You don’t need the resources of an ASX top-100 company to start a company giving program. An initial investment of $20,000 (min) and completion of a simple form will get your company-branded, charitable sub-fund up and running.

Our model of giving allows your company to continue to do what it does best without the administrative burden and demand on your resources, thus maximising the use of your philanthropic dollar.

Our structure allows your company and employees to be as engaged or hands-off as you want. 

A corporate community charitable fund can add value to your broader corporate social responsibility (CSR) program and help you address the increasing CSR expectations from stakeholders (employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, etc).

We provide a low-cost, flexible and effective structure to assist companies achieve their charitable giving objectives. 

We will:

• work with you and your employees to create a community investment approach that best meets your company’s mission and value statements
• provide a one-stop service for easy establishment and low-cost management of a company-branded, national charitable sub-fund
• provide a quality, personalised service and expertise so you are confident and secure in knowing your charitable dollars are professionally managed and distributed now and in the future
• provides community and grantmaking research and advice nationally, to support your operations anywhere in Australia
• assist you to implement a workplace-giving program easily and simply, so employers and employees can share and contribute to a common goal – helping communities in need.

What are the benefits of a corporate branded charitable fund?

It will:

• demonstrate socially responsible practices and support your triple bottom line reporting expectations
• demonstrate and evidence your values and commitment to supporting your community
• provide integrity through using a community based not-for-profit foundation, operating at arms length with all contributions gifted in perpetuity to the community
• evidence your corporate culture and engage your staff in a whole of organisation approach to charitable support and giving
• provide a coherent, simple, effective and open process to manage all your charitable and community giving
• generate a regular annual income to distribute, one not reliant on the peaks and troughs of company performance or cash-flow.
  

The return on your social investment can include:

• acknowledgement as an employer of choice
• improved workplace culture
• attraction and retention of quality staff
• building workplace morale and engagement
• building support from your local communities and customers
• adding value to your company’s reputation and brand.

How does workplace giving work?

Workplace giving is a simple and effective way for staff to regularly donate to charitable organisations, through automated payroll deductions.

It operates under a pre-tax system, which results in an automatic tax deduction for employees, without the need for staff to keep and claim receipts. There is no tax payable on the amount employees forego, and no liability for fringe benefits tax.

Employees pledge a nominated amount to the company’s sub-fund, and the donation is automatically deducted from their pay and sent to your sub-fund.

This works particularly well where companies pledge to match employee contributions.

Next steps

If you do not have a corporate community program, now is the time to start.  Please give us a call on 03 94120412 or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Corporate Program Profiles

Here are some examples of how other corporate companies are making a difference.

APT Charitable and Conservation Fund

Australian Pacific Touring (APT)

www.aptouring.com.au

A family owned company since its conception in the 1920s, APT began when Bill McGeary built a bus body on a tray truck after a tram strike crippled the city of Melbourne. Through Bill's son Geoff, APT pioneered Australia's dynamic travel industry in the 1960s and 70s via a diverse range of modes. Such innovation continues to thrive and APT is now a multi-brand business with an extensive global portfolio of touring and cruising products still owned and controlled by the McGeary family.

As we travel, many of us are aware of how lucky we are to visit and experience this 'wide brown land' of Australia. But how often do we, as travellers, have the opportunity to experience something vastly more tangible from our environmentally-conscious efforts?

In 2003 the owners of APT, Anne and Geoff McGeary, established the APT Charitable and Conservation fund, as a sub-fund of Melbourne Community Foundation, with the vision of making a tangible contribution to a global responsible tourism plan. While the fund was initially set up to help protect wildlife under threat, the recent tragedy in Burma extended the fund's goals to include humanitarian programs.

A percentage of APT's profits is donated to the fund which is supporting:

• the Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
• the Tasmanian Devil Sponsorship Program to the list, to support the protection of endangered species around Australia
• the protection of endangered native species throughout the Wet Tropics and Einasleigh Uplands regions of Queensland in the Brooklyn Sanctuary. 

Holding Redlich Social Justice Fund

Holding Redlich

www.holdingredlich.com.au

Holding Redlich is a mid-sized law firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.  Its Social Justice Fund was established as an MCF sub-fund in 2006. 

Around one third of staff and salaried partners contribute regularly through payroll deductions which are matched by the firm.  Staff contributions are distributed to community projects assisting disadvantaged youth in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney while the partners’ contributions remain in the fund with earnings also going to support the projects.

The fund is currently supporting the following organisations.

• Brisbane Youth Services, which focuses on homeless or at-risk young people on the streets in the inner-city area, particularly those harming themselves and others through drug and alcohol use and dependency, prostitution, violence and other offending behaviours 
• through the Ardoch Youth Foundation we assist the Southern Teaching Unit, which provides 15 weeks of intensive support and education for students who are experiencing serious social, emotional, behavioural and/or educational difficulties, with the aim of reintegrating them into formal education
• Don Bosco House in Sydney, a project of Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off the Streets, provides crisis and short-term accommodation for homeless adolescents aged 15-18 years old. A large old house in Marrickville, the refuge provides support, accommodation and basic human needs such as food, clothing, safety, hygiene, access to health care and referrals to other services.

These projects were selected after a firm-wide survey identified disadvantaged young people as the cause employees wished to support.  A committee with members in each state then selected the recipient organisations, with advice from Melbourne Community Foundation.  The committee also reviews the organisations and has shifted the funding a couple of times, although the aim is to support a project consistently so as to provide certainty and encourage the development of a relationship with the firm.

Connections have been built with the projects in a number of ways.  In Brisbane, Holding Redlich lawyers have provided pro bono legal services for Brisbane Youth Services and also staff a regular Homeless People’s Legal Clinic.  Donations have provided equipment and other resources for the Young Parents Group and have furnished units providing accommodation for homeless young families.

In Melbourne staff attend lunches with the young people at the Southern Teaching Unit and have been present to recognise the achievements of each group at their graduation. Donations have been used for a new fridge and dishwasher, art materials and, for one group, a trip to Sydney.

In Sydney, staff have visited Don Bosco House and have also hosted a presentation at the office to give everyone an opportunity to hear more about the work of Youth Off The Streets.  Donations have helped to establish an incentive scheme to encourage young people to overcome their difficulties by engaging with caseworkers, attending educational or drug and alcohol programs, and working towards achieving stable accommodation.

New Idea Breast Cancer Fund

New Idea - Pacific Magazines

Make a donation

Established in 1998 to provide funding for research and community assistance programs for women and their families affected by breast cancer. So far New Idea and its readers have helped to raise in excess of $1.3 million. 

• Click here to view the video "Tour De Cure 2008"
  

Unico Community Fund

UNICO

www.unico.com.au

Unico is a Melbourne-based technology consultancy and services organisation.  The Unico Community Fund has been set up to provide a focus for Unico’s community engagement as part of our triple bottom line growth.

It allows Unico’s staff to contribute time and money to meaningful community projects making a difference to our world. Unico matches all staff contributions dollar for dollar.

The three areas of focus for the fund are:

• social disadvantage
• the environment and
• the arts.
  

One of the projects Unico supports is the Braybrook-Maidstone Youth Partnership project, run by Melbourne Citymission.