Tomago employees have been ‘ticking the box’ on their paperwork for a long time now and over the past 33 years have donated more than a million dollars to 40 local charities, with a similar amount raised for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter in the last 20 years.

The problem, says Australian Workers’ Union site delegate Wayne Pringle, has been that some employees have been uncertain about exactly what they are donating to; the charities, the chopper or both.

“It was confusing. Some people thought they were paying to one or the other but not both and some thought they were in both when they actually were not,” Wayne said.

To end the ongoing confusion Wayne and Tomago’s Communications Advisor, Katie Burns, devised a new charity management plan which will merge the two out of pay donation schemes into a single entity. Known as The Tomago Workplace Giving Fund, it will be a more easily managed scheme cutting through the confusion.

The new-look fund is currently being finalised and will kick-off on Wednesday, July 1. From that date all current donations will automatically roll over into the new fund and everyone will have the opportunity to increase the amount if they wish.

To help with this we are also introducing an option for our new starters. The default donation for them will be $3 per week but the amount can be changed and all donations are tax deductible.

The new arrangement also means employees will be able to use T-Net to sign-up to the program or change the amount they wish to pay.

Tomago currently has 1000 employees. Currently only 600 employees donate to either the Westpac Rescue Helicopter or Out-of-Pay Charity scheme and Katie and Wayne are hoping to lift that number significantly.

Our current donation equates to approximately $1.50 per employee per week or $74,880 a year. We have the opportunity to provide a truly substantial amount of funding to charities if we doubled that to a mere $3 each per week.

That would mean an annual donation of some $120,000 to the Workplace Giving Fund.

 “Every new employee will automatically join the scheme on sign-up although they will be able to opt out if they wish,” said Katie, adding that one-off charity drives, such as the Tomago Bushfire Appeal, will still continue outside of the revised program.

Every employee will receive formal notification in the run up to the change and Wayne, a regular visitor to all areas of the site, will not only talk about it with everyone he sees but will be able to answer any questions.

Charities Supported by Tomago Aluminium Employees Over the Years

Autoimmune Resource & Research Centre
Hunter Prelude Early Intervention Centre
Airways, Infection and Immunology Group
Friends of Cameron Park Special School
Hunter Medical Research Institute
Hunter Breast Cancer Foundation
Children’s Leukemia Foundation
John Hunter Children’s Hospital
Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Variety – The Children’s Charity
Starlight Children’s Foundation
Hunter Melanoma Foundation
Maitland Hospital Foundation
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
Hunter Valley Cancer Council
Families Supporting Families
Humpty Dumpty Foundation
Nican – Stroke and Disability
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Helicopter Rescue Service
Mark Hughes Foundation
Ronald McDonald House
Newcastle Youth Service
Hunter Brain Injury Unit
Newcastle City Mission
Headspace Newcastle
Got Your Back Sista
John Hunter Hospital
Life Without Barriers
Dementia Research
Royal Blind Society
Charlie’s Run 4 Kids
Telstra Child Flight
Salvation Army
Camp Quality
Stuart Centre
Kaleidoscope
Carrie’s Place
Our Backyard
Live For Kids
Oz Harvest
Soldier On
Canteen
Lifeline
Soul Cafe