Why Australian companies are leading the way forward when it comes to growing giving in Australia, writes Bonny Bayne.

We recently had the largest turn out to our Corporate Giving Roundtable series in April. Representatives from clients including NAB, Konica Minolta through to Suncorp and UniSuper came together in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to better understand how they can boost employee participation in workplace giving.

Clients turned up with pen in hand ready to soak up latest stats and tips on how to tap into the business benefits of creating a vibrant culture of giving in their workplace. We all know how good giving makes us feel – what we’re only now beginning to understand is how great it is for boosting morale in workplaces.

The recent 2015 Workplace Givers Revealed research report was the first of its kind in Australia to assess the importance of company sponsored giving in the workplace on employee perceptions of the company and on wider staff morale.

The report found that of over 1,000 survey participants, 86 per cent were “proud” to work at their company because of its workplace giving program, 82 per cent considered their company “more supportive of charities than other companies” and 78 per cent reported their company to be “generous” for matching their donations.

Employees involved in their company’s workplace giving program were also willing to recommend their company as an employer of choice to friends and family, with represented companies receiving a +31 Net Promoter Score from a scale of -100 to +100.

As we eliminate barriers to giving in workplaces and provide companies with the tools and expertise to develop engaging and successful programs, we’re seeing employee donations skyrocket. We’ve seen a 50 per cent increase in donations in the last 12 months among clients along with companies exploring new and creative ways to promote their programs.

Suncorp had great success with personalised collateral from staff and management shared nationally across offices and fun ‘Thank You’ packs sent to those who signed up with chocolate and stickers to share the word. The one month intensive campaign engaged over 120 new donors and increased donations in under 6 months by 90 per cent.

UniSuper was able to double employee participation in a matter of months with a targeted campaign calendar tailored to reach employee charitable interests. Meanwhile EY’s one week promotional campaign of company matched giving increased employee participation in that month by 36 per cent and engaged close to 200 new donors in their workplace giving program.

As we celebrate companies taking this initiative, it’s wonderful to see the vibrations of their charitable giving foster workplace connectivity and boost corporate pride. Critical funds continue to be needed by our community sector. And it’s wonderful to see our Australian company’s take initiative to bridge that gap.

Top five tips from the series are also available here.