Whether it’s running a charity 5k, serving lunch to the homeless or simply fundraising for a cause close to your heart, having a social giving strategy in your business is a must. It’s also an easy and fun way to motivate and inspire your team while giving back and connecting with the local community you serve.

Our VP of Marketing Lisa Fettner recently interviewed Caroline Pinal, co-founder of Giveback Homes – a community of real estate professionals who are committed to creating social change by helping build homes for deserving families around the world.

ReferralExchange has had the pleasure of working with Giveback Homes over the past few years to develop our own giving plan which has included local build days with our employees in California and fundraising for projects in Nicaragua and Puerto Rico.

Below are tips from Caroline on how you can easily integrate social giving into your real estate business.

• Treat your giving strategy like your business plan for it to be impactful and successful. Saying you are going to donate to a cause once a year is not enough, you must put pen to paper and make it happen.
• Getting active in your local community can help build your network and clientele. Caroline shared that sometimes Giveback Homes members will reach out to one another if they have a referral in another city or state, and at closing each agent will donate to a build project. That’s double the social impact.
• Step one of creating a giving strategy = finding your cause. Once you’ve determined that, do your research and due diligence to decide which organization you should partner with. It’s also important to clearly set your giving goal so you can quantify your impact and celebrate those milestones and success.
• Incorporating giving into your business strategy can be overwhelming, but Caroline encourages agents and brokers to start small (start today!) and let your giving efforts and goals grow year after year.

Click above to watch the full interview and learn more at givebackhomes.com.

Want more time to build relationships that grow your business? ReferralExchange verifies your leads and referrals, contacts and gives them back to you when they’re ready to transact, and matches those clients outside of your area, price point or property type with three great agents.