Corporate social investment and staff volunteerism

STAFF VOLUNTEERISM PROGRAMMES

As a bank that is committed to being highly involved in the community and environment, Nedbank
Group is committed to encouraging and enabling its staff to SHARE their skills and talents in
service of others. The group’s staff volunteerism programme is designed to cater for staffmembers
who wish to give of their time to worthy causes. Many opportunities are available within the group
for staff to involve themselves in volunteer work or charity support. These include:

Team Challenge 2008

The past year was the sixth consecutive year in which the hugely successful and increasingly popular Team Challenge was held and again saw staffmembers selflessly giving of their time and talent in support of a variety of non-profit organisations across the country.

Through Team Challenge, staffmembers are given the opportunity and financial support to volunteer at charity organisations that are close to their hearts. The foundation makes R2 000 seed funding available to every team to help them get their projects off the ground. Teams can elect to undertake the 10-month challenge or do one or more 7-day challenges.

A total of 701 (2007: 468) Nedbank Group staffmembers, together with family and friends, participated in the 2008 Team Challenge.

Prize money totalling R230 000 was split among the winning teams across the two categories (10-month and 7-day challenges). This money does not go to the teams, but is passed on to the charities or projects with which they were involved.

Local Hero Programme

The Local Hero Programme recognises individual employees who volunteer through projects or organisations involved in community upliftment. Successful applicants receive a R10 000 donation towards the organisation they support. Since the inception of the programme in 2002, the Nedbank Foundation has donated more than R1 141 4000 to worthy projects through the ‘local heroes’. In 2008 there were 92 applications (2007: 43) for assistance and donations of R549 000 (2007: R390 000) were made.

In 2007 the programme was extended to include our clients. More information on this can be found here.

Payroll Giving

The Payroll Giving project, which was started in 2006, continued to grow during 2008 with Nedbank staffmembers donating approximately R109 000 per month. A total amount of R1 274 871 was donated in 2008, with a cumulative total of R2 742 177 since the project’s inception. These funds are passed on to the SA Children’s Charity Trust, which then uses the money to support a variety of organisations, including Choc, Cotlands, Red Cross, Reach for a Dream, Ithemba Charities and QuadPara Association of SA.

 

Angel Tree 2008

In the five years since its inception, staff support of the Angel Tree project has grown steadily. In 2008 more than 4 019 children and elderly citizens from 46 different NGOs received Christmas gifts as a result of the generous spirit of thousands of Nedbank employees. Many departments and business units elected to take the programme a step further, adopting specific charities and meeting their wish lists through financial donations, fundraising, gifts and festive-season parties for the underprivileged.

 

Deep Green Day

Deep Green Day is all about working towards the group’s Deep Green aspiration of being highly involved in the community and environment. Nedbank staffmembers once again rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty cleaning up the environment, either as individuals or as part of Nedbank cleanup teams. Cleanups included sections of the Jukskei River in Alexandra, numerous stretches of various highways and some of our more neglected beaches. The day also saw 28 000 tree seeds distributed to staffmembers, who were encouraged to plant and nurture their trees so that the saplings can eventually be donated to local communities.

 

TEAM CHALLENGE 2008 – HELPING HANDS TEAM WINS!

The 10-month Team Challenge winning team was the Helping Hands team. This team, consisting of 14 core team members and 17 colleagues, set out to improve the living conditions of the children living at the Helping Hands Home. They renovated the home by tiling the kitchen and bathrooms, fixing the plumbing, laying carpets, installing an outside basin and kitchen cupboards, painting the beds, hanging mirrors, fixing bathroom accessories and hanging new curtains in the bedrooms. The team also raised additional funds that were used to purchase food and pay electricity bills. In addition the team also promoted Aids awareness within the community and, through their involvement, had a positive impact on the 144 children at the home, the staffmembers who work there and the community at large.