Pledge 1% - How we partnered with Two Good to help women

As a business committed to building community, giving back is at the core of everything we do at Charter Hall. As part of our commitment to volunteering and giving back, what began as an idea has resulted in 20,000 meals being donated to women in need.

We took the humble jigsaw puzzle and used it to symbolise the grave impact violence against women has on the one in four women, their children and families who are statistically impacted by violence in Australia. 

Charter Hall delivers good

Last year, we proudly partnered with social enterprise, Two Good.Co to create the “Delivering Good” campaign, resulting in Two Good’s biggest ever donation to date.

The Delivering Good campaign involved 26 Charter Hall retail centres to raise awareness about domestic violence and the wider community’s vital role in supporting survivors rebuild their lives.

Starting in Sydney as an organic soup kitchen, Two Good directly assists survivors and women’s refuges. It’s grown from an ad-hoc roadside barbeque through to one that delivers meals across 26 communities nationally. With the generous help of culinary superstars like Neil Perry and Maggie Beer.

Two Good + Charter Hall = a lot of good

Throughout the Delivering Good program, giant jigsaw puzzles were arrayed across each of the 26 participating retail centres. Shoppers were encouraged to add to the puzzle, symbolising the the way domestic violence survivors rebuild their lives piece by piece, and the way in which the wider community can help with this. 

Margot Black is our Head of Sustainability and Community and along with our Retail team, worked closely with Two Good in the recent partnership. 

“Domestic violence is such an issue across the country and we wanted to acknowledge that these issues are alive in our community. We wanted to partner with a group that was making an impact in this area"

“We had a lot of our tenant and retail customers engage with us on the topic of domestic violence and how important it is. They found it fantastic that an organisation such as ours was focusing on the issue and providing education on that.”

Every piece of the puzzle represented a meal which was donated to the local community and ambassadors were on hand to discuss the campaign as well as the topic of domestic violence with shoppers.

“Importantly, it started a conversation between the customer and the centre ambassador about the piece of the puzzle. Our ambassadors were able to talk to the customers about the issues of domestic violence and also the work that Two Good does in providing the meals, employment and the other great services they provide.” said Margot.

Twenty thousand pieces of puzzles transformed into 20,000 meals for domestic violence shelters across the country.

Our one percent commitment

Partnerships are an important pillar of the Pledge 1% initiative at Charter Hall. We adopted this philanthropic movement in 2017 with the goal of contributing one percent of our people’s time in volunteering, one percent of our total spaces and one percent of our profits to our community partners. 

Following the ideals of Pledge 1%, Margot works closely with national partners and local community groups, striving to ensure that we, as a business, create a positive impact for our people, customers, environment and local communities in which we operate. 

“We participate in programs and activities and services where we can touch and feel the impact we’re making. We want to create a meaningful place for our tenants to work and encourage customers to come, and for all our people.”

Greg Chubb, Charter Hall’s Retail CEO, feels very much the same. 

“We are delighted and privileged to partner with Two Good to deliver this campaign. We take our responsibility of giving back seriously. One in four women in Australia experience domestic violence at some point, and many of them end up in refuges whilst they work through this very challenging time in their lives,” he says.

“Two Good is doing extraordinary work in supporting these shelters and the women in them, and Charter Hall is honoured to be able to support Two Good to reach into regional Australia.”

Creating an impact

It’s through our partnerships where the impact of the Pledge 1%, which is perfectly embodied by the success of the Delivering Good program.

This partnership resulted in 20,000 meals delivered to those 26 communities throughout the campaign. And in a lasting but less quantifiable change, it was a way to spread awareness about an insidious social issue and how those affected can be helped.

Two Good founder Rob Caslick was thrilled to partner with us to help raise awareness of domestic violence in regional areas.

“The 20,000 meals funded by the Delivering Good campaign went directly to shelters and refuges close to those centres. It is incredibly important for Charter Hall to support the local communities in which they operate and to connect with and provide a positive benefit for those communities.” 

Along with the huge number of donated meals, the campaign also resulted in employment. Women who were directly affected by domestic violence, were trained and employed by Two Good to deliver those meals out to communities.

Building communities of the future

Although the Delivering Good campaign has concluded, the partnership between Two Good and Charter Hall continues to thrive and flourish. 

“Last Christmas we introduced Two Good’s beautiful bathroom products to shoppers in our retail centres.  We offered them to buy one, and we would give one to a domestic violence shelter. In our offices we have Two Good Thursdays where all catering on Thursdays is provided by Two Good. And we also have a regular Tuesday morning breakfast, where the muesli provided to our employees across Australia are provided by Two Good as well.” says Margot.

And through the ongoing partnership, Margot is looking forward to what the future of this relationship will bring.

“Our partnership with Two Good has expanded from a volunteering exercise to now rolling out that out across our retail business. They’ve been able to expand their footprint from Sydney and Melbourne to 26 communities across Australia,” she says. 

“It certainly went from a simple volunteering exercise to something quite significantly bigger. It makes a huge impact in each community and for our people too. It’s fantastic.”