OUR COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Community engagement is core to our business from consulting with local communities regarding the development and re-development of our properties to considering the social and community impact and benefits arising from our properties and our operations.
Identifying opportunities to increase engagement with our communities is an evolving part of our corporate responsibility commitment. In 2008/09 we sought to establish more effective measurement of our in-kind contributions and to increase our contributions, both of which we achieved.
Our strategy for effective community engagement includes:
- A coordinated approach to community engagement aligned with our business and values
- Increasing employee participation in the community through dollar-for-dollar matching of employee fundraising, volunteering and sponsorship programs, as well as financial and in-kind support
Increasing our community engagement activity
Following improvements made last year to the way we collated and reported on our community engagement activity, we are now in our second year of tracking both our financial and in-kind donations to not for profit/charitable groups.
In the 2008/09 year we achieved a key objective of increasing our community engagement activity with $540,000 contributed (financial and in-kind donations) representing growth of 61% on the prior year.
In 2008, we aligned our community engagement approach to our CR&S activities and corporate strategy. In 2009 we rolled out our first employee volunteering program, which provides employees with the ability to take an additional day of paid leave per year to participate in volunteering activity. We developed a structured yet flexible program to encourage maximum participation with minimal business disruption.
Working with selected charities, aligned to our business and brand values specifically to property industry programs, the environment, homelessness and children/youth, we developed a number of volunteering opportunities throughout the year – as highlighted below:
Sir David Martin Foundation
The Foundation raises money to fund programs that work to better the lives of young people in crisis.
In 2008/09 our employees participated in two major programs: spending a day volunteering at Triple Care Farm, located in Robertson, NSW which provides rehabilitation for young people with complex needs including drug and alcohol problems, mental health issues and homelessness. Secondly, several of our employees volunteered at the organisation’s annual charity ball in March 2009 where DEXUS made a financial donation on the night, as well as providing donations and goods for their Winter Warmers campaign.
Barnardos
Barnardos has been in operation for over 120 years and is at the forefront of child welfare service provision. Barnardos mission is to build relationships between children, young people, their families and the community.
Barnardos’ national presence has enabled several of our offices to participate in volunteering activities during the year. Our employees have volunteered at a number of Barnardos’ events, raised funds and donated goods, including office equipment and furniture for use by community groups that work with Barnardos.
The Station
The Station is located in Sydney’s CBD, close to a number of our office properties including our head office. The Station provides a range of services for men who are having difficulty attaining and sustaining adequate accommodation and health services. They serve breakfast and lunch five days a week, as well as providing showers, laundry facilities and legal services.
In 2008/09 DEXUS employees have volunteered over the lunchtime period, and this has been so popular we will be extending our support into the coming year.
Adding value directly to the communities in which we operate
Community sponsorship
In addition to financial donations and sponsorships, we provide space in our properties for charities, not for profit organisations and community groups to build their profile and raise funds. For example, our shopping centres are at the heart of the community and community engagement is a critical part of our retail operations. Allocating vacant retail space on a casual leasing basis at no cost to charity groups provides a valuable opportunity for these groups to fundraise and raise awareness for their cause. In 2008/09 our shopping centres provided space for fund-raising activities free of charge, which in total represented $295,362 of support in-kind, in addition to $76,954 of financial donations.
One of our objectives in 2008/09 was the development of a new community charter for our retail centres, which is currently underway. For community engagement to be a success it requires a strong connection between local community objectives and the community development process. The charter is being designed to capture and communicate the key objectives of each centre's community programs, our commitment to the community and ways in which the community can participate. We are currently collating individual centre information and expect to launch the charter in our centres later in 2009/10.
Industry aligned engagement
As one of the largest property groups in Australia, we support many charitable and fundraising programs and activities in the property industry. For example DEXUS is a platinum member of the Property Industry Foundation (PIF), which assists charitable organisations providing services to youth at risk, and in particular supporting community programs aimed at youth homelessness. In 2009, our Chief Executive Officer, Victor Hoog Antink, was invited to join PIF as a Director.
