New Platform Looks to Boost Workplace Giving for Cause-Driven Millennials

Cause-driven millennials are driving “impulsive” peer-to-peer fundraising, which a new technology platform hopes to utilise in order to double donations raised through corporate fundraising initiatives.

Good2Give and GoFundraise have launched a new platform aiming to enable more effective workplace giving, called Fundraising at Work.

This solution centralises the process of managing multiple sources of corporate funding for charities, helping to reduce the administrative burden and make sure 99 per cent of donations go directly to charities.

Good2Give CEO Lisa Grinham, said the launch of Fundraising at Work was a “gamechanger” for the Australian not-for-profit sector.

“We hear so much about the need for social purpose organisations to innovate, to adapt, to collaborate, to work smarter not harder, and to deliver a positive impact so that we can come together to make the world a better place,” Grinham said.

“This joint venture of Good2Give and GoFundraise marks the united efforts of a not-for-profit organisation and social purpose business collaborating on making existing technology work for the benefit of the charity sector at no extra cost.”

Kate Dear, the corporate engagement and communication manager at the Australian Red Cross, told Pro Bono News this initiative offered a new way for charities to engage with cause-driven millennials.

“It’s useful for charities like Red Cross as a new way of engaging with people in peer-to-peer fundraising, because that’s kind of new and sexy, and people get into impulsive giving [and are] inspired by their fellow workers,” Dear said.

“This is a good way for us to capture that and enable people to do this through their pre-tax pay, which works really well.”

Dear said millennials were “certainly adding” to a culture of workplace giving.

“Workplace giving is a fairly old and established kind of way of giving, it’s huge overseas and not so established in Australia but it still has a very strong base,” Dear said.

“I think this is just enabling millennials who are quite cause-driven, to passionately get behind what they believe in and this is a way of them being able to do it through their payroll, which is probably the most effective way and also the cheapest form of fundraising for a charity.

“So it’s a very effective way of supporting the cause that you believe in.”

Fundraising at Work offers businesses a central management tool for workplace giving activities, allowing employees to manage and change donations, view company matching and monitor their salary deductions all in one place.

“The beauty of Fundraising at Work is the sheer ease of giving for fundraisers and donors,” co-founder and CEO of GoFundraise, Stuart Finlayson said.

“We know that 90 per cent of the 1,300 people we surveyed in the Australian workforce have supported a colleague’s fundraising efforts in the last 12 months. In fact, more than half back their mates at work more than three times a year, so the potential for this is tremendous.

“We also know that the average person’s fundraising page raises $800, and 70 per cent of companies match their employee donations – so we have the potential to double corporate giving through staff fundraising activities.”

Grinham said Fundraising at Work was “the next evolution in digitising charitable giving in the workplace and bringing business’ values, purpose and social responsibility commitments to life”.

“This obviously benefits charities as a source of much-needed income, but it’s also about building the digital capacity of the sector to operate more efficiently and effectively – and this does that. It reduces administration, centralises corporate donations from both workplace giving and fundraising and brings new supporters to important causes,” she said.

“Charities are being asked to do more with less, so streamlined, digital and transparent income streams make a remarkable difference to how they operate and most importantly, their ability to fulfil their mission and serve the community and causes they stand for.”

Dear added that Red Cross would look to utilise peer-to-peer fundraising and platforms such as Fundraising at Work to maximise workplace giving.

“Workplace giving is such an important part of supporting the culture of a workplace, so those who champion giving to charities like us, it really brings together the shared values and the causes within an organisation and the millennials are really hot on that,” she said.

“So I think something like this just makes that sexy impulse way of giving really solid. And it means that they can support this cause they believe in a very effective way.

“It’s a really simple positive idea and I’m personally thrilled that we’ve finally got a channel to effectively communicate to our donors about fundraising at work. It’s perfect.”