Commitment and a default participation creates engagement and impact

FROM THE JUDGES:

Integrating social investment into bids and tenders and candidate interviews shows how deeply committed Clayton Utz is to embedding positive social change.”

KEY RESULTS + FEATURES

5% combined partner and employee participation
High annual donation of almost $600 per person
The Foundation has distributed almost $11 million in grants and has built a corpus exceeding $10 million since it was established ($4 million received from workplace giving)

OVERVIEW + HIGHLIGHTS

Clayton Utz (CU), one of Australia’s leading law firms, has offices across Australia and 1,695 partners and employees. CU established its workplace giving program in 2003

Community at CU is embedded in the People Strategy for the firm and covers social responsibility programs, including workplace giving, its Foundation, Reconciliation Action Plans and Environmental Sustainability. It is closely aligned with its Pro Bono Practice, Diversity and Inclusion and Health and Wellbeing initiatives
The Foundation is the sole recipient of funds from workplace giving and its purpose is to address disadvantage and facilitate access to justice. The Foundation is the source of all CU’s charitable giving
In addition to providing significant annual funds, CU covers the administration costs of the Foundation and the workplace giving program ensuring that 100% of partner and employee donations are received by charities. Workplace giving donations are distributed to charities within a year of receipt and donors are invited to submit grant applications to the Foundation enabling them to leverage their donations to financially support the causes they are passionate about
In 2015, CU introduced a workplace giving ‘default participation’ clause for new partners and employees, which meant they were part of the program unless they made the decision to actively leave. In 2018, this successful approach was extended to all internal vertical promotions. The default participation approach has been a game changer for the workplace giving program and participation has grown from 13% in June 2015 to 32.5% in June 2019
Having more of its people in the program has contributed to a culture shift across CU. It has increased enthusiasm for fundraising, volunteering and connection with the Foundation which provides financial support for causes that they are passionate about

CU includes information about workplace giving in all bids and tenders educating and influencing organisations on the impact workplace giving can have in the community