b'BACK TO NAVIGATIONworking Australians donated $36m to charities through employee payroll giving which was then multiplied by employer contributions.Payroll giving is a highly efficient way for employees to donate to charity, delivering a reliable, untied and recurring revenue stream for charities without the high fundraising costs which can be up to 30-40% of funds raised. Contributions from payroll giving provide additional value to the chosen charity as they are usually matched by employers providing higher and more consistent funding.The 2016 Giving Australia Report and the 2018 Workplace Giving Australia JB HiFi Case Study described a series of drivers for supporting giving and volunteering:seeking to do good by making a positive contribution to the communitygenerating social impactemployee expectationsa business desire to attract and retain the best people (employee engagement)a strategy for the community to allow the business to operate and implement its plans.2020 AusLSA Member PerformanceNinety-four percent of AusLSAs reporting members have formal charitable giving programs in place which are made up of corporate and workplace giving. Ninety-one percent of members make corporate type donations through their business or related trusts. Seventy-two percent operated a formal workplace giving program for staff, matching the payroll donations made by their employees. This year the number of firms who collected information about the participation of their employees in charitable giving programs increased from twenty-eight percent to forty-one percent with a further twenty-eight percent reporting that they were developing new processes to collect this information. The average participation rates recorded by those participating firms is thirty-one percent. Thirty-four percent of firms have formal foundation-type structures or separate entities to plan and administer their charitable giving. Seventy-five percent of firms regularly undertook internal charity appeals and events while fifty percent participated in external events. Firms also reported participating in giving drives such as the provision of books, food and Christmas gifts. Challenges and Opportunities The needs of charitable organisations are likely to be higher in the next five years than at any other time in the last 50 years. At the same time the challenges and uncertainty for law firms and their employees could impact their ability to provide maintain or increase levels of financial support.Leading law firms and Australian businesses increasingly integrate their charitable giving programs with their core business strategies and delivery. This model combines management support, giving, pro bono and ties their investment and outcomes into the achievement of their broader business purpose. This approach leads to greater and longer-term commitments to support charities addressing the longer-term issues of both bushfire and COVID recovery. There are more charitable giving programs that would benefit from this broader type of strategic partnership however 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. In Australia, the four thousand employers who offer payroll giving employ almost three and a half million workers. However, only 175,300 PARTICIPATION MONITORED workers are currently donating which suggests ninety-six percent of employees at these companies who have access to a payroll giving program are not donating. There are many variables that influence a workplace-giving programs success. In addition to matched donations from payroll giving employers can lead by providing employees with compelling charities and clearly communicating the needs for and benefits of being a donor. 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.Law firms should identify and manage giving programs focused on the: relevance of the programs to employees and firms valuesand interests regular and frequent promotion of available programsleadership support and encouragement to participate inprograms Yes 41% No 31%ability to collect and disseminate information about the success and social outcomes of the programs.Currently in Development 28%45'