Runner-up — Best Corporate Employee Community Involvement Programme: Nedbank
Blue Monday at the office? Psh! Not if you work at Nedbank. As part of the Nedbank Group’s “Deep Green” aspiration to make a difference in communities, staff are encouraged to roll up their sleeves and drive their own corporate social investment projects.
“The personal growth and development experienced by staff members, with the sense of fulfilment and community involvement, fosters higher levels of loyalty and productivity across the organisation,” says Nikki Webster, Nedbank’s public relations officer.
Staff can contribute financially to charitable causes through the Payroll Giving programme, but the primary focus is on the Local Hero and Team Challenge programmes.
Every month the Nedbank Foundation makes R10 000 available to Local Heroes — individual staff members who are involved in volunteer work outside the company.
The main conditions attached to these funds are that staff members must have been involved in the volunteer project for more than a year and they are entitled to one disbursement every 12 months.
To become a Local Hero, staff need to complete an application form providing details about their projects and explain how the Nedbank donation will be used and accounted for.
Since 2007 Nedbank clients have also been able to propose projects for Local Hero funding. “This has enabled the foundation to increase its reach into areas of the country where it may previously not even have known of the specific needs facing the causes and charities operating there,” Webster says.
Last year a total of R1.4-million was distributed to Local Hero community projects, ranging from childcare to HIV/Aids education, support for abused women and children and animal rehabilitation.
The Team Challenge programme encourages staff members to get together to conceptualise, implement and sustain community projects.
“Because team members come together from various areas of the organisation, the Team Challenge experience effectively breaks down any internal barriers and silo mentalities that may have developed in the business,” Webster says.
Now in its eighth year, the Team Challenge 2009 was supported by 207 staff members from senior executive level downwards, plus many family members and friends.
Every team that enters the challenge receives R2 000 seed capital to help get their project up and running. Teams can choose to partake in a 10-month challenge, or one or more one-month challenges.
To make sure the projects are not one-hit wonders, each team must have a sustainability aspect built into their project proposal.
Projects that accomplish 60% or more of their set objectives are eligible to receive an additional share of a R200 000 pot of prize money at the end of the year.
The 2009 Team Challenge winners, Dream Makers, raised R113 000 for the Reach for a Dream Foundation. By participating in triathlon events and raising money during Valentine’s Day and Easter, the team succeeded in fulfilling 81 children’s dreams