Another Bank Snaps Up NAB Volunteering Awards
7 November 2007 at 2:08 pm
Australia’s top banks have had to put rivalry aside to celebrate corporate volunteering – with Westpac winning a new national award sponsored by NAB in partnership with Volunteering Australia.
The award recognises employers for encouraging their workforce to volunteer.
Other nominees, ranging from Shell, IBM, Alcoa, ANZ, PricewaterhouseCoopers and ExxonMobil, were pipped at the post by Westpac for demonstrating best practice, innovation and positive community impact, with 85% of their workforce participating in volunteering or fundraising activities.
Westpac is the first recipient of the award and receives $5,000 to donate to the community organisation of its choice.
Samantha Brown, Westpac’s Head of Community Involvement says the award is a credit to its employees and highlights their passion for getting involved in the community.
Brown says Westpac employees support a range of community organisations in a variety of ways. Increasingly, we are seeing teams and individuals undertaking volunteering activities that draw on their professional skills.
Volunteering Australia’s CEO Julia Pollard says the Corporate Volunteering Award for Excellence recognises the contribution these workforce volunteering programs make to the community.
Pollard says from the calibre of entries, it is reassuring to know that many companies have achieved exceptionally high levels of standard in their programs.
"Through its support of this award NAB is demonstrating its own commitment to promoting the value of volunteering to the broader community.
She says Westpac has established community programs which ensure that their involvement with not-for-profits is comprehensive, sustainable and of real value.
The award was announced as part of the 2007 NAB Volunteer Awards. NAB’s support for rewarding best practice in volunteering spans a 10 year period with over 500 groups sharing $2.6 million to date.
NAB employees donated 6200 days, an equivalent to $1.5 million in salary, to volunteering last year, grasping the opportunity to volunteer through their workplace.
Richard Peters, NAB Head of Corporate Social Responsibility says corporate volunteering has proven to be an effective and sustainable component of corporate social responsibility strategies. An award that recognises this will hopefully encourage all levels of management to embrace not for profit partners.
