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Corporate social responsibility. Brand alignment. Cause-related marketing. There are so many corporate partnership fundraising techniques. But what if there was another way to secure more from businesses, on a regular basis? And what if that avenue was already available to your fundraising team? 

Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur who built a business empire on his unique principles, said, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” And one way workplaces can care for employees is by actively facilitating giving to charity.

As a fundraiser, you have a golden opportunity to leverage the relationships you have with donors by encouraging them to ask their employers to become involved with your charity. They already donate to your charity, they are passionate about your cause, and they may already be flying your flag in their workplace. So, while you’re getting on with your usual corporate partnership strategy, you can influence your existing donor base in a whole new way. The question then becomes – what messages will these donors respond to, and how can they be targeted strategically, so they will advocate for their workplace to support your organisation? 

Let the research tell you

Data is key to answering this question and new employee donor has just been released by Workplace Giving Australia (WGA). Workplace Giving Research & Insights 2024 surveyed 2000 workers in Australia to understand their thoughts and attitudes to giving at work.

What’s important to employee donors?

The question for every fundraiser is: What do donors want, and how can this be leveraged to secure donations? For giving at work, here’s some insights:

1. There is a lack of awareness and understanding about giving in the workplace

2. Donors seek to achieve simplicity by giving through work

3. If giving is embedded in the DNA of a corporate, it will benefit everyone

4. Employees care about having a say in what cause areas and charities are supported by their workplace

5. There needs to be an understanding of what workplace givers want (and don’t want)

6. Donation matching (by employers) is important to workers

Let’s Dive Deeper

1. Workplace giving is (still) misunderstood and awareness is low

The research revealed two things: 60% of workplaces have workplace giving (WPG) programs and over 80% of people in Australia donate to charities. But are they making those donations through their WPG? No, only 1.5% of people are donating through their workplace.

In FY22 there were a total of 13.8 million workers employed in Australia. We know from the most recent release of ATO data that 204,458 people gave through their pay at work that year totalling just over $50 million (not including company matching) with the average donation size across all market segments being $245. Despite the incredibly low uptake in workplace giving, there were 6323 employers and 4.7 million employees with access to a workplace giving program.

We also know that good WPG programs can achieve participation rates of over 50% and some programs achieve 75% and above. It would seem that businesses are investing in the infrastructure but not the outcomes (51% of respondents stated that the most significant barrier to participating in workplace giving was 'lack of communication and understanding around the program’).

This outcome is consistent with Workplace Giving Australia's experience in the market and with academic studies in the area. Having invested in the base, organisations have a real opportunity to educate their employees about their workplace giving program.

A successful WPG program has the potential to deliver significant funding compared to other sources. The research shows that 23% of respondents do not currently give financially at all, and 28% gave under $50 annually, with 49% giving more than $50 annually. This amount is much lower than the annual average for donations through WPG programs.

And given that 67% of respondents said they give on an ad hoc basis, there is an opportunity to promote WPG as a way to provide routine giving opportunities to the workforce and much-needed regular income to charities.

WPG tends to be forgotten as an income stream but it is similar to regular giving (RG) – there is an ongoing pledge set up through the work giving system (often through a platform such as Good2Give), whereby employees set up a pre-tax donation that is deducted every pay. Just like RG, if the supporter journey and stewardship is built correctly, nonprofits can achieve high retention and lifetime value, but often with lower touch supporter relations than required in RG (partly because of the ‘set and forget’ nature of WPG and partly because WPG donors do not wish to hear as often from the charity – more on this later).

2. Keep it simple

In this ever-complex world, people crave an easy solution, with respondents highlighting ‘giving simplicity’ as the top driver to give at work (29%). Like RG, WPG is a simple solution to this need and should be promoted as an easy and effective way for people to support to the causes they care about.

3. Giving should be embedded in the corporate DNA

Giving is good for corporates. The research reveals that giving at work plays a role in engagement and talent retention, with 34% of workers more likely to remain with their employer when they see them actively supporting the community.

Employees are increasingly concerned about the impact their workplace has on the world and when asked if organisations should give 1% of company profit to charitable causes, 54% of respondents said it was ‘a good start and good to see’.

While it is increasingly important for corporates to demonstrate a social license to operate, it must be genuine and corporate engagement with the community must not be in isolated events.

In our experience, high-performing WPG programs are embedded in the cultural DNA of a corporation and have several common features:

• Senior leadership endorsement and regular communication to employees
• The WPG program is at the core of the human capital agenda (most often through People and Culture, even if also contributed to by ESG)
• Employee-driven and consultation of cause areas and/or charities
• Evident impact stories with a strong connection to program beneficiaries
• Sufficiently resourced and funded.

For fundraisers, there may be an opportunity to partner with corporates that require refocus or brand realignment. Climate action, supply chain consideration and ending modern slavery, gender-based issues and equality – there are a host of issues that businesses must address and there is a good chance your organisation is doing pioneering work in one of those areas.

