Kmart Group - Community

In the 2021 financial year, Kmart Group continued to work with local communities and charity partners to meet a diverse range of needs of young people, families and team members. Kmart Group recognises the importance of its connection with communities and supported organisations helping communities to thrive, recover and rebuild from both floods and bushfires.  

Kmart contributed $6.7 million, Target contributed $386,000 and Catch contributed $245,000 to charities and community groups during the year.  

Kmart  

Kmart customer support of its charity partners in