Australian Red Cross

When the bushfires first started in September 2019, CommBank was the first corporate partner to engage with us to understand the impacts and explore how we might work together to respond and support impacted Australian communities. As the fires continued and public interest grew, in December 2019 CommBank activated its CanGive donation platform so customers could easily donate to Australian Red Cross and support bushfire impacted communities. This led the way for many other businesses and organisations to help. CommBank customers raised $2.9m and CommBank and their staff also supported, collectively contributing $4.1m to our response. We know CommBank works with us in solidarity. In January 2020 we met with bank managers, so that as local branches in affected bushfire communities they could help spread the word about the financial support that was available including grants for people whose homes were lost or damaged. One bank manager from Bateman’s Bay shared that they were with a customer when they heard the grants had increased from $5k to $10K and they both started to cry. We are grateful for CommBank’s help in explaining to customers how the funds have been used and the long journey of recovery for people and communities.