Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
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Work And Careers Leaders
Thankyou Group donates more than
Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
The social enterprise donated $10 million to help alleviate extreme poverty last year,
propelling it into the list of Australia’s top 50 corporate philanthropists for the first
time.
Sally
Sally
SallyPatten
Patten
Patten BOSS editor
Dec 3, 2021 – 5.00am
H
andwash and sanitiser maker Thankyou Group donated more to
charity than ASX 200 heavyweights Suncorp, Goodman Group,
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
Mirvac, Brambles and QBE last year as demand for its products surged
during the pandemic.
The social enterprise, well known for its distinctive brown packaging,
donated $10 million to help alleviate extreme poverty in the 12 months to
June, propelling it onto the list of Australia’s top 50 corporate
philanthropists for the first time. The year before, Thankyou Group
donated $677,000.
Thankyou Group managing director and co-founder Daniel Flynn says the decision to donate 100
per cent of profits to charity sends a powerful message to consumers. Supplied
Thankyou Group, founded in 2008, joins a growing list of young companies
that are focusing on social responsibility from an early stage.
Atlassian
Atlassian
Atlassian donated $13.4 million to education causes through the Atlassian
Foundation, which was established in 2008, six years after Mike Cannon-
Brookes and Scott Farquhar founded the enterprise software company.
Partly thanks to an initial pledge to donate 1 per cent of annual profits, 1 per
cent of employee time, 1 per cent of company equity and 1 per cent of
product, the foundation has built a nest egg of $350 million and expects to
increase donations in 2021-22 to between $15 million and $20 million.
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
Based on this year’s figures, that would put it on par with companies such
as Deloitte and Oil Search.
Each year the foundation receives all licence revenues from not-for-profit
clients for “on-premise” products, as well as 1 per cent of company profits
(calculated on a non-International Financial Reporting Standards basis).
The top 50 corporate philanthropists in 2021
Search in table Page 1 of 10
Community % of
investment pretax Year Main a
▲ Company ($m) profit ended giving
Social
inclusi
Jun,
1 BHP $234.1 0.71 environ
2021
educat
Indigen
Food re
Jun, health,
2 Coles $124.0 8.58
2021 educat
disaste
Patient
commu
Jun,
3 CSL $74.3 1.87 biomed
2021
emerge
relief
Health
educat
Dec,
4 Rio Tinto $68.1 0.31 environ
2020
protect
Top of the pops
The amounts being donated to good causes by the likes of Thankyou
Group and Atlassian pale into insignificance next to Australia’s two biggest
corporate philanthropists: BHP, which last year gave away $234 million to
causes such as social inclusion, the environment and Indigenous
communities; and Coles, which donated $124 million to support food
rescue, health and education.
Nevertheless, Jarrod Miles, founder of Strive Philanthropy, and John
McLeod, co-founder of JBWere Philanthropic Services, argue that young
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
companies are going down the giving path earlier, in part by joining the
“Pledge
Pledge
Pledge1%
1%”
1% movement, set up by Atlassian and Salesforce in 2014.
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Signatories pledge to donate 1 per cent of equity, employee time, profit or
product “to make a difference in the world”.
“[These young companies] are finding new and innovative ways of giving
back to the community,” Miles says. “They’re actually thinking about it and
embedding it into the business.
“The pledge is very much encouraging newer, younger, entrepreneurial
and start-up companies to join, so it does get built into the organisation at
an early point.”
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
Daniel Petre of AirTree Ventures says younger entrepreneurs are thinking about philanthropy from
an early stage. James Alcock
Daniel Petre, co-founder of venture capital firm AirTree Ventures, concurs.
“I think younger companies are more quickly doing some version of
corporate philanthropy. They’re getting to that point much faster than
traditional companies,” he says.
“My experience with younger founders is that they are far more socially
responsible than their old white guy compatriot founders. They get things
like marriage equality and they get concepts of income inequality. These
are concepts that you don’t have to argue. They get it.
“They also get that they have been lucky, as well as worked hard. Whereas
a lot of the traditional wealthy had this ridiculous assumption that it’s all
about hard work, the younger ones go, ‘No. I get it. I’ve worked super hard,
but I also get that I’m super lucky,’ ” Petre says.
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
About 1300 Australian companies have signed the Pledge 1% movement,
including venture capitalist Blackbird, Canva, Culture Amp, Wilson Asset
Management and SafetyCulture. Globally, more than 15,000 companies
have signed up.
The desire to attract and retain talent is also prompting young companies
to give back to the community. Research by Deloitte last year found 44 per
cent of workers feel they
they
theybelong
belong
belongmore
more
morein
in
inaaaworkplace
workplace
workplacewhere
where
wherecharitable
charitable
charitable
contributions
contributions
contributionsare
are
aremade
made.
made
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“It’s the young people who are saying, ‘I want to work with a company
which has got some sense of purpose. We’re very wealthy. Why aren’t we
doing anything?’ ” Petre says.
“Provided you’re doing it authentically, frankly all employees typically
want to be working for an organisation that has values aligned to their
own,” says Mark Reading, head of the Atlassian Foundation.
“We have conducted surveys internally of [staff], asking them about the
extent to which the foundation impacted the decision to join Atlassian, or
their intention to stay at Atlassian.
“We’ve also looked at correlations between those people who are actively
engaged in the foundation and their responses to other questions that we
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
ask about motivation, sense of belonging and engagement. And we’ve
consistently seen really positive responses in terms of [the foundation]
being a factor in attracting staff and in their intention to stay,” Reading
says.
