, there are sound reasons for participating in contributing to good causes. For example:
It's probably the better part of wisdom, before establishing any policies, to ask the partners and staff of the firm to give some input on their own practices, organizations, and so forth. This should give you a greater sense of what you're doing now, and what you should do differently.
Although it's difficult to set hard and fast rules ' other than to establish budgets ' by categorizing these activities, it becomes easier to assess the potential return on the investment of firm time, money and reputation.
Within each category, there are categories of participation. These include:
The choice of activities to support, as well as the budget allotted to contribution, are a choice to be made by each firm and its circumstances. What has worked for many firms, however, is to adopt one cause as primary, and then allocating smaller amounts to a second tier of support. This allows you to capitalize on your own community support, and focus your attention on your participation more effectively.
By developing policies based on these guidelines, and assuring that every person in your firm understands them, requests for contributions are made in an orderly fashion, without undue agonizing about each request.
Bill Ruder, of Ruder & Finn, used to encourage clients to participate in community and charitable causes. He called it doing well by doing good. And of course, he was right.
There is no firm in business today that isn't inundated regularly by requests for contributions, whether they are for charitable, community or political causes. For the community-minded firm, the requests can be overwhelming, as is the feeling that you do indeed want to help the organization requesting your help. But how can you serve your community ' and frequently, your firm ' without hurting your own firm's budget and community relations? You can say yes too often and dissipate your budget and your firm's time and energy, but how do you say no without seeming to be coldhearted and indifferent to community or charitable needs?
The array of charitable and political requests is vast, and puts many a firm in the position of having to make painful decisions about each request. A firm giving policy can help. It serves to depersonalize the process, without diminishing its value, and is understood by most professional fund raisers. A firm policy defines, as well, the role and limits of individual activities performed under the firm's aegis. At the same time, it should be remembered that firm giving is, in many respects, a marketing decision.
A well-defined ' and written ' firm policy clearly delineates the firm's contribution practices, including the budget. By having it set forth in writing, it is then the policy, and not the management of the firm, that's accepting or declining requests for contributions. It enables you to say: 'We'd love to contribute, but it's beyond our budget for contributions,' or: 'We'd love to help, but our firm giving policy has limited the causes to which we're able to contribute. Try us again next year.'
Beyond civic and humanitarian reasons for giving, there are sound reasons for participating in contributing to good causes. For example:
It's probably the better part of wisdom, before establishing any policies, to ask the partners and staff of the firm to give some input on their own practices, organizations, and so forth. This should give you a greater sense of what you're doing now, and what you should do differently.
Although it's difficult to set hard and fast rules ' other than to establish budgets ' by categorizing these activities, it becomes easier to assess the potential return on the investment of firm time, money and reputation.
Within each category, there are categories of participation. These include:
The choice of activities to support, as well as the budget allotted to contribution, are a choice to be made by each firm and its circumstances. What has worked for many firms, however, is to adopt one cause as primary, and then allocating smaller amounts to a second tier of support. This allows you to capitalize on your own community support, and focus your attention on your participation more effectively.
By developing policies based on these guidelines, and assuring that every person in your firm understands them, requests for contributions are made in an orderly fashion, without undue agonizing about each request.
Bill Ruder, of Ruder & Finn, used to encourage clients to participate in community and charitable causes. He called it doing well by doing good. And of course, he was right.
End of year collections are crucial for law firms because they allow them to maximize their revenue for the year, impacting profitability, partner distributions and bonus calculations by ensuring outstanding invoices are paid before the year closes, which is especially important for meeting financial targets and managing cash flow throughout the firm.
Law firms and companies in the professional services space must recognize that clients are conducting extensive online research before making contact. Prospective buyers are no longer waiting for meetings with partners or business development professionals to understand the firm's offerings. Instead, they are seeking out information on their own, and they want to do it quickly and efficiently.
Through a balanced approach that combines incentives with accountability, firms can navigate the complexities of returning to the office while maintaining productivity and morale.
The paradigm of legal administrative support within law firms has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last decade. But this begs the question: are the changes to administrative support successful, and do law firms feel they are sufficiently prepared to meet future business needs?
Counsel should include in its analysis of a case the taxability of the anticipated and sought after damages as the tax effect could be substantial.