Media release

Workplace giving: harnessing the collective power of little and often

As the end of financial year approaches, arts fundraisers may be considering new and as-yet-untapped possibilities to diversify private sector income and grow the donor pipeline.

With Workplace Giving Month in June, this article invites you to consider how pursuing ‘little and often’ gifts through workplace giving programs could help deepen engagement with corporate partners and engage low-mid range donors.

What is workplace giving?

Workplace giving, also known as payroll giving, enables employees to make one-off or regular donations to charitable organisations from their pre-tax salary, typically via payroll deductions. By making a pre-tax gift, the employee reduces their taxable income with no need for a donation receipt at tax time.

In some cases, corporate organisations will have a designated list of beneficiaries that align to company values. In other instances, employees can decide where they would like to direct their contributions.

An employer may choose to match staff workplace giving contributions dollar for dollar, double match, or match up to a capped amount each year. These gifts may be made directly to a charitable organisation with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status or via a charitable fund e.g. Australian Cultural Fund.

As an example, Creative Australia has a workplace giving program managed through its own DGR fund. Contributions from as little as $5/fortnight are matched by Creative Australia to a total of $20,000. These funds are currently directed to support a second Creative Australia National Arts and Disability Early Career Artist Award, doubling the impact of this important accolade.

Workplace giving in Australia

According to the latest ATO statistics, in FY22, 4.7 million (36%) of Australian employees had access to a workplace giving program. Of those, 204,458 participated, contributing a total of $50 million in donations (excluding company matching), with an average donation of $245 per person.

In 2024, Workplace Giving Australia released its Research and Insights report, based on a survey of 2,000 Australian employees exploring their attitudes toward giving at work. Drawing on multiple data sources, the report reveals 60% of workplaces have workplace giving programs and that 51% of employees would like to be involved in workplace giving cause selection – representing a significant opportunity for more philanthropy in Australia.

Arts and cultural charities as worthy beneficiaries

Important work is being done by the sector and advocacy bodies, such as Creative Australia, to promote the economic, social and cultural benefits of artistic practice and arts participation. Many of you will have examples of how your organisation and creative practices are having positive social outcomes: building confidence, boosting wellbeing, combating loneliness, and bringing communities together in a positive and meaningful way. This evidence helps to strengthen the case for arts and cultural charities as beneficiaries of corporate giving.

Connection, interest and capacity to give are key in the decision-making process. While many workplace giving programs and corporate giving days support large scale, global charitable organisations, tackling some of the world’s biggest social issues, your point of difference may be a more localised opportunity – you might be able to bring donors closer to your work to see the impact first-hand.

Where to begin

Start with your known networks and existing relationships to identify a potential internal champion at a corporate organisation. This could be donors, board, corporate partners or sponsors, volunteers, members, audience or suppliers, who are already connected to your organisation and understand your work.

Including a message in your regular enews or on social media could help to inform your audiences of the opportunity and inspire an employee within an organisation to advocate for your organisation as part of their workplace giving program.

In the case of an existing corporate partnership, particularly where the relationship has developed over time, there could be an opportunity to include workplace giving as part of your next proposal. The renewed partnership could be amplified by staff engagement with support through regular workplace giving and matched contributions.

When researching new potential corporate partners, look to see if they have a workplace or matched giving program. Use your findings to shape your pitch. Highlight your activities that best align to their ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) goals.

Top tips:

Make it as easy as possible for the employee and employer: Once you have established interest, you’ll need to make it as simple as possible for the employee and employer to establish or expand a workplace giving program. Workplace Giving Australia has some handy templates.

Provide a clear, concise and compelling case for support that could be shared through the employer’s internal communication channels. A specific campaign with tangible outcomes may help potential donors to clearly understand the impact that their gift will have. Would there be an opportunity for you to present to the employees yourself? Or invite them to come to you – let your work speak for itself.

Promote your activities on workplace giving platforms e.g. Good2Give, Benevity.

A two-pronged approach. Simply being on a platform may not increase visibility or drive donors to you, but it could help simplify the process for the donor. Be sure to research the admin fees of each platform before you commit.

Giving Day to the Arts: To be held on Thursday 23 October 2025. If Workplace Giving Month in June feels too soon, you could instead drive employees and their employers to make donations on this day. Creative Australia will supply a suite of digital assets for you to share. An online professional development workshop series is underway, with more dates to be announced. Visit the Creative Australia website for more information.

In conclusion, as we know, it’s not one size fits all. What works for one organisation may not work for you. What often sets arts fundraising apart from other sectors is the closeness of the relationships between the supporters and the artists. People give to people. And we must lean on these deeply personal connections to drive our fundraising efforts forward.

I’d like to thank the fundraisers I spoke to in preparation for this article – thank you for your time and insights. It was affirming to hear how many of you are thinking about workplace giving as a possible option, albeit with similar hesitation and concerns about how best to proceed and get results.

We would love to hear of any activity you are undertaking in this space. Please get in touch if you have anything to share -- comments, feedback and case studies – and please reach out to your local State Manager Development and Partnerships to discuss workplace giving strategies in more detail.

This article was authored by Michelle Boyle, State Manager Development and Partnerships (NSW/ACT) at Creative Australia.

Resources

Workplace giving: harnessing the collective power of little and often

We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and honour their Elders past and present.

We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and honour their Elders past and present.