All of us who have our health, a paying job, or the security of living in our own home are aware that many people in our society do not enjoy this same standard of living. It is not unreasonable for employees who work for NZX listed companies that pay our wages or salaries to almost expect that giving to charities is the employers responsibility.

There is always room for higher corporate support in developed countries such as New Zealand and Australia. Smaller employers are busy keeping their heads above water and although many believe giving to others is important, daily life takes over.

NZBusiness Magazine recently quoted that there tends to be a weaker welfare system, more inequality and little government assistance for charities in countries where corporates donate more and generally, the ‘reward’ for these donations is higher corporate visibility such as building naming rights.

The world and employees are changing, and we are definitely more aware of the environment around us and the future for humanity, but consumers want to know that their choice of where to spend their dollars is with good citizens.

So how does this work in practice?

Charities have various marketing avenues including asking corporates, having a call team to contact you in your home, or street appeals.

With credit cards and EFTPOS cards being the only way certain demographics pay for goods and services it is of no surprise that street appeals become harder each year. How then to raise the money so badly needed by so many charities?

iPayroll is a cloud-based payroll company which, alongside its traditional payroll features, provides an ‘iPayroll Giving” service for all employees of their customers. This provides online giving access for all employees whose payslips are processed through iPayroll.

When the Government first announced the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) of payroll giving in New Zealand, iPayroll were inspired to develop the programme. This group is the global standard in measuring and managing corporate community investment.

iPayroll manage the whole process pro bono, so 100% of donations made via their payroll giving services are passed onto the recipient charity. Since inception of the programme, iPayroll has facilitated actual donations of over $450,000. The integrated streamlined system sufficiently lowers the barriers to giving for those using iPayroll's services, making it easier to donate, which in turn makes receiving donations easier for charities. Any registered charity that is on the IRD donate registry, and is an iPayroll customer, is eligible to be part of the iPayroll Giving service.

Development of the software and service and ongoing maintenance costs are all absorbed by iPayroll as part of their charitable giving facility.

Many businesses today reference being 'social businesses'. iPayroll is proud to have been a forerunner in charitable giving services for over 10 years. Facilities such as the iPayroll Kiosk app allow employees to take their own responsibly for donating in this ever-changing cashless society.

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