Heartbeat May 2021

Welcome to the first edition of the Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation’s Heartbeat.

HBCF Heartbeat is the Foundation’s quarterly newsletter sharing inspiring updates on how we’re growing stronger communities together.

A lot has happened since we made our inaugural $10,000 grants to our nine charity partners late last year. It has been sensational to witness the Heritage Bank community so generously jump at the chance to get involved and support the wonderful work of our charity partners.

Blush Cancer Care

We were privileged to be given the opportunity to assist Blush with their future planning to support Darling Downs and Lockyer Valley breast cancer patients from their diagnosis to their treatment, and beyond.  

Blush is one of those amazing charities that is 100% run by volunteers. It is very exciting to work with such dedicated and passionate people.

Image Caption: HBCF Executive Officer Paul Olds takes a selfie with the Blush team.

Yalari

A team from Heritage Bank volunteered to hit the phones at the Yalari Giving Day.  

This successful fundraising campaign incredibly raised more than $936,000 to help provide Indigenous children from regional, rural and remote communities across Australia full boarding school scholarships for their entire secondary education.

Heritage Bank was also honoured to assist Yalari and Herbert Smith Freehills with a Pathways Day for Year 12 students. Newly appointed Heritage Bank Maroochydore Branch Manager John Trace spoke to a room full of Year 12 Yalari students covering Heritage Bank, pathways to employment and his own career journey. We also assisted with the day by participating in the cover letter and resume writing workshop

Image Caption: Heritage Maroochydore Branch Manager John Trace

Batyr

Setting yourself a challenge is a great way to fundraise.  

A team of Senior Managers from Heritage Bank dived straight into the deep end to swim for Batyr to turn the tide and “Splash the Stigma” around youth mental health.  

They entered the Noosa World Series Swim covering distances of 5km, 2km and 1km to raise funds for Batyr who are changing the way young people view and talk about mental health.   

Image Caption: The Heritage Bank team at Batyr’s Splash the Stigma event at Noosa.

Youth Insearch

The Foundation supports the Youth Insearch Foundation to run their highly successful youth intervention program in the Wide Bay Burnett region, working with at risk youth aged 14 to 20 years.

Our Wide Bay Burnett branches worked with Youth Insearch to promote their recent End Youth Suicide Appeal.  The branches sold Youth Insearch blue heart pins, collected donations and helped promote the campaign.

A highlight was having Youth Insearch team members come into branches to discuss the support they provide.

Hummingbird House

Hummingbird House is Queensland’s only children’s hospice, and one of only three children’s hospices in Australia.  Like many charities they do an amazing job with limited resources. Through Heritage Bank’s volunteering program, we were able to organise additional marketing assistance from one of Heritage Bank’s experienced marketing team members.  

Image Caption: Mahalia Minns from the Heritage Bank Marketing team discussing strategy with Hummingbird House

Wishlist

Since COVID-19 restrictions dramatically impacted the fundraising programs of many charities, Giving Days have been a terrific initiative to secure much needed funds.  Teams from across the Heritage Bank’s Sunshine Coast branch network volunteered at the Wishlist – Sunshine Coast Health Foundation Giving Day, which raised $330,500.  

This amount was Wishlist’s largest one-day fundraiser in their 23 year history and will go a long way to support their $1,000,000 per year commitment to improve the Sunshine Coast health service.

Image Caption: Heritage Bank Branch Managers Narelle Daniells, John Trace and Kirsty Larsen getting into the spirit of the day by hitting the phones

Strengthening the Foundation

The Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation is set up as a Public Ancillary Fund (PAuF). This type of Fund is structured to provide annual grants in perpetuity to organisations who are charities registered as deductible gift recipients (DGRs). 

To allow the Foundation to grow our Fund so we can provide even greater support into the future, we are also a DGR entity, therefore donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.

This means the Foundation has the flexibility to provide immediate support to those in need while also growing the Fund so that it can deliver lasting benefits into the future.

It has been wonderful to see the Heritage Bank community rally behind the Foundation to help us strengthen our financial position. There have been generous donations, event participation, sponsorship, raffles and the launch of Our Shout, the Heritage Bank Workplace Giving Program.

Some examples include:

HBCF Trivia Night which raised more than $6,000 through generous Heritage Bank staff participation and sponsorship from Landmark Resort and Hotel Mooloolaba, Oaks Hotels and Suites, and Chempro Q-Superstore Mermaid Waters.

Image Caption: Trivia Team Bonza Bunyips 

Heritage Bank business partners and members have been creative with their donations. Due to procurement regulations Harlequin Signs are not allowed to gift Christmas presents to Government employees, so they made donations to the Foundation in-lieu of Christmas gifts. We also received a very generous donation in-lieu of a special birthday present when no presents were requested.

In March 2021, Heritage Bank held its first ever Workplace Giving Week which promoted to Heritage Bank staff the benefits of making regular tax deductible donations via payroll to the Foundation.

Already through workplace giving, generous Heritage Bank staff members have donated close to $20,000 to the Foundation. Workplace Giving Week was a great success with workplace giving participation increasing by 63%.

Launch of Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation Sub-Funds

A Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation Sub-Fund could be the perfect philanthropic platform for you to make a difference, both now and well into the future. We can help you create your legacy.

By way of a tax deductible donation, you establish a Sub-Fund within the Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation. Your Sub-Fund is then invested as part of the entire fund, with the aim of producing income for annual donations to eligible charities of your recommendation.

A Sub-Fund allows you the ability to support a wide range of initiatives. All charities supported must be Deductible Gift Recipients (DGR) and aligned with the people first focus of the Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation aimed at building and improving community wellbeing and life outcomes for people in Australia.

A Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation Sub-Fund can be started with a $5,000 donation, pledged to reach $20,000 in four years’ time.

We are extremely proud of the charities we support who are on the frontline, delivering programs to tackle significant issues in our communities. Our vision is growing stronger communities, together and as you can see the Foundation’s toolkit is much broader than a cheque book.  

The Foundation is harnessing the collective strength of Heritage Bank, its staff, its members, business partners and the broader public to make a difference. Together with Heritage Bank we want to join our charity partners in taking responsibility for the success of the collaboration and the impact achieved. 

The Foundation would like to whole heartedly thank everyone who has supported our vision. Due to your support we have had a positive start to 2021 and developed a strong platform that we can build from.  

We’re excited about what can be achieved for the rest of the year and beyond. To find out how you can join the team please visit our Support page or follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

In the next addition of the HBCF Heartbeat, we will cover the amazing impact our nine charity partners have had on the communities where we live.