INFORMATION FOR EMPLOYERS

ABN 56 749 449 191 ACN 131 965 761 The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Victoria)

For more information about supporting the RSPCA through Workplace Giving, please contact:

Corporate Relations Coordinator

RSPCA (Victoria)3 Burwood HwyBurwood East VIC 3151Australia

P 03 9224 2536 corporates@rspcavic.org.au

W www.rspcavic.org

INFORMATION FOR EMPLOYERS

It is extremely important to promote your Workplace Giving program to staff and encourage take-up of the program.

The RSPCA can advise of the best ways to do this, as well as provide promotional information and material, such as flyers and posters to display around the workplace, and provide opportunities for your employees to participate in other RSPCA awareness initiatives.

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The RSPCA is always happy to visit your workplace withan RSPCA dog and present to your staff about how their Workplace Giving donations are helping the animals in our care, and assist in encouraging greater staff participationin the program.

You 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 each employee’s pay. Employers may also choose to notify employees of their Workplace Giving donations as part of their pay slips.

Each time your payroll transfers these funds to the RSPCA, a remittance (either emailed or posted) should be supplied to the RSPCA, to ensure correct reconciliation.

Absolutely. Matching employee donations is a great opportunity to demonstrate your business’ commitment to your Workplace Giving program and chosen charity partners and to further encourage your employees to start supporting it. Organisations that match their employee donations are proven to have higher employee participation rates. Donation matching sends a powerful message to staff about their employers commitment to this vital community support initiative.

It’s simple. Your employee asks your payroll department to deduct regular donations from their pay to be made to the RSPCA. Your payroll area makes the deduction from the employee’s gross / pre-tax earnings. This deduction is made after calculating superannuation contributions but before deducting Pay as You Go (PAYG) tax. This way the employee gets an immediate tax benefit.

Not at all. Most of the administration is carried out as per your normal payroll procedures. All modern payroll systems can facilitate Workplace Giving donations. There is very little extra work involved as there are no tax forms to complete and the records you need to keep are very straightforward. Each pay cycle your payroll electronically transfers the donations from any employee to the RSPCA in one simple transaction.

More and more businesses are offering Workplace Giving to their employees as a means to give back to the community by supporting local community based organisations.

Animals play such a big role in the lives of so many Australians, and with 59% of 8 Million households owning cats and dogs alone*, there is a genuine need for animal welfare services within our community. Not only are animals wonderful companions, they also provide significant psychological and physiological benefits to owners.

As the voice for animal welfare, the RSPCA relies almost entirely on the generosity of businesses and individuals to fund its animal welfare services, caring for thousands of stray, injured and neglected animals each year and investigating reports of animal cruelty throughout Victoria.

Workplace Giving is one of the simplest and most effective ways for your company to support the work of the RSPCA as it allows your employees to make regular pre-tax donations to the RSPCA straight from their pay, with the RSPCA receiving the full donation.

Workplace Giving is good for business. It demonstrates to your employees, clients and customers that your business is community minded and committed to supporting the welfare of animals in your local community. By actively engaging in a Workplace Giving program, your company’s commitment can help to build on employee morale, increase employee retention and also be attractive when recruiting new employees.

* August 2010, Contribution of the Pet Care Industry to the Australian Economy, Australian Companion Animal Council.

**The Giving Business Report, 2009

If just 10% of working australians donated $5 per week** through their pay, an additional $260m would be generated each year for the community.