We held an Easter egg hunt last Sunday for all the kids at church. We hid a ton of tiny eggs in nooks and crannies for them to find. But the big drawcard was the giant chocolate Easter rabbit, which all of the bigger kids wanted to nab for themselves. While the older ones were performing a kind of egg hunt parkour to find where we’d hidden the big prize, one little girl took a different route. She quietly collected as many of the smaller eggs that she could find. Before long, she’d filled her little woollen beanie with a treasure trove of chocolate. Enough to keep her going for a week.
In the current environment charities have been busy chasing the larger donations of cash from corporate partners. There have been some significant new partnerships, such as Coles and Fitted for Work in recent weeks. Congrats to all the hardworking partnership teams. But let’s not forget the quiet achiever in corporate partnerships, which is workplace giving.
According to Good2Give research, over 4,300 companies have a formal workplace (payroll) giving program in place and almost 200,000 Australians make donations from their pay. The income from workplace giving is especially valuable for charities because it’s regular and predictable. In addition, many corporates match their employees’ giving, thus doubling their impact. The CAF World Giving Index shows that Australia is number five in the most generous countries but there is an immediate threat to valuable workplace giving income. The Great Resignation and the war for talent has caused an upheaval in the job market and many people are on the move, often forgetting to re-establish their workplace giving commitments. But you can take some simple steps to preserve and protect your valuable workplace giving income.
Leverage your content and engagement opportunities
It’s a tough working environment right now. Corporates are keen to keep employees motivated and engaged and your content could be the ideal solution. Whether it’s support on mental health or tips on parenting, a non-profit has a treasure trove of inspiring stories and content to share. Not only will it help solve your corporate partner’s pain points, but it will enable you to remain front of mind with your valuable workplace giving donor. Retention is your main aim, so spend a little time on thanking your donors and giving them inspiration to stay with you.
Create a continuity plan
The workforce is highly volatile and it’s likely that many people will be seeking new jobs in the near future. This is always a break point for workplace giving as many loyal donors simply forget to reinstate their workplace giving arrangements at a new place. It may be that some people will be out of the workforce for a period of time but would like to continue supporting you. You need to work with your colleagues to create a continuity plan to preserve relationships and ongoing support when employment situations change. For some it might be a pause in donations, but for others it’s a prompt to renew and re-establish their giving. You need to work closely with your corporate partner to make sure employees don’t fall through the cracks.
Support giving circles and employee fundraising initiatives
Good2Give have been encouraging Giving Circles at Work, where employees fundraise together for a favourite cause. It gives your charity increased income, but also results in more satisfied, highly engaged employees. People are actively looking for ways to participate in team activities, especially with remote working causing physical isolation. Fundraising challenges like Mullets for Mental Health, the MS May 50K and Push-Up Challenge have been enormously successful. These team initiatives provide renewed income from workplace giving and the employer matched funds. They also help the employer to make an ongoing contribution to the community and your cause.
There are some great corporate partnership opportunities waiting to be grabbed and there’s never been a better time to get started. But in the chase for big dollars, don’t forget the regular, loyal donors through workplace giving who can slip under the radar. Sometimes the quiet achievers can be a regular stream of gold while you wait for the more glamorous opportunities to warm up.