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Supporting our communities
With nearly 400 branches throughout Australia, we’re well placed to support our communities at a local and national level. Over the years, we’ve been inspired to see the difference we can make through charity fundraising and sponsorship of sporting and cultural events in our communities.
St.George Foundation
Since 1990 the St.George Foundation has provided more than $11 million to almost 400 charities across Australia that help children and teenagers who are disadvantaged or suffer a disability or serious illness. Where possible, we support local charities that receive little or no Government funding.
The Foundation is not a single purpose charity. As a result we can help a cross-section of young people with special needs. Learn more about the Foundation
Disaster relief
Our commitment to helping people enduring hardship is practised locally and globally. During the 2005 Tsunami, we donated $250,000 and collected more than $3 million on behalf of the Australian Red Cross and Austcare.
Closer to home, we help out whenever we can, from donating funds to schools affected by flooding, to taking part in various drought relief programs for Australia’s rural communities.
In June this year, when storms damaged schools in the Newcastle/Hunter region, local branch staff provided assistance. Working with the NSW Department of Education, they identified those schools most affected by the floods and presented them with $1,000 each, to help replenish school supplies.
The schools we were able to help included: Hamilton North Public School, Adamstown Public School, Hunter School for Performing Arts, Merewether High School, Rathmines Public School, Cooranbong Public School, Newcastle High School and The Junction Public School.
Special Drought Relief Concert
On 8 September 2007, we we’re honoured to be able to join Sydney Symphony, in a very special concert at Tamworth to aid drought relief. As well as raising the spirits of rural communities in the area, and heightening awareness of their plight, together we were able to also raise close to $60,000.
All ticket proceeds have been donated across various drought relief programs of Anglicare, The Australian Red Cross, The Salvation Army and St.Vincent De Paul.
Community partnerships and sponsorships
At St.George, we believe our close relationships with individuals and the community sets us apart, and greatly benefit us all.
We’re proud of the role our sponsorship program plays in actively supporting the arts, sports, community activities and business programs. We are sponsors of many such organisations and events, including:
- OpenAir Cinema
- St.George Illawarra Dragons
- Sydney Symphony
- Trends
Local support
With over 400 branches across Australia, we’re actively involved in the communities in which we operate, from local schools, hospitals and councils to sporting organisations.
In Kogarah for example, where our head office is based, we provide the community with access to our auditorium for concerts and presentations, the Kogarah Council has a 50-year lease for the use of our community centre (providing an important venue for local community groups), we assist the local hospitals in fundraising initiatives and offer Year 12 students at Moorefield Girls’ High School the opportunity to receive a scholarship to put towards their tertiary education.
Community education
Wesley Mission Credit Line consumer education program
We provide support to individuals and families in financial crisis, through the Wesley Mission Credit Line consumer education program. The program provides guidelines for managing money, including common financial pitfalls to avoid.
In addition, in partnership with Wesley Mission we also provide consumer education materials including:
- 103 tips for tough times
- Are things getting out of hand
- Budgeting principles
- Preparing a money Plan
- Relationship debt
- What to do if in financial difficulties
These materials are provided to community groups and are available on the Wesley Mission Credit Line website.
St.George Zoomobile
In partnership with Taronga Zoo, the St.George Zoomobile brings the zoo to community groups across NSW. In the last five years we’ve visited almost 80,000 people, providing education about animals, eco-systems and environmental sustainability through the interaction with Australian native animals.
We focus on making the Zoomobile experience accessible to groups such as pre-schools, day care centres, community groups, nursing homes and corporate functions. The St.George Zoomobile showcases 6-7 different native animals and encourages participants to take positive action for their local environment in ways meaningful to them.
Learn more about the St.George Zoomobile
Silent auction program
In addition to providing financial assistance to children’s charities directly through the St.George Foundation, we’ve developed technology to help other charities run silent auctions at their major fundraising events.
In the past four years we have donated our time and our technology to help such worthy charities as: The Schizophrenia Research Institute (Sydney), Autism Spectrum Australia (Sydney), Cure Cancer (Sydney), Pink Ribbon Ball (Adelaide), South Australian Olympic Appeals Committee (Adelaide), Cystic Fibrosis NSW (Sydney), Red Kite (Sydney), Adelaide Crows Gala Auction (Adelaide), Bear Cottage (Sydney), Ronald McDonald House (Sydney), Cure for Life (Sydney) and the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia (CCIA).
If you are interested in finding out more please contact the St.George Corporate Relations team.
Volunteering
Giving back to the community isn’t just rewarding for us as a business, it generates a lot of satisfaction for our staff who are able to get involved. That’s why we encourage our people to participate in volunteer projects, supporting them with one day a year of paid leave to assist a not for profit organisation of their choice. They can do this either as a team or individually.
Community & Environment Award
Because we have such a strong culture of community involvement, we find a lot of our people are very committed to activities outside of work that assist their local community.
To ensure this contribution doesn’t go unnoticed, we regularly recognise individuals who make an outstanding contribution to the community or environment, beyond their daily work at St.George.
Nominations come from across the St.George Group, indicating how the individual has made a real difference. This may include work for a local charity or community group, becoming heavily involved in fundraising events or working on environmental projects.
