We’re seeing a rise in the number of charities which are activating a workplace giving program for their own people, with payroll giving as the key component. There are multiple reasons to do this, including walking the talk!
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#1. NFPs are the largest employment sector. According to McCrindle 'NFP Insights 2024', not-for-profit organisations are the largest employer in Australia outside of government, with 1.42 million people working in charities. Pipped at the post are retail, construction, and education & training, each employing 1 to 1.1 million people.
NFP's have an incredible opportunity to reach a lot of people that can give at work. Imagine if the NFP sector was able to achieve 25% participation, we’d hit half a million donors in no time!
#2. Promoting workplace giving. Lack of awareness is the biggest barrier to uptake of workplace giving in Australia, as identified in 'Workplace Giving Insights 2024'. We all know our sector is full of incredibly giving people, who want to make a difference. We’re a tight knit community and don’t mind a chat, so I expect we’ll be hearing more about workplace giving through conversations at the beach, at barbecues and the local burger joint.
#3. Walking the talk. First-hand experience with giving at work enhances the understanding of the concept and its benefits. With more people in the charity sector provided with the option to salary sacrifice their donations, there’ll be more advocates for the smart way to donate.
#4. Adding to your own culture. Thanks to our foundational friends at JB Hi-Fi, we have a great business case for the benefits of a successful workplace giving program. Moreover, we have some real data on the impact for the two key collaborators, the employer and the employee. Here are the three top statistics from the research they commissioned:
- Helping Hands makes JB Hi-Fi a better workplace, say 3/4 of employees
- Helping Hands participants have higher retention – 43% longer
- The ROI for JB Hi-Fi was quantified as a bottom line savings of $8M to the business.
#5. Bottom line: more funding to charities. Our projections say if we can increase workforce participation in Australia, from the current 1.5% to 10%, we could achieve an additional $1.2B in donations to charities in two years. Now that’s really, really good news.
Leading the way in setting up their own employee payroll giving programs are Workplace Giving Australia's Charity Partners: The Smith Family; Cancer Council; Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation; and more to come!
Keen to learn more? Here are a few of the award winning charity programs which have been acknowledged by the independent judging panel as part of the Australian Workplace Giving Awards:
Give Where You Live Foundation Case Study
The Smith Family Case Study
This blog article was written by Bronwyn Wood, Partnerships Manager at Workplace Giving Australia, who is a passionate advocate for workplace giving and community engagement. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, feel free to reach out!
Discover more about the benefits of workplace giving for you and your organisation here.