The Australian Charities Fund Operations Limited

June is Workplace Giving Month!

Workplace Giving Month is a catalyst and opportunity for employers to encourage greater staff participation in workplace giving programs and for community organisations to recognise and celebrate program impact.

An ACF initiative to help raise awareness of workplace giving and encourage even more Australians to give at work, ACF is pleased to report the majority of our employer partners are targeting a 30% increase on their current participation rates. Most are running at least one campaign and event during the month of June.

Many of our community partners have jumped at the opportunity to play their part in lifting the lid on one of the most cost effective and impactful forms of fundraising. New employer partner engagement opportunities and initiatives have been created for those who already have workplace giving programs, and targeted workplace giving stories developed for some of their employer partners.

Community partners are also leveraging Workplace Giving Month to inform and educate corporate partners who do not currently offer workplace giving about the difference it can make.

The team at ACF wish all our partners success achieving the goals they set themselves for Workplace Giving Month and ACF looks forward to sharing stories of their success in the months to come.

Why get involved in workplace giving?

• Leverage: A matched payroll donation (with its tax deduction) 'turbo charges' a non deductible donation thrown into a bucket on the street.

• Building morale: Workplace giving provides a great opportunity for businesses to build employee morale. Taking the recent floods as a focus for workplace giving as an example, the message from senior leaders to their employees can be: "We will match your donations so let's pull together to help the recovery".

• Cost effectiveness: Workplace giving is the most efficient and lowest cost fundraising channel for community organisations.

• The power of numbers: Workplace giving demonstrates the power of 'we' where small change can make a big difference. Each business and the broader community can celebrate the impact of thousands of people pooling their donations.

• Sustainability: Community organisations need long term sustainable funding. Workplace giving pledges provide this, enabling community organisations to plan programs with far greater certainty than if they are relying on one-off donations. The average donation per ACF donor per annum is $580.00. This average held steady despite the GFC and the impact of disaster relief donations.

• Transparency: ACF works with community organisations to provide regular reports to employer partners and their donors on the difference their donations make. This provides a structured and program-relevant way for employees to learn about the impact of their donations - an issue that our research highlighted is critical to donor retention and acquisition.