The Australian Charities Fund Operations Limited

Winners of the inaugural Australian Workplace Giving Awards were announced on 5 September 2011 at the Awards Ceremony held at NSW Parliament House in Sydney.

View more about the awards winners here.

Following ACF's Annual Conference on 14 September, Pro Bono Australia published a news piece on their website entitled, "ACF Employer Leadership Initiative". The article listed ACF's 10 ELI members as introduced by ACF CEO, Ted Kerr, at the conference and went on to explain that October 1 is the official roll out date of ACF's new partnership model. Read the full Pro Bono News article.

ACF’s founding Chief Executive and current Deputy Chairman, Greg Hutchinson, was interviewed in May 2010 on ‘Social Business’.

Co-hosted by The Centre for Social Impact's Peter Shergold and Sky News presenter Brooke Corte, 'Social Business' airs each month on Sky News Business channel (channel 602) and focuses on key issues around social entrepreneurship, public and social innovation and the emergence of new social businesses.

In the interview Hutchinson discusses workplace giving, how Australia compares with international benchmarks, what governments can do to support the growth of workplace giving, and its potential.

Engaged employee giving was highlighted by The Australian Financial Review (“AFR”) as paying a ‘special dividend’ to shareholders in a feature on corporate philanthropy dated Thursday 3 June 2010.   

In particular, it was noted that benefits to shareholders, such as in branding and staff retention, can be increased if the corporation's charitable activities can be organised so that they are aligned with corporate strategy. 

Corporate initiatives such as workplace giving, volunteering programs and the provision of pro bono services were acknowledged as having significant social impact by building the capacity and skills of not-for-profit organisations. 

The potential of workplace giving was also explored by the AFR, citing ACF’s 2009 report “Cutting to the Heart of Workplace Giving”.  Scope for growth and the overall impact that could be achieved from the collective impact of donations made by corporations and their employees were mentioned in highlighting the need for employers to embrace workplace giving.

In January 2010, ACF (through a generous donation from one of our supporters) was a sponsor of 'Celebrate Australia', the first ever Australia Day Concert to take place in the Sydney Domain. As part of the sponsorship package, ACF had an advertisement published in The Sydney Morning Herald.

View the full 'Workplace Giving Donations Make a World of Difference' advertisement.

The Financial Review’s BOSS Magazine wrote that payroll giving has been described as the slowest great idea to take off though it is now getting a burst of energy even as headcounts are shrinking. The article also reported that it’s a practice that seems to have winners all round: employers find it lifts employee engagement and builds community connection; employees like the ease of it; and charities appreciate the no-fuss, steady income flow.

ACF’s chief executive said: “We really hope to tap into the psychology of giving in the workplace. We know from the UK and US experience that regular employee giving can create a significant and stable source of funding for the charitable sector but we haven’t yet cracked the code on engaging employees and building participation in Australia.”

The Financial Review also picked up on the release of ‘The Giving Business’ report and explained how Investec chairman and philanthropist David Gonski got involved in supporting payroll giving. Among the many ideas presented to David through a series of innovation sessions, then Bain & Co advisor Greg Hutchison pitched payroll giving. “He persuaded me that, aside from baby rockers and batteries, payroll giving was it.”

Businesses and employees can “easily do more” with corporate giving programs reported The Age newspaper following the release of ‘The Giving Business’, a report on payroll giving in Australia by The Australian Charities Fund, Charities Aid Foundation, United Way, the Centre for Social Impact and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The article noted that less than 1 per cent of Australian employees participate in payroll giving programs, despite tax changes introduced in 2002 that allow donations to be made from pre-tax income and that more than two-thirds of the 150 companies surveyed for the report had never heard of payroll giving.