Momentum Waikato encourages employees and businesses to work together for the mutual benefit of their communities, and Payroll Giving, a big part of how New Zealanders now support charities, is a great way to do it.
‘Payroll Giving’ is the IRD scheme where employees can choose to make donations to charities via a deduction from their regular pay packet, at the same time as their income tax and student loan repayments, with the tax on the donation being able to be claimed back at tax return time.
Anyone can set up their own Payroll Giving to donate to an existing Momentum philanthropic fund or as part of setting up a new fund supporting the charity of your choice - as with all other ways of giving, you direct how the resulting investment returns are granted and disbursed (see above).
Payroll Giving is also a great way for people to directly support the work of Momentum Waikato, as scheduled ‘untagged’ contributions towards its regional endowment generate income that is used to enable our Transformational Projects aimed at creating 'A better Waikato for everyone, forever'.
Set up a company 'named fund' powered by Payroll Giving
Coupling Payroll Giving with a philanthropic investment fund at Momentum Waikato is a great way for employers to enable their staff to get the maximum ongoing impact for their charitable donations, especially when contributions are matched by the firm.
This approach has been a ‘win win win’ for Longveld, a Waikato engineering company, its employees, and the social service providers they’ve supported.
Longveld started up its fund in 2019 at Momentum Waikato and ever since has dollar-for-dollar matched their team’s donations towards it.
Once a year the team then votes on where to grant a portion of the fund’s income, which Managing Director Pam Roa describes as “a fun process” that brings their teams together for a common purpose unrelated to work.
“We love that pooling and investing our donations has a bigger longer-term impact. And along the way, we all learn more about what not-for-profit groups are achieving in the Waikato,” says Pam.
Leaving a portion of the resulting income invested each year keeps the fund growing. Companies setting up a Fund fed by Payroll Giving should include information about the scheme in their on-boarding packs and actively promote it to all their staff.
Read more about Payroll Giving at Longveld.
To set up Payroll Giving, talk to your employer, or your employees, complete the forms at the buttons below, and contact Momentum.