Coming from a business background, I know that most companies are driven by the bottom line but most individuals (including your boss) have a heart and would like to support worthwhile charities (especially if you make it easy for them).
Please spare a small amount of time this week and take the following action/s to introduce Palms Australia to your workplace:
1) Quickly talk to your boss
- Using your own words talk about what Palms does and why you passionately empower overseas communities through Palms. You might find some ideas in the article Why Palms is Unique.
- Ask if they will agree to host a morning tea where you shortly talk about Palms and do some minor fundraising. Company can be issued tax deductible receipt?
- Ask if they can stock the staffroom with Fair Trade Coffee and Tea to support Palms – explain that the coffee and tea is so good that staff will be less likely to wander down the street for a coffee and they will love her/him for it too (>greater productivity)
2) Running the morning tea
- Buy coffee, tea and chocolate through www.fairtradecoffeecompany.com.au (allow about 6 business days to arrive)
- Kick off the morning tea with a brief speech about why you support Palms. Using a case study of one of our placements (see https://palms.org.au/donate/current-projects) is a really good way to show how Palms volunteers empower overseas communities in developing countries
- Ask for a gold coin donation (or more if you think you can)
- Ask people to fill in their name and email address on a sheet so that we can send them Palms Post and other information about our activities then send it to us
It may help to have some copies of Palms Post to pass around or information about our Encounters. Please email [email protected] with your details and we’ll send them to you.
3) Find out who your Corporate Social Responsibility/Social Justice Representative is
In many medium/larger workplaces someone will be responsible for corporate social responsibility. This may be someone in Human Resources, there may be a dedicated department or in the case of schools it may be through a Religious Education Coordinator.
ACTION: If you can introduce Palms to them for us and pass on their contact details, it is highly likely that we’ll be able to find a way to help your organisation through activities such as cross-cultural training, Encounters, Fair Trade products, or inspirational presentations from returned volunteers plus assist with some favorable publicity.
4) Workplace Giving / Matched Giving
Many medium/larger workplaces have workplace giving programs. This means that staff can donate a small amount every pay in pre-tax dollars. A number of individuals donating just $10 a week pre-tax will allow us to support many more communities through Palms volunteers. Best of all, you’ll barely notice the difference compared with making larger once-off donations. Sometimes companies, such as BHP will also match individual donations which doubles the size of your donation without costing you a cent. However, in most cases employees need to nominate a charity for it to be eligible for this program.
ACTION: Talk to your Human Resources department to find out if your workplace has a workplace giving or matched giving program and ask how Palms can be registered. Then pass on our contact details and we will set it up with your organisation.
Palms is a Deductible Gift Recipient charity that has been in operation since 1961. We ticked all the boxes with the BHP Matched Giving Program so we should fit the criteria for most workplace giving/matched giving program.
Palms relies on the support of individuals like you taking small steps to collectively assist communities in developing countries fight poverty. Often all it takes is for you to ask a question and your passion will inspire others to follow.
Please email me ([email protected]) and I will happily assist you to engage your workplace.
Thank you,
Sean Dostal