What’s the issue?

Connecting with our communities and coming together has never been more important. That is why we are committed to supporting local communities where we operate and doing what we can to help build strong connections that help others overcome challenging circumstances and thrive.

What are we doing?

We recognise that each community is different, and each faces unique challenges. That is why we empower our teams to support their local communities in ways that are relevant and right for them and their customers. To help us achieve our goal, this year we established a new local community engagement team, with dedicated team members across the country working to support our teams to better connect with and support their local communities.

A key initiative to support our commitment to raise $5m for local causes by 2025 is our annual Round Up to Make a Difference fundraising campaign, held in June each year. The campaign provides customers with the option to round up the cost of their purchase to the nearest dollar at the point of sale. At the same time, giving our team members the opportunity to champion causes and organisations that are important to them.

Due to the significant impact of COVID-19 on our communities, and particularly the not-for-profit sector, we identified the need to make a more meaningful contribution by focusing our efforts on two important areas of health and education. During the campaign in June 2020, we saw our customers and team members work together to raise more than $1m to support 17 organisations across Australia working to improve health and education outcomes. These much-needed funds enable the organisations to continue to achieve positive outcomes, such as Backpacks 4 Vic Kids providing 650 children with a Me Bag that contained essentials like soap, toothbrushes and two sets of clothes.

Our teams have formed strong, ongoing relationships with each organisation which has led to additional opportunities to support them, including team member volunteering and providing support through in-kind donations.

Focus for FY2022

We will continue to hold our annual Round Up to Make a Difference campaign focusing on supporting health and education causes and will continue to build ongoing relationships with the organisations we support. With challenging circumstances continuing into the year ahead, we will keep our communities front of mind for our team members by encouraging a workplace culture where giving back and making a difference is both celebrated and rewarded.

Learn more about another 2025 commitment