Five Reasons Why Workplace Giving is Better

Giving through your workplace is smart, easy and effective.

1. It’s the smart, simple way to give

Workplace giving is the process where employees can make regular or one-off donations to charities of their choice, directly from their salary. Usually, this is how you donate to charity: You receive your salary into your bank account, then choose a charity, then make a direct debit, cash or credit card payment to that charity. That charity will process your donation, then issue you with a tax receipt, which you then file and collate for your annual tax return. There are a lot of steps.

Workplace giving is the smart, simple way to give. All you do is choose a charity and the donation is processed directly from your salary. No separate payments, no receipts, no hassle. Simple!

2. It’s the most tax effective way to give

Donating to charity through workplace giving will provide you with an immediate tax benefit by automatically reducing your taxable income. You don’t need to wait until the end of the year to claim your deductions.

3. No more paper work at tax time

We’ve all been there: you donated $20 to your mate who shaved his head for cancer research and got an email receipt which you left somewhere in your inbox. You bought some raffle tickets from your neighbour’s son and got a handwritten receipt. You gave a large donation to an earthquake relief fund but the charity said you won’t receive your tax receipt until the end of the financial year. When it comes to claiming charity donations on your income tax return each year, most of us are familiar with that mad receipt scramble to get all the paper work together. Workplace giving puts an end to this shoe-box style accounting. By donating directly through your salary, donations are recorded on your payslips and tax deductions are automatic. You don’t need to do a thing!

4. No more charity spam

Most of us donate to several charities throughout the year. Every time you make a donation, or someone makes a donation on your behalf, your name, email and postal address details go into databases which mean that you receive an onslaught of email updates, appeals, newsletters, program updates, and general marketing. While you may welcome some of this mail, when you’re receiving correspondence from up to 10 different charities in a week, there is simply no mailbox big enough. Furthermore, when you find yourself transferring this correspondence straight into the recycling bin, think about how much of their precious resources were spent by each charity in designing, printing and mailing that material. Donating to charity through workplace giving protects you and your personal details because your donations are processed directly and securely through your employer. You are free to give to as many charities as you like, with complete privacy.

5. Every dollar you donate is worth more

When you give to charity through workplace giving, more often than not, your employer will offer some form of matching program. For example, for every dollar you give, they will often agree to also give a dollar so that the charity receives double the amount. In this way, giving through workplace giving means your donation has much greater impact.

This article was written by Catalyser. A dynamic platform to bring your Workplace Giving program to life. Change the world from your workplace.