Winners announced for the 2020 Workplace Giving Excellence Awards
25 November 2020: STORY AT A GLANCE: A range of generous Australian companies and their employees, who have created high impact workplace giving programs to support Australia’s stressed charity sector, have just been recognised in the highly respected Workplace Giving Excellence Awards.
The not-for-profit Workplace Giving Australia (WGA), the convenor of the Awards, highlighted that if one million Australians get involved in workplace giving, $215 million per year would be generated.
JB Hi-Fi took out two Awards for the Best Overall Program and Best Innovation. 75% of the company’s 8,500 staff take part in their workplace giving, “Helping Hands” program. In the past year alone, $3 million has been raised and since launching Helping Hands in 2008, over $23 million has been donated. The judges noted that JB Hi-Fi’s high staff participation rate was backed by exceptional leadership and role-modelling, and excellent relationships with their charity partners.
Other winners include Accenture, ANZ, Tomago Aluminium, The Smith Family and World Youth International with Computershare.
STORY IN FULL: A range of remarkable and generous Australian companies, that have set up significant workplace giving programs to support charities across Australia, have been recognised today (Wednesday November 25, 2020) in the highly respected Annual Workplace Giving Excellence Awards.
Not-for-profit Workplace Giving Australia (WGA) has organised the awards seeking to create a wave of culture change so that hundreds of millions of dollars can be raised to support the charity sector.
WGA’s CEO, Jenny Geddes, says a huge $215 million per annum would be generated if one million Australian workers get involved in workplace giving.
The Best Overall Program Award and Best Innovation Award have been won by JB Hi-Fi. Judges were deeply impressed to learn:
- 75% of the company’s team (8,500) is involved in their Helping Hands program.
- Every week, close to 6,500 team members donate to their ten charity partners – their donations are then matched, dollar for dollar.
- Participation levels have exceeded 60% for more than five years.
- Since launching Helping Hands in 2008, the JB Hi-Fi team has raised over $23 million for its charity partners.
Commenting on his organisation’s award wins, the Group CEO, JB Hi-Fi, Richard Murray, said, “The Awards recognise the incredible team and culture we have at JB Hi-Fi and their efforts through a very challenging year. When so many people across Australia have had their home and work lives changed by COVID-19, it is super impressive that our team has delivered another brilliant result for Helping Hands in 2020. Our program is all about bringing out the best of JB as demonstrated by the strong participation and record donations. We’re proud to continue to support our charity partners, whose work on the ground supporting the community has never been so important.”
“Workplace giving is now recognised as being fundamental to any organisation aspiring to be an employer of choice. Our Helping Hands program is now so deeply embedded in our organisation and we know it is a much-loved part of what it means to work at JB. I encourage every business leader to consider workplace giving as a fantastic way to build a great team,” said Richard Murray.
Jenny Geddes said, “I commend all the organisations that entered the Awards in what has obviously been a tough and challenging year for so many. Congratulations to the 2020 Award winners – these organisations have prioritised this form of giving and are seeing the benefits to their organisations and of course to the charities they support.”
The Best Employer Response to a Crisis Award was won by ANZ for its work on its bushfire appeal.
World Youth International with Computershare won Most Innovative Charity and Employer Partnership in a category sponsored by the Australian Government.
“The Morrison Government is proud to support projects that encourage and increase workplace giving, bequests and corporate philanthropy. I want to thank Workplace Giving Australia for hosting these important Awards and for their continued work in promoting workplace giving,” said the Hon. Anne Ruston, Minister for Families and Social Services.
Other winners included:
- Tomago Aluminium – Best Launch/Refresh (Employer)
- Accenture – Best Pro Bono/Workplace Volunteering
- The Smith Family – Best Launch or Refresh (Charity)
- Sydney Water – Highly Commended, Best Public Sector
Jenny Geddes added, “Over 200,000 Australians are currently involved in workplace giving and the number is increasing every year. However, there are only 5,382 companies actively involved in workplace giving out of more than 880,000 workplaces across the nation. I encourage more Australian businesses to get involved in this simple, yet highly effective form of giving.”
WGA has a free kit of information for companies to help them get involved at www.1mdonors.org.au. There is also a free online tool so they can benchmark their giving program against those of similar organisations.
2020 Workplace Giving Excellence Award Winners:
Best Overall Program
Gold: JB Hi-Fi
Silver: EnergyAustralia
Bronze: Tomago Aluminium
Best Employer Response to a Crisis
Gold: ANZ
Silver: Origin Energy Foundation
Bronze: Australian Unity
Highly Commended: King & Wood Mallesons
Best Launch / Refresh (Employer)
Gold: Tomago Aluminium
Silver: Australian Investment Council
Bronze: Bain & Company
Best Public Sector
Highly Commended: Sydney Water
Best Launch or Refresh (Charity)
Gold: The Smith Family
Best Pro Bono / Workplace Volunteering
Gold: Accenture
Silver: Deloitte Australia
Bronze: 7-Eleven Australia
Highly Commended: IBM Australia
Best Innovation
Gold: JB Hi-Fi
Silver: Australian Red Cross
Bronze: Westpac Group
Most Innovative Charity & Employer Partnership
Gold: World Youth International with Computershare
Silver: The Smith Family with ANZ
Bronze: Children’s Hospital Foundation QLD with Event Hospitality & Entertainment
2020 Awards Judging Panel:
- Wendy Scaife, Associate Professor and Director, The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non-profit Studies, QUT
- Judy Barraclough, Head of Strategy and Philanthropy, The Smith Family
- Dan Creasey, Head of Pro Bono & Community Impact, King & Wood Mallesons
- Sarah Davies, CEO, Philanthropy Australia
- Natalie Egleton, CEO, Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal
- Mark Pearce, CEO, Volunteering Australia
- Simon J. Robinson, Director, Corporate Citizenship Australia