ACF congratulates Save the Children and Palais Theatre at the inaugural 2011 Australian Workplace Giving Awards

Winners of the inaugural Australian Workplace Giving Awards were announced in September 2011 at the Awards Ceremony held at NSW Parliament House in Sydney. The judges were impressed by the high quality of the submissions, and all applicants were congratulated for the fresh thinking, hard work, and unflagging commitment to workplace giving. The awards recognise leadership, innovation, collaboration and best practice in workplace giving by employers and charities.

Collaboration - Joint Award Employer/Community Organisations Award

Highly Commended: Palais Theatre/Save the Children

The award recognised excellence in a collaborative partnership between a community organisation and an employer organisation with respect to the employer's workplace giving program.
Palais Theatre has been a partner with Save the Children since 2009 and has one of the strongest workplace giving programs of all of Save the Children's corporate supporters, with almost half of all staff participating in workplace giving in October 2010. What is even more impressive about this sign up rate is that the majority of employees are casual staff who themselves are students and emerging artists.

The partnership with Palais Theatre was formed when Neil Croker, CEO, saw a program on television highlighting the plight of vulnerable children and was inspired to take action.

Save the Children worked with Palais Theatre, an iconic venue for live music, to find a project that aligned with their business values and that would resonate with staff - the result was the decision to fund Save the Children's Deadly Blokes and Kids program in Kununurra. This is an innovative fathering project that uses music, song writing and performance for restoration, healing and re-integrating the traditional male into the family unit in remote Indigenous communities in the East Kimberley.

From the initial discussions with Palais Theatre management on how to incorporate different elements of partnership, workplace giving was immediately embraced. It can often be a challenge to engage small to medium businesses in starting a workplace giving program, as many believe that without a large payroll or HR department it can be too difficult to set up and manage. This was never the case in the discussions with Palais Theatre. Save the Children produced a tailored information piece for staff on how workplace giving works, what the benefits are, information on the Deadly Blokes program, and a sign up form. Palais Theatre management then followed the ATO's guidelines to set up the program internally.

As ACF research has shown us, endorsement from senior management plays a large role in staff signing up to workplace giving. At the Palais Theatre staff meeting every quarter, Mr Croker talks to staff about the partnership with Save the Children and encourages staff to participate in workplace giving. This presentation from the CEO is invaluable to staff, not only to keep staff up to date with the program, but also to show to employees the importance of being part of Palais Theatre's commitment to the community through workplace giving.

Save the Children and Palais Theatre discussed ways to increase staff engagement with the project and the result was the decision to send one of their staff members (currently participating in workplace giving) to the visit the Deadly Blokes & Kids program as a skilled volunteer. Save the Children then spoke with the program team in Kununurra who requested assistance buying and using a new digital audio music program, Pro Tools, which would enable them to craft musical backing tracks and record and edit their own music. Palais Theatre then nominated Aimee Chapman, Event Manager, a prolific Pro Tools user as well as a musician, for the skilled volunteer placement.

The Deadly Blokes & Kids staff consulted with Aimee before purchasing equipment, and then in August 2010, Aimee travelled to Kununurra to act as a musical mentor on the program. Aimee spent a week in the East Kimberley town teaching program participants how to use Pro Tools, as well as leading music workshops with the kids, helping them use their new skills to record a song they've written called I've Bin Dreamin'. The week of musical collaboration culminated in a Deadly Blokes & Kids performance at the Kimberley Croc Fest family event in Kununurra, where the team performed their song live with Aimee. Upon her return, Aimee shared her fabulous experience with Palais Theatre staff.

Palais Theatre's workplace giving program is a fantastic example of how an organisation -

• Does not have to have be a large corporate with a big employee base and payroll/HR department to set up and run employee giving

• With CEO endorsement can encourage a large number of staff members to participate

• Who regularly updates and keeps employees actively engaged in their community program

• Can work with Save the Children to find a program that aligns with their business and resonates with staff

• Is able to provide an incentive to staff to workplace give by offering skilled volunteering opportunities at the project

• By supporting the partnership in different ways can ingrain in staff the importance of contributing themselves