In addition, one of our community objectives is to actively engage in issues affecting our industry and the community. As a long-standing member of the Property Council of Australia (PCA), the property industry’s leading body, we participate in a wide-range of activities and programs.
Volunteering program review
In 2009 we completed a review of our first employee volunteering program, assessing areas of success and areas for improvement.
As a national company, one of the challenges of running a volunteering program is finding events that all our employees can participate in, from our shopping centres in Far North Queensland to our industrial estates in western Melbourne. Consequently, those organisations with a national presence facilitate greater participation for our employees around Australia.
We achieved positive results with the organisations we supported during the year and have decided to extend our support into the 2009/10 year to Barnardos, Sir David Martin Foundation, The Station and Housing Choices of Australia and we will also continue to run volunteering events with Planet Ark and Landcare as well as participating in Earth Hour.
Case Study: DEXUS proudly supports Royal Flying Doctor Service
As part of our community engagement program, DEXUS employees submitted nominations and voted for their “charity of choice” for the 2008/09 year, with the Royal Flying Doctor Service selected.
During the year we allocated a portion of our fundraising efforts, donating $25 for each tenant survey completed during the year raising $14,600 in total.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service is the first and largest aeromedical organisation in the world and the funds raised will go towards aircraft replacement and community outreach programs.
Royal Flying Doctor Service Executive Director, Clyde Thomson commented:
“Our mission has always been – and will always be – to guarantee that anyone who lives, works or travels through our vast Australian outback does so safe in the knowledge that the Flying Doctor will always be there for them. With the assistance of companies like DEXUS Property Group and their valued employees, we will continue to expand our services and provide a lifeline for the residents of the bush.”
Case Study: Partnership with Housing Choices Australia
HCA is a non-profit provider of affordable housing in Victoria for people with disabilities, including physical, intellectual and chronic illness. HCA provides property management, asset management, development management and tenant support services and currently services 600+ properties and 1,000+ tenants with disabilities.
In December 2008 DEXUS established a partnership agreement with HCA where we contribute:
- Intellectual Property i.e. policies and procedures, contracts, corporate nn governance framework
- Knowledge exchange i.e. providing expert advice in the fields in which we have experts (e.g. finance, treasury)
- Learning and development i.e. creating opportunities for DEXUS executives to participate on HCA committees and working groups.
At DEXUS we believe that for community engagement to add real value, it must deliver benefits on both sides. We jointly perceive the benefits of our partnership to be as follows
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Benefits for HCA
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Benefits for DEXUS
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Case Study:
Community led development at Willows Shopping Centre
Community considerations are always a key part of our retail centre operations. A good example of this is at our Willows shopping centre in Townsville, Far North Queensland which is currently undergoing a major redevelopment to enhance the retail, food and services offering. Willows is being redeveloped in line with community feedback and to capitalise on the economic and demographic trends of Queensland’s fastest growing region. Planning commenced in 2006 and extensive customer feedback was obtained through exit surveys, focus groups, customer feedback forms and a telephone survey comprising over 1,200 local residents. Feedback from customers suggested more variety in the retail mix, as well as an increased range of eating outlets and upgraded amenities.
As part of the development works, the food court is being renovated and extended. In addition to encouraging our retailers to extend their food offer, we decided to run community barbecues at the centre whereby local groups can run barbecues and fundraise at the same time. Commenting on the initiative, Donna O’Neill, Marketing Manager at Willows said: “Since commencement in April 2009, over 16 school, charity or not for profit organisations have benefited from this venture. Each Saturday morning barbecues are held with money raised from the sale of food going directly to the cause. This has been a tremendous success and as at 30 June 2009 $13,000 had been raised and our shoppers had sizzled their way through an amazing 780 kilograms of sausages”.
By engaging with our communities in this way, we are supporting the social environment in which we operate and extending the value of the role retail centres play in their local communities. This also has the benefit of enhancing the customer experience which encourages more visitors, and therefore contributes to increasing investor returns for each of our properties.
OUR PEOPLE
OUR COMMUNITY