Milestone for $15 million Corporate-NFP Partnership

An iconic Australian corporate-Not for Profit partnership sparked by a “chance conversation” is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary – as its value continues to grow to over $15 million.

In 2015, Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) and Bakers Delight are marking 15 years of working together to support Australians affected by breast cancer, a partnership that now includes working from the same building.   

Through the partnership, Bakers Delight has donated a total of $15 million in funds and pro bono services to BCNA, with the goal of informing, supporting, representing and connecting women living with breast cancer.

“What is really special about the partnership is the commitment shown at all levels of the organisation, from [the] founders.. the Head Office staff, through to Franchisees and those who work behind the counter, and the fact that this partnership continues 15 years later,” BCNA Founder Lyn Swinburne said.  

“Bakers Delight’s support for us is unique. I don’t know of any other company that gives 100 per cent of sales of a product directly to support the work of a charity.They genuinely share our passion for helping Australian families affected by breast cancer.”

According to BCNA, the long-standing partnership between the two networks began 15 years ago with a chance conversation, when Bakers Delight joint CEOs Lesley and Roger Gillespie heard BCNA founder Lyn Swinburne speaking about her vision to grow a national network for women with breast cancer.

Swinburne had taught the Gillespie’s daughter in primary school and they immediately approached her with an offer of help.

“It started as a chat with Lyn, and ended with BCNA moving into the Bakers Delight office,” Lesley Gillespie said. “Lyn’s vision was to provide support for women diagnosed with breast cancer, and we wanted to help in a very real way.

“It’s evolved from two people working out of one office, trying to do good work, to a very strong organisation standing on its own two feet with a large number of women either being employed there or volunteering, so their reach across Australia has grown from being small and effective to being much larger and effective.”

Bakers Delight co-founder Roger Gillespie said the partnership had given its bakeries and staff a sense of pride.  

“Our partnership is a leading corporate/community partnership – it’s part of our culture, it’s part of who we are,” he said.

“In fundraising there is an old saying, ‘people to people, not to causes’ and that is so true of the relationship with Bakers Delight and BCNA. It’s our people giving to their people and vice versa.  We got a lot out of the relationship in terms of emotional satisfaction because we are making a difference. We don’t just bake bread and delight our customers, we want to also delight the women who have gone through the difficult journey of breast cancer.

“ The partnership is a great success – we feel an overwhelming satisfaction from BCNA’s great results and our bakeries’ contribution to achieve this.”

Bakers Delight supports for BCNA’s free My Journey Kit, an invaluable information resource to assist newly diagnosed women. In 2014, BCNA sent out more than 12,000 My Journey Kits, reaching over 83% of Australian women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.

Each May during the annual ‘Pink Bun’ campaign, all Bakers Delight bakeries also donate 100 per cent from the sales of Pink Finger Buns, which raised more than $1.1m in 2014 for BCNA.

During the 2015, campaign, Bakers Delight bakeries will surpass more than five million Pink Buns baked and sold to support BCNA since the partnership began.

“You simply can’t put a value on the feeling our members get when they walk into a Bakers Delight bakery all pinked up during the Pink Bun campaign. I’ve lost count of the times one of our members has told me ‘it felt like they were doing it just for me’,” BCNA’s Lyn Swinburne said.

“The money raised each year through the Pink Bun campaign is just the icing on the cake.”

Established in 1998, BCNA is the peak national organisation for Australians personally affected by breast cancer, and consists of a network of more than 100,000 individual members and 300 Member Groups.