Setting an example
The founders of Canva and Atlassian this year revealed ambitious personal
philanthropic plans. The married
married
marriedcouple
couple
couplebehind
behind
behindCanva,
Canva,
Canva,Melanie
Melanie
MelaniePerkins
Perkins
Perkins
and
and
andCliff
Cliff
CliffObrecht,
Obrecht,
Obrecht,said
said
saidthey
they
theywould
would
wouldgive
give
giveaway
away
awaythe
the
the“vast
“vast
“vastmajority”
majority”
majority”of
of
oftheir
their
their
wealth
wealth,
wealth currently valued at $16.5 billion.
In October, Cannon-Brookes
Cannon-Brookes
Cannon-Brookesand
and
andhis
his
hiswife
wife
wifeAnnie
Annie
Anniepledged
pledged
pledgedto
to
todevote
devote
devote$1.5
$1.5
$1.5
billion
billion
billionof
of
oftheir
their
theirpersonal
personal
personalwealth
wealth
wealth by 2030 to ventures involved in cutting
carbon emissions. The pledge includes $500 million in philanthropic and
advocacy work.
The total sum given by Australia’s top 50 corporate philanthropists in 2021
was $1.33 billion, 4 per cent higher than the previous year, research
provided exclusively to BOSS by Miles and McLeod shows.
The increase follows aaahefty
hefty
hefty18
18
18per
per
percent
cent
centsurge
surge
surgein
in
incorporate
corporate
corporategiving
giving
givingin
in
in2020
2020,
2020
as companies rushed to support COVID-19 research and bushfire victims.
The proportion of profits donated fell back to 0.8 per cent from 1.24 per
cent. Even so, several companies, such as National Australia Bank,
Woodside, Macquarie, Atlassian, Hearts & Minds Investments, Rio Tinto
and CSL increased the amount they donated by at least 30 per cent.
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06/12/2021, 13:34 Thankyou Group donates more than Suncorp, Brambles, QBE and Mirvac
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“I was quite surprised that the number was up,” McLeod says. “I really felt
it would be down after the exceptional year that 2020 was in terms of
companies’ response to bushfires and COVID. The fact that it was up was
the really pleasant surprise to me.”
Meanwhile, Workplace Giving Australia, which this week merged with
Good2Give, is urging companies to allow more employees to donate pre-
tax dollars through the payroll system.
Since 2010, workplace giving has grown by about 7 per cent a year,
reaching $52 million in 2020, which Jenny Geddes, who will remain chief
executive of Workplace Giving, says is “positive” but that companies need
to do more. “We need more companies and their leadership to champion
this form of giving and drive it like they drive other areas of their business,”
Geddes argues.
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Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht have pledged to give away most of their fortune. Supplied
One of the youngest companies to make the list of major corporate givers
last year was Hearts & Minds, the listed investment company that invests
in between 25 and 30 stocks recommended by leading fund managers,
who recommend their share picks on a pro bono basis. The investment
company donated $12.6 million.
Hearts & Minds, which was born out of the Sohn Hearts & Minds
investment leaders conference, whose annual event is held on Friday, was
established just three years ago.
Future
Future
FutureGenerations
Generations,
Generations a funds management provider established in 2014 and
which also donates its asset management fees to charity, gave away $11.7
million.
RELATED
‘Very,
‘Very,
‘Very,very
very
veryhigh
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highconviction’:
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conviction’:Sohn
Sohn
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Miles points to signs that older companies are learning from their younger
counterparts and pushing their community credentials. More companies
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are publishing sustainability reports, which often detail philanthropic
activities. Indeed, a record 70 per cent of ASX 100 companies disclosed
their community investments in 2021, up from 62 per cent a year earlier. A
company that audits companies’ social impact, Corporate Citizenship,
experienced a 21 per cent rise in Australian corporate memberships last
year.
“This increase in reporting and assurance is an encouraging sign that
organisations are taking their community investment more seriously,”
Miles says.
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Petre argues that older companies are following suit in an attempt to
attract talent.
“Financial companies are quickly following because it’s a war for talent,”
he says.
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Why
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As for Thankyou Group, managing director and co-founder Daniel Flynn
says the decision to give 100 per cent of company profits to charity sends a
powerful message to consumers.
“We see that it’s very valuable as a consumer brand. It’s ridiculously hard to
truly [build] scale to where we want to build this [business]. That’s real and
that’s where I get to have the most fun trying to figure out how to grow. But
as a consumer brand, [we have] a very strong message,” he says.
Research sources include the GivingLarge report, publicly available company
sustainability/CSR reports, ACNC, Fundraising Research & Consulting, and
Fundraising & Philanthropy Australasia. Amounts are for community
investment and include philanthropic donations, in-kind support plus pro
bono and volunteering. Amounts exclude leverage facilitated by companies
(such as staff donations through workplace giving), revenue foregone,
political donations, commercial sponsorships and purchases of community
goods or services when business in nature.
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BOSS Corporate philanthropy Atlassian Canva
Mike Cannon-Brookes Scott Farquhar Melanie Perkins
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Sally
Sally
SallyPatten
Patten
BOSS editor
Sally Patten edits BOSS, and writes about workplace issues. She was Financial Services of the
Financial Review and Personal Finance editor of the AFR, Age and Sydney Morning Herald. She
edited business news for The Times of London. Connect with Sally on Twitter
Twitter.
Twitter Email Sally at
spatten@afr.com
spatten@afr.com
spatten@afr.com
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