Workplace giving
By volunteering your time and skills to Lifeline you can help connect others with care.
Workplace giving provides individual employees with the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of other Australians by donating a nominated amount from each pay.
The power to make a real difference in any community is in numbers, so even a small weekly amount donated by a number of employees can go a long way towards helping Lifeline provide its vital services and programs.
Workplace giving is an incredibly easy, hassle-free way to donate to Lifeline on a regular basis – and the donations really do make a difference. Low administration costs ensures that the money donated is used where it is needed most.
Funds received through workplace giving helps Lifeline to...
- Answer calls to Lifeline’s 24 hour telephone crisis support service – 13 11 14
- Provide training in suicide prevention and awareness
- Develop suicide bereavement support programs
- Recruit and Telephone Crisis Supporters
- Provide access to self-help resources
- Promote help seeking behaviour and awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention
SEEK implemented a workplace giving program to give back to the community and allow our employees to maximise the money they give to charity. SEEK chose Lifeline as one of their program charities because of the fantastic work they do. They are there for people in need when no one else is.
- Paul Bassat, Joint CEO, SEEK Limited
Approach your CEO - boost your workplace contribution
Some workplace giving partners choose to further boost the contribution provided by employees by matching the amount dollar-for-dollar at a corporate level. This provides further tax deductions for the employer and means that more funds are raised for Lifeline. This is of course an optional approach to workplace giving.
Getting started - how workplace giving works
Setting up workplace giving is easy with the assistance of the Lifeline Fundraising Team:
| What your organisation needs to do: |
How Lifeline assists you: |
| 1. Speak to your management/payroll team about adding Lifeline to your existing list of charities, or ask payroll to set the program up. |
Lifeline can provide you with a tailored workplace giving nomination form that you can adapt for your payroll and employees to use, and discuss workplace giving with your payroll area if required. |
| 2. Contact Lifeline to notify us of your decision to support our organisation. |
Lifeline will provide you with brochures and other printed material (e.g. posters) to provide you with more information about Lifeline and how your donations will be used. |
| 3. Promote the program to your staff and encourage participation. You could also ask your management team if they are willing to encourage staff contributions by matching donations dollar for dollar (optional). |
Circulate Lifeline marketing materials and workplace giving nomination forms to staff. Consider inviting a Lifeline representative to visit and provide more information to staff. |
| 4. Deposit your donations to Lifeline (monthly, quarterly or bi-annually) |
Lifeline provides interested employees with access to a bi-monthly e-newsletter which demonstrates programs and initiatives that Lifeline is involved with. We can also provide your employees with self-help resources from the Lifeline Information Service. |
| 5. Keep Lifeline updated on your news and initiatives from your organisation. Lifeline is keen to help promote your organisation to our e-newsletter subscribers. |
We can also contribute articles to your staff or client newsletters and website to keep donors updated on what’s happening at Lifeline and how their funds are used. |
Tax benefits
Workplace giving donations are deducted from pre-tax employee salaries, which mean that individual taxable income is reduced. Lifeline has Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status, which means that workplace giving contributions qualify for an immediate tax deduction.
For more information visit the Australian Taxation Office website or phone 13 28 66.
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Even a small amount donated by a number of employees can go a long way.