Award for ANZ and Attitude’s winning partnership!

In Australia where almost one in five citizens have a disability, it is imperative that government and industry work with the disability sector towards a more inclusive future. ANZ understands that by listening to the disability community, they are better placed to develop highly accessible products and services as well as workplaces for their people.

The unusual partnership between the Attitude Foundation and the ANZ was formed out of this understanding and both organisations have been recognised by the Volunteering Victoria State Awards for their work in this area by winning the Employee Volunteer Award.

The Attitude Foundation & ANZ partnership has been in place since September 2015. As part of the partnership ANZ provided seed funding to the Attitude Foundation to build our business case as well as a skilled Secondee to provide the Foundation with resources to complete their vision to change mainstream attitudes about people and disability.

With ANZ Secondee support, the Attitude Foundation was able to produce a well-researched and comprehensive business case that described the case for change, the methods that the Foundation will use for changing attitudes with input from consultants with expertise in each of the areas for development.

The business case is now being distributed to government agencies and industry as part of Attitude’s pitch for further sponsorship of the project. All this work will help to give a voice to the four million Australians with a disability for sharing their stories and perspectives.

Further to the work completed on the business case, the ANZ Secondee runs and manages the Foundation on a day-to-day basis, an invaluable and much needed service. These duties include social media, management of governance as well as positioning the Foundation to potential sponsors and donors.

The ANZ’s current secondee, Michelle Butterly, said that her experience with the foundation has given her a much clearer view of how people with disability want to be included in society – something that she will be bringing back to her role at the ANZ. “I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had the experience of working with the Attitude Foundation. I’ve genuinely come to realise that equal means equal. ANZ is in a great position to combine their commitment to excellence with their commitment to inclusion and diversity in our workplaces, branches, products and services.”

Corporate volunteering can often be seen as a transactional experience as most employees volunteer one day a year and does not form a personal connection to the organisation they are supporting. In a budget restrained world, increasingly not-for-profits are seeking volunteers who can contribute their specific skills but also be an advocate when they have finished volunteering. The Attitude Foundation would like to commend ANZ for this innovative approach to corporate volunteering that allows cross sector capacity building and learnings.

The award was received by Jane Seeber, the foundation’s Treasurer on behalf of the foundation on 17 November 2016.