Aon and OzHarvest are celebrating one year in partnership, what are some of the highlights from the last 12 months?

Aon had an amazing first year partnering with OzHarvest and engaging our staff.

To kick off our partnership, the Aon Charitable Foundation donated its first annual donation of $50,000, then, the achievements just kept coming:

We welcomed and introduced OzHarvest to our staff through a series of lunch ’n learn information sessions around the country sharing with staff what OzHarvest do in the community and how we can all get involved. 

Aon’s Chief Operating Officer, Bill Hooper stepped up and not only raised nearly $10,000 for OzHarvest but participated in the CEO CookOff in February 2018, cooking with celebrity chefs and providing meals to those less fortunate in the community.

We volunteered with OzHarvest through a number of Van Delivery support roles for Aon’s Empower Results for Communities day.

Team Aon raised over $38,000 for our annual City2Surf participation in Sydney.

Aon’s Retirement Solutions donated $14,000 in lieu of a fee and also provided $6,500 pro bono work. 

To cap the year off, Aon organised a food drive for OzHarvest’s Christmas Food Appeal.

Collectively Aon and colleagues donated just over $120,000 enabling OzHarvest to deliver over 221,000 meals, save over 7,000kg of food from going to landfill and prevent more than 14,500 litres of greenhouse gas emissions.  And as a result, we are proud to have been escalated to ‘Awesome Partner’ status for 2019!

How did Aon discover OzHarvest?

The Aon Charitable Foundation focuses on delivering benefits to the community through a broad program involving direct financial support, fundraising and employee engagement at various levels.

The Foundation focuses on national charity partnerships in the four core areas of Healthcare; Welfare; Education and Environment.

We discovered OzHarvest and learned more about them during the review and tender process we conducted in 2017 for our Welfare partnership.

OzHarvest truly impressed us from the moment they walked in the door with their vibrant yellow presence, their passion and vitality for their work was impressive. This was then followed up by learning about the work they do rescuing food, connecting with communities and continuing to educate the public on how to nourish our country – WOW!

Discovering the ways our staff can engage with OzHarvest and the community was also key to developing Aon’s relationship, and so far we have definitely accomplished this.

Why is it important to have a partnership with purpose?

The aim of the Aon Charitable Foundation is to support and give back to the community by collectively making the most of Aon’s financial support, and to encourage our staff to give their time and expertise by volunteering.

Aon’s partnership with OzHarvest and their focus in the community to be Australia’s leading food rescue operation feeding people, aligns with Aon’s diverse network of offices and locations and enables our staff to engage with OzHarvest in various ways, and together make a positive impact.

A great example of purpose and engagement between our two organisations is evidenced by a group of keen Aon volunteers looking forward to supporting OzHarvest’s education program, NEST over the coming months.

NEST is OzHarvest’s national program teaching people in need the skills and knowledge to nurture themselves through healthier eating choices and food preparation through a series of hands-on cooking and nutrition workshops.

Aon’s support of OzHarvest and in particular the NEST program, will create greater opportunities for better physical and mental health for people doing it tough – through empowering them with new skills to cook delicious, nutritious and sustainable meals in their daily lives. It’s our chance for Aon to make a deeper impact for communities across the nation.