The Business Case for Doing good:
How leading with values strengthens your team and drives success
AS SEEN IN the Cincinnati Business Courier
By Brad McMonigle, CEO of St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati
Why values matters more than ever
Walk into any boardroom in Cincinnati and ask a C-suite leader what keeps them up at night. The answers are consistent: pressure on the bottom line, retaining top talent, building strong teams. And yet, what if the solution wasn’t another incentive program or office perk? What if the key to a high-performing team was something deeper? Something more human?
Consumers expect companies to make a tangible difference in their local community. Employees are craving opportunities to create meaningful impact beyond their day-to-day work.
Increasingly, the most successful businesses aren’t just investing in products or services; they’re investing in values. And it’s paying off.
Purpose builds stronger businesses
At St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati, we serve neighbors who need food, medication, clothing, and housing stability. As the CEO, I’m lucky: I get to live out my values in my workplace every day. But you don’t have to run a nonprofit to do that. Any leader can lead with purpose. Any company can align its mission with impact. And when you do, it makes your people, and your business, stronger.
We’ve seen firsthand how value-driven partnerships don’t just make a social impact; they improve team cohesion, strengthen internal culture, and build brand trust with customers. It’s more than charity. It’s strategy.
How to partner with purpose
Through our Partnership with Purpose initiative, we offer ready-made ways for companies to live out their values and engage their teams:
- Sponsor events – Showcase your brand as a community-focused leader while connecting your team to a cause that matters.
- Volunteer as a team – Build camaraderie, morale, and purpose by serving together in our food pantry, warehouse, or outreach programs.
- Host a drive – Rally your workplace around a cause by collecting essential items like food, coats, toys, or hygiene products for neighbors in need.
- Set up employee giving – Empower employees to make a difference with payroll-deducted donations that go directly to helping local families.
- Corporate matching – Match employee contributions to double your company’s impact and incentivize broader participation.
- Lead a fundraising campaign – Engage your team or customers in giving through employee challenges, round-up campaigns, or cause-driven promotions.
- Book a service-learning experience – Deepen understanding and empathy through immersive poverty simulations that challenge teams to “walk a mile” in a neighbor’s shoes.
- Provide grant funding – Invest in critical services like rent and utility assistance, food pantries, or our Charitable Pharmacy.
These partnerships have real, measurable impact: they’ve helped us shorten wait times for services, expand programs we couldn’t otherwise fund, and serve more families with greater dignity and efficiency.
Start small. Grow with impact.
Some of our partners volunteer weekly. Others host one event a year. Many start with a holiday toy drive or sponsorship and grow into something much deeper. No matter your company’s size or sector, we’ll help you take the first step and grow from there.
Why SVDP? A trusted local partner for over 150 years
St. Vincent de Paul isn’t just a nonprofit — we’re a network of neighbors helping neighbors. Every year, we serve thousands of individuals across Greater Cincinnati through emergency assistance, food pantries, prescription support, homelessness prevention, and more. We’ve earned the trust of this community for over 150 years by walking alongside people in need and by partnering with businesses that want to make a difference.
What long-term impact looks like: Protective’s 10+ year partnership
One company that has fully embraced this model is Protective. From regularly volunteering in our food pantry to sponsoring events, and from hosting drives to empowering employee giving, they’ve integrated purpose into their culture and built a stronger company in the process.
“We take a great deal of pride in our involvement with St. Vincent de Paul,” says Aaron Seurkamp, SVP and President, Protection & Retirement, of Protective. “Employees need to feel connected with an organization, and they can only carry that so far within the walls of the office. When we have the opportunity to go out and make a real difference in the community, that’s when you see engagement levels go up, retention levels improve, and you really see a high performing team come together.”
Make purpose part of your business plan
Whether you’re leading a Fortune 500 firm or a growing startup, the challenge is the same: how do you make your workplace more meaningful? How do you empower your team? How do you strengthen your business and your city at the same time? You partner with purpose.
If you are an executive in Greater Cincinnati, here’s my challenge: let your values lead. Ask yourself what matters to you. Ask your employees what matters to them. Then take one step. Host a drive. Plan a volunteer day. Launch a giving campaign.
You do not have to figure it out alone. St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati makes it easy!
Let’s team up and build something that matters to your team, to your company, and to our community.
Start today at SVDPcincinnati.org/purpose.
Retention. Culture. Bottom-line results. Top-performing companies in Cincinnati are crediting their success to Purpose. Volunteerism and community engagement aren’t just perks; they’re smart business. Partner with St. Vincent de Paul to put your values into action and make an impact on both your company and your community.
Visit SVDPcincinnati.org/purpose.
St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati is a trusted local nonprofit that has been delivering emergency help and hope to neighbors in need for over 150 years. With deep community roots and a network of volunteers, St. Vincent de Paul provides essential support like food, housing, clothing, and medicine to families throughout Greater Cincinnati.