BHP Billiton and the Red Cross: A great match

Disaster relief was what drove BHP Billiton employee Hannah Hellawell to make her donation to the Red Cross. After receiving an email from a colleague about Cyclone Winston, Hannah was compelled to act.

“One of my colleagues is from Fiji and I was touched by the impact the cyclone had on his compatriots,” she says. “I wanted to help, even in a small way”.

Thanks to employees like Hannah, BHP Billiton donated over US$41,000 to the Australian Red Cross over the past year through the Matched Giving Program (MGP), making us one of Australia’s largest corporate donors to the organisation.

As we celebrate Workplace Giving Month in Australia throughout June, we’ve encouraged all our employees to make a donation to their charity of choice through the MGP.

Employee Adrian Lee also donated to the Red Cross, explaining he wanted to donate to a cause that made a lasting difference.

“Organisations that are trying to make generational changes need to be supported because this is where real sustainable change will be driven,” says Adrian.

By submitting their donations through the MGP, Hannah and Adrian ensured that their donations were double matched by the Company, providing much needed funds to support the community.

This money was used by the Red Cross to fund disaster relief and a number of programs which help disadvantaged people across the world. One of these programs has been providing disadvantaged Australian children a healthy breakfast before they go to school.

“When we started providing breakfast for kids, they were keen, they were engaged, their concentration had improved, they were ready for learning,” says Carmel, a principal whose school runs a breakfast club twice a week.

Matched Giving at BHP Billiton

The One Million Donors campaign wants to see one million Australians giving to charity through their workplace by 2020, providing benefits to charities while also delivering huge benefits to staff and employers.

BHP Billiton is one of the Top 10 workplace giving program providers in Australia, as determined by the Australian Charities Fund.

Employees can visit our Matched Giving Program intranet page to learn how to donate to a charity of their choice and help us move towards one million donors by 2020.

 

Source: BHP Billiton Website, 30 June 2016