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Staff volunteerism

Employees stepping up to support their communities

The Santam Staff Volunteerism programme was initiated in 2009 as a way of encouraging Santam employees to become more involved in their communities. The programme allows employees to make direct voluntary contributions to projects and causes they care about, through both monetary and non-monetary means. This helps staff to feel they are contributing to communities they care about, and it aligns with Santam's corporate social investment vision of contributing towards real, meaningful and sustainable community development in South Africa.

Primary mechanisms

Santam offers three primary mechanisms that allow staff to contribute to sustainable community initiatives:

Three primary mechanisms

Community heroes

Mandela Day

Payroll Giving

What the programme has achieved

Between 2013 and 2023, the average number of projects undertaken and had staff participation in the Staff Volunteerism programme are:

337

projects supported through Santam community heroes, amounting to R4 107,000

229

staff members contributed R557,990 to payroll giving

227

projects contributed for Mandela day, amounting to R1 782,934.40

Mandela day

Mandela Day, in addition to being a volunteerism event, is also an opportunity for staff engagement and teambuilding, demonstrating the value of collaboration between teams and departments. In May of each year, entries are solicited from teams, departments and business units who identify organisations of their choice and apply for funding. The CSI department assesses all applications against set criteria and those that qualify are awarded funding to assist with their planned activities on 18 July.

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Santam Community Heroes

Each year, staff members are asked to nominate a programme of their choice to be accepted into the Santam Community Heroes programme. If the application is successful against a list of criteria, the project is awarded funding to conduct the activities stated in the application. The staff member then monitors the spending of the donation and coordinates the reporting process. Santam provides the funds and oversees governance issues in terms of BBBEE and DTI codes.

Payroll giving

Through Payroll Giving, Santam offers all staff members the opportunity to make financial contributions from their monthly salaries, from as little as R10, to causes they identify with. Funds are transferred by Santam to The Giving Organisation, an independent Trust who administers the funds. The Giving Organisation represents ten charities and non-profit organisations from a variety of good causes, and employees can choose from this list. Santam acts to facilitate the process for an employee to have a choice to support a worthy cause. The length of partnership depends on the individual staff member.