Survey reveals business benefits of payroll giving
Howard Lake | 16 October 2002 | News
Encouraging employees to support charity through their payroll delivers real benefits to business, according to a new report commissioned by The Giving
Campaign.
The report, ‘The Business of Giving’, found that 96% of companies surveyed thought Payroll Giving was something employers should offer and want to see more of their staff taking part in such schemes.
The main Payroll Giving benefits reported are:
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- Improves company image (61%)
- Enhances community involvement programmes (58%)
- Supports employee volunteering (40%)
- Boosts staff morale (34%)
- Improves staff recruitment and retention (27%)
The Giving Campaign says that the report also punctured some of the myths surrounding Payroll Giving. For example, the difficulties of setting up and running programmes emerged as a barrier for only a small proportion of companies. Four in five (79%) businesses found it simple to run Payroll Giving, with only 8% experiencing any difficulties.
The survey was conducted by Ashridge Centre for Business in Society, and features case studies of a number of FTSE 250 companies and the Payroll Giving Schemes they offer.
In 2001, £72.5 million was raised for charities through Payroll Giving
alone with 1,000 companies launching new schemes in their offices. High
profile companies making a success of Payroll Giving include Royal Bank of
Scotland Group, Rolls-Royce, BT, 3i Plc and Zurich Financial Services.
Terri Hathaway, Campaign Manager for Payroll Giving at The Giving Campaign,
said: “This research verifies my belief that Payroll Giving provides benefits beyond its effectiveness as a valued income stream to the charity sector. It is good for business, easy to administer and valued by employees.
Employers should consider offering Payroll Giving as a good way to raise the company image and boost staff morale and retention, while also doing something good for the community. It’s a win-win.”
The Giving Campaign has launched a Payroll Giving Toolkit for organisations looking to offer the scheme to their employees. The toolkit is designed to provide large companies with everything they need to implement and run a successful Payroll Giving campaign, also including highlights from the
Ashridge research report.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.