Retailers Find Giving Has its Own Rewards
29 October 2018 at 5:54 pm
Retail businesses and their staff have featured strongly in this year’s Workplace Giving Awards – a program traditionally dominated by the corporate sector.
Finalists for the 2018 Awards included audio retailers JB Hi-Fi, travel consultants Flight Centre and pet and animal suppliers PETstock who between them have donated tens of thousands of dollars to charities supporting cancer support, helping children access music and creative learning programs, and animal welfare.
Catherine Gibson, senior marketing consultant at Workplace Giving Australia (WGA), told Pro Bono News she was excited by the number of new entrants, and improvement in quality since the award started three years ago.
“When workplace givings first began, it tended to be the more corporate style of organisations that jumped on board,” Gibson said.
“We’re now seeing quite a few retailers like JB Hi-Fi who really excel in this area, or Flight Centre… so it’s definitely broadening insight into other sectors.”
Research WGA had done with JB Hi-Fi, showed they had saved $8 million per annum on staff recruitment and training because its corporate charity program provided an incentive for staff to stay with the company.
Gibson said it was important to publicise positive stories like JB Hi-Fi’s, so businesses understood not only the cultural, but the financial benefit workplace giving could provide.
She said key factors for running a successful program were strong leadership, good internal communication about the program, and choosing charity partners wisely.
By doing this, it meant staff had a personal connection to the cause and were more likely to engage.
“It’s something that staff can relate to, and really rally behind,” she said.
Currently, 173,500 employees donate through workplace giving in Australia, but Gibson wants to see that figure rise to one million.
“We think that that would really have a transformational effect on the whole fundraising industry and get a lot of really efficient donations out to charities so they can do great work in the community in the most efficient and cost effective way,” she said.
The awards will be judged by an independent panel, chaired by the Centre for Social Impact, and winners will be announced on 20 November.
A full list of award nominees can be found here.
