Small Firms Offer Pro Bono Work to Keep Busy and Build Business

Small businesses that have lost work due to the recession are providing more volunteer services to charities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The boost in voluntary work not only keeps employees busy but also can pay off in marketing and customer-relations terms. One Boston architectural firm, for example, reaped several paying contracts when projects for which it had done pro bono designs later received funding.

“When there are fewer opportunities, there are more choices of whom people are going to do business with. [People will] be more influenced by the relationship that you’ve cultivated,” said Audrey Murrell, a professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business.