35 BACK TO NAVIGATION 2018 AusLSA Member Performance Ninety-three percent of AusLSA’s reporting members have a formal workplace-giving program in place and of these firms, eighty-seven percent operated a program that included staff donations with over two thirds of these matching the payroll donations made by their employees. Eighty-seven percent of firms also made direct corporate donations to charities in 2018. Only forty-three percent of firms said they collected information about the participation of their employees in their workplace giving programs however a further eighteen percent said they were currently developing new processes to collect this information. The average participation rates recorded by those participating firms is twenty-nine percent. Thirty percent of firms have formal foundation-type structures or separate entities to plan and administer their charitable giving. Firms also reported participating in giving-drives such as the provision of books, food and Christmas gifts. Challenges and Opportunities There are many variables that influence a workplace-giving program’s success in addition to matched donations from payroll giving. Implementation and monitoring systems should include: • relevance of the programs to employees and firm’s values and interests • regular and frequent promotion of available programs • leadership support and encouragement to participate in programs • ability to collect and disseminate information about the success and social outcomes of the programs. Leading law firms and Australian businesses are increasingly including their charitable giving programs as a core part of their business strategy and delivery. This means tying the investment and outcomes from these programs as an expression of their values into the achievement of their broader business purpose. This level of integration and internalisation is in turn leading to increased and longer-term commitments that benefit both firms and their community partners. To establish these types of partnerships takes time and work. Firms need to search for and develop relationships with willing organisations and develop agreed commitments and objectives. This will allow them to build partnerships that take full advantage of their special skills and resources. There is significant potential to increase participation in Payroll Giving. More than 4,000 employers who employ 3.4m workers offer payroll giving. However only 175,300 are currently donating which suggests ninety-six percent of employees at these companies have access to a payroll giving program but are not donating. There is a huge opportunity for firms to more actively promote and encourage staff to participate in their payroll giving programs. Workplace Giving Australia provides an extensive range of supporting materials and campaigns that support organisations grow their giving programs. The One Million Donors platform provides a range of specific workplace giving toolkits, resources and a recognition program. PARTICIPATION MONITORED % 43% 39% 18% Yes No Currently in Development