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Leading energy retailer, EnergyAustralia, and its people reached an impressive milestone recently – donating $1 million dollars to charity through workplace giving in less than three years.
“Through workplace giving our people donate to charities they connect with and support the communities where we live and work,” said Mark Collette, EnergyAustralia’s Managing Director.
“Raising a million dollars is an incredible achievement. We’ve achieved this through contributions from our people, matched dollar for dollar by EnergyAustralia. The combination of the two means we can have a bigger impact. It shows what can be done when an organisation and its people work together to support our community,” said Mark.
The money donated by EnergyAustralia and its people has been shared between nine charity partners working in the areas of cancer research, homelessness, mental health and education:
• Australian Cancer Research Foundation
• Berry Street
• Can Assist Lithgow
• Friends of Jamestown Ambulance
• Interchange Gippsland
• Illawarra Cancer Carers
• Launch Housing
• ReachOut Australia
• Wombat's Wish
Donations were also provided to the Black Summer and Indian COVID-19 appeals - events that impacted EnergyAustralia’s customers and people.
“We’ve been able to support our charity partners to do amazing work. Take Launch Housing for example. Our donations have provided emergency grants for over 160 women escaping family violence and helped them access safe, stable housing,” said Mark.
Wombat’s Wish is a Victorian charity which supports children who’ve experienced the death of a parent. The charity’s Nicki Dunne said the organisation doesn’t receive any government funding and donations from EnergyAustralia’s people have funded vital initiatives.
“The people at EnergyAustralia provided the $32,000 it cost to put on our camp. This was held in March – our first one in 18 months due to COVID and was attended by 20 children and nine surviving parents. Donations will also enable us to do a group counselling session for eight children in September,” said Nicki.
How workplace giving works at EnergyAustralia is that employees choose to donate via a fortnightly pre-tax salary deduction. Donations are matched by the organisation, doubling employees’ support. About 60 per cent of EnergyAustralia’s 2400 employees participate.
In addition to workplace giving, EnergyAustralia encourages its people to give back by providing them two paid volunteering days each year. This has resulted in its people giving over 13,000 hours of their time since 2018.