Workplace giving – sometimes called payroll giving – allows employees to make regular donations to charities through their pay pre-tax. Many of these employee donations are matched dollar for dollar by their employers.
It is estimated that $20 million is contributed to charity each year through workplace giving programs. More than $50 million has been donated to community organisations through programs facilitated by ACF since it was established in 2003.
However, prior to this research there was some concern that the employee donations were ‘taking from Peter to pay Paul’, with those giving through payroll deductions reducing their donations outside the workplace. This study shows this is not the case.
CEO of ACF Ted Kerr hopes this news will encourage employers who don’t currently offer workplace giving programs, to do so.
“If just ten per cent of working Australians made a payroll charity donation of $5 a week, the Australian community would benefit by more than $260 million each year,” he said.
Macquarie Group Foundation Professor Peter Shergold, head of the Centre for Social Impact, believes workplace giving’s potential will be realised only if all sectors collaborate to drastically build awareness and uptake.
“Internationally, we have seen government initiatives help increase the penetration of workplace giving programs. We would love to see some of these initiatives implemented in Australia, with governments actively promoting a giving culture.”