Australia: The establishment of the ABB Grain Charitable Foundation

ABB Grains Ltd posted on March 2 that one of the announcements from ABB Grain’s annual general meeting on 24 February was the establishment of the ABB Grain Charitable Foundation.

Aimed specifically at rural communities, it will be resourced by ABB and funded out of ABB’s after tax and after dividend profit. The level of funding will be determined by the ABB board on an annual basis.

As a general rule, the foundation will direct funds to rural communities for projects that help rural community health, education, youth or community development.

A quandary many Australian companies constantly face is being approached by individuals or groups seeking help in funding activities. As with most companies, ABB receives far more requests than it could ever hope to assist.

Under the Charitable Foundation funding, applications will be considered every six months by an advisory committee – made up of volunteers who are prominent rural residents – that will advise which applications should get help.

The foundation will provide help to modest programs and projects (limiting its contributions to about $2000 to $5000) rather than providing larger contributions to just a few projects. The emphasis is on helping rural communities help themselves (recognising that rural people are often very resourceful anyway).

The initiative opens up a fresh avenue for funding smaller but nonetheless important community initiatives. Equally, ABB should increase its profile in rural Australia.

In addition, ABB’s workforce of around 850 employees will be able to donate salary on a pre-tax basis to selected charities. The company will match donations up to an agreed limit.

ABB employees will also be allowed one day's leave each year to work for one of the community projects or charitable works sponsored by ABB.

07 March, 2006