4. Failing to involve the workforce is a failing strategy

The study also uncovered that over half of respondents would like to be involved in selecting the causes supported by their workplace. This creates a huge opportunity for employers to partner with charities and engage with staff to start meaningful conversations. Charities may wish to tap into the People and Culture departments of their corporate partners, as employee engagement is now top of mind for corporate partners. 

5. Understand what your workplace givers want (and don’t want)

As always be mindful of when, how and why you communicate with your workplace donors. For 55% of survey respondents, making a donation ‘is not a licence to take my details and use it to ask for more’ and 45% said it was welcomed but not necessary to have ‘direct contact’ with the charities they support. There was an almost even split in responses to ‘How would you prefer updates on progress made by the charities supported by you to be delivered?’ with 51% nominating direct contact from the charity over updates via their employer. Given these responses, it makes sense to contact the workplace donor after their first gift (if you have their contact details) to ask how, and from whom, they want to receive updates.

When communicating with donors, focusing on stories of impact is where the value lies.

According to 21% of respondents ‘charity communications should focus on stories of impact and the difference my donation has made to the community.’

Opportunities for in-person connections, such as charity market days, employee benefit/reward events and ‘lunch & learns’ can provide nonprofits with a chance to build direct relationships with employees in ways that do not cross the line into ‘over-asking’.

6. Volunteering and dollar matching – how are they connected?

Employees are keen for employers to help increase their impact via dollar matching and we see it as a critical element of successful program. When asked 'How can your employer enable and enhance your charitable activities?’, donation matching and team fundraising were ranked highest by respondents at 24% (followed by the ability to make pre-tax donations from pay at 22%).

During a special appeal, a business might even double or triple match employee donations so it would be wise for fundraising teams to keep partners informed about upcoming events and campaigns.

Traditional forms of employee engagement, such as volunteering, can also include a matching component. Most employees prefer to volunteer outside of work hours and would like employers to match their hours with dollars. Employees are flexible when it comes to the type of volunteering, with 42% had having no preference for skilled or unskilled volunteering. 

The call to action for charities

Engaging with your employed donors to help you start and promote WPG in their workplaces is an underutilised tactic in growing your donation pool.

Workplace Giving Australia has some simple resources your charity can share with donors to assist them to ask their employer to support your charity. And take a leaf from charities already successfully promoting WPG, such as UNICEF Australia, which encourages the adoption of WPG with a simple call to action: “Help change children’s lives, one paycheck at a time, when you become a workplace giver.”

We recommend a two-pronged strategy for nonprofits:

• Take our research (and the information I have laid out in this article) to develop a case for support that details why WPG is beneficial for all involved and advises corporate partners on how to set up an effective program
• Encourage giving at work by recruiting current donors to lobby their corporate employers for a WPG program.

Combining these two strategies will help your corporate partners nurture happy and more engaged workplace communities and grow your fundraising. And perhaps we can work towards updating the final word of that well-known Branson statement to “Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the charities.” 

What are the top takeaways for fundraisers?

• Make sure WPG makes it onto your fundraising pyramid and into your fundraising strategy
• Communicate with you general donor base about the opportunities for WPG
• Create an engagement and impact communication plan so your WPG donors receive the communications they want, when they want them
• Treat your workplace givers and corporates to impact stories, reporting and thankyous – the extent of which should be established by asking the donor how often, and from whom (the charity or employer), they want to receive updates. On this vein, remember that corporates love rich content to share with employees to help keep them engaged
• Set up a ‘marketplace’ or day where charities can meet your people who can share their impact stories
• Make the ask to corporate partners for dollar matching, and special matching (such as double or triple matching) during important appeal periods.

View the analysis paper, key insights and actions, and infographics for use https://workplacegiving.org.au/driving-change/research 

A best-practice, award-winning workplace giving program

“SEEK’s Small Change program is celebrating 10 years in 2024. It is a point-of-choice, focused program with a participation rate of over 62% of ‘SEEKers. It was built with the involvement of our people and has always been supported from the top down. Attributes of the program that make it resonate are: SEEK matching donations, dollar for dollar; a simple sign-up at onboarding and then payroll managing the process; and the Small Change Ambassadors make sure the program is shared across the business – visually and emotionally. It’s our job to create the connection between the charities and the employees by sharing compelling stories of need and impact”. 

Andy Maxey, Senior External Communications & Social Investment Specialist with SEEK Limited and member of Workplace Giving Australia’s The Network.

Further information and workplace giving and coming events 
 
The annual Workplace Giving Awards are open for submission –  discover more here https://workplacegiving.org.au/2024-awards

Workplace Giving Australia is a charity that collaborates with organisations to make giving a part of everyday life. 

About the author

Tracy Butler is an accomplished fundraiser, not-for-profit writer, experienced Learning & Development consultant, and the Communications Manager for Workplace Giving Australia. 

This article first appeared in F&P Magazine (Fundraising & Philanthropy) and is behind the paywall for F&P members, but you can access it by signing up for a free 21-day trial here: https://fandp.com.au/free-trial/. F&P has excellent  corporate engagement content and articles about every area of fundraising to explore.