Workplace Giving information for Employers

Workplace Giving is a simple and effective way for employees to donate and support medical research in WA through a regular pre-tax payroll deduction.

Workplace Giving can be good for business. It demonstrates to your employees and customers that your business is community minded and committed to helping keep medical research alive in WA.

Money donated by your employees goes directly to the Perkins, to support researchers who are working hard to find the answers to devastating diseases that impact our families. Side by side, they’ll be working on kinder treatments and better outcomes to keep our families together for longer.

If your organisation doesn’t currently offer a Workplace Giving program, please contact Meg in our Corporate Partnerships team. She’ll be able to explain the benefits to you as an employer, how it can motivate your employees, and guide you through the steps to develop a payroll giving program.

Researchers in WA receive around 3% of national medical research funding. If funding runs out, their research projects end. Years of work could be shelved. Researchers at the Perkins rely on community support from people like you to give them peace of mind.

Workplace Giving results in regular, reliable income for researchers in WA. Your regular donation means they can spend more time at their bench working on finding the next medical breakthrough – one that could save your life, or the life of someone you love.

Even a small regular contribution can make a significant difference to a researcher.

If you want to keep medical research alive in WA, there really is no simpler way to make a difference.

It’s simple. Your employee asks payroll to deduct regular donations from their pay for the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, using a form that we provide. You make the deduction from the employee’s before-tax pay and forward the amount they donate directly to us. If you have more than one employee donating, you just make one payment to us for the total amount.

This example, above, is from Good2Give, a social enterprise that helps connect employers to charities. You can also find useful information about best practise in developing a payroll giving program on the Workplace Giving Australia website.

A Workplace Giving Program is easy to set up and most of the administration is carried out through your payroll procedures. All modern payroll systems can handle Payroll Giving. There is very little extra work involved. Each pay cycle your payroll electronically transfers the donations from participating employees to the Perkins in one transaction.

We recommend you check information from the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Business Register and Workplace Giving Australia for the rules, regulations and best practise advise on developing a payroll giving program.

Third-party software providers like Good2Give, Benevity or Good Company can help you manage your payroll giving program.

And you can always contact Meg from our Corporate Partnerships team for guidance and advice.

You will need to keep:

• a copy of forms completed by your employees authorising you to make deductions from their pay, and
• a record of the total deductions made from their pay

At the end of the financial year, you include the total amount donated to the Perkins in each participating employee’s payment summary, letter or email.

Each time your payroll transfers employee donation funds to the Perkins, they email a remittance to our finance team to ensure correct reconciliation.

Yes! This is a great opportunity to support your employees’ efforts and demonstrate your commitment to the cause. All matched donations are tax deductible for your business, too.

You can either match employee donations dollar-for-dollar, or you can set a maximum amount that your business will donate (either per employee, or in total). These donations are made in your business name, and all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

When you match employee donations, you are increasing the impact they are making for the health and wellbeing of the community. You’re providing a stronger lifeline for researchers who are finding the answers to the diseases that impact our families the most.

Once we know you have a Workplace Giving program that includes the Perkins, we will send you and your staff our Perkins News magazine twice a year. This magazine includes stories about medical breakthroughs that have been made by Perkins researchers right here in Western Australia.

Your staff can opt in to receive these directly from the Perkins, or we can send them to your workplace to distribute internally.

Note: Employee Workplace Giving information is subject to privacy laws. You cannot release information to participating charities without the express written permission of each employee.

To register for workplace giving, or for more information, simply email email Meg in our Corporate Partnerships team. We will provide a Workplace Giving Registration Form for you to distribute to your employees to complete and return to your payroll office.

Once you have received completed registration forms from your employees, you are ready to start making payments.

Note: Employee Workplace Giving information is subject to privacy laws. You cannot release information to participating charities without the express written permission of each employee.