Bunnings - Community
Bunnings has a longstanding commitment to supporting the communities in which it operates. Bunnings engages with and supports local communities through facilitated fundraising opportunities, such as community sausage sizzles, cake stalls, product
and gift card donations and hands-on DIY support in the community, such as painting and garden makeovers.
COVID-19 continued to have a significant impact on Bunnings’ ability to deliver grassroots community activities as planned, particularly in the first half of the year. While traditional areas of community support, such as the community sausage sizzles, were unavailable at times, Bunnings continued to find innovative ways to connect with the community and helped community organisations to raise more than $29 million through more than 54,000 community activities during the year.
With the cancellation of instore fundraising activities, Bunnings turned to alternative ways to support community groups. To ensure that groups which had planned sausage sizzles could find other ways to fundraise, donations of $500 gift cards were made to more than 1,600 community groups, representing an investment of more than $800,000.
Through the annual Red Shield Appeal, Bunnings helped to fundraise and contribute more than $120,000 to the Salvation Army. In addition, in July 2021 Bunnings store teams donated 1,000 hampers to local Salvation Army branches to support local communities.
In New Zealand, the Bunnings team donated 290 welcome hampers to the Red Cross Pathways to Settlement Program to support newly arrived refugee families.
The Bunnings team showed their commitment and passion in many ways during the year. This included running fundraisers for community groups, including the Starlight Foundation, Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia’s ‘The Long Run’ and ‘Steptember’. For International Men’s Day, teams participated in a competition to showcase their talent, with each region winning $1,000 for a local men’s charity of their choice.
In addition to local store community support, major donations were made to a variety of community groups, including Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, Foodbank and Channel 7 Telethon Trust. In celebration of Father’s Day, Bunnings contributed to several related organisations - Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, HALT, The Fathering Project and RUOK?
This year, Bunnings committed grants across Australia through AFL’s Helping Hands Program, a national initiative that helps Australian community football clubs build and maintain facilities that are vital to their operation. In New Zealand, Bunnings donated more than NZ$80,000 of Bunnings product and materials through a Rugby Assist partnership to support the growth of grassroots rugby union and make a meaningful difference to the wider community.
In the lead up to Christmas, the Australian team supported Share the Dignity’s ‘It’s in the Bag’ campaign for the fifth consecutive year. Over two weeks, more than 92,000 bags of personal hygiene products were collected, including from team members, for women and girls experiencing homelessness and domestic violence. The bags were distributed to women and girls in need across Australia, helping brighten their festive season. For the second year, the Bunnings New Zealand team supported the ‘I Got Your Back Pack’ campaign, with customers and team members invited to donate toiletries and toys to support families in refuges as a result of domestic violence.
Bunnings’ commitment to supporting communities in times of crisis was demonstrated in several ways this year.
In July 2021, Westport on the west coast of New Zealand experienced the area’s biggest flood in almost a century. Bunnings assisted relief efforts by providing product donations to help care for affected residents.
Following the jumping castle tragedy at Devonport’s Hillcrest Primary School in December 2021, the Bunnings team in Tasmania ran community sausage sizzles at each store, raising and contributing $20,000 in support for the school, families, and local community.
In January 2022, the eruption of an underwater volcano off the coast of Tonga triggered a tsunami across the Pacific. Alongside suppliers, Bunnings donated safety equipment and provided assistance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as Ngāti Tamaoho Trust, donating essential items to the Tongan community.
In response to devastating floods in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland in late February 2022, Bunnings team members came together and ran community sausage sizzle across all stores in Australia. Together with generous communities, Bunnings helped raise and contribute $500,000 for the GIVIT Storms and Flooding Appeal.
In the first weeks following the disaster, Bunnings also provided a $20,000 donation to Convoy of Hope, whose volunteers were on the ground in impacted areas providing hands on support. A total of $50,000 was also directly donated to GIVIT, to assist with their work.
During May and June 2022, Bunnings supported FightMND for the fourth consecutive year, in their efforts to find a cure for motor neurone disease, helping to raise and contribute $1.5 million. Beanies were sold in all Australian stores and trade centres, and via the Bunnings website. This year Bunnings announced a multi-year partnership, supporting FightMND through to 2024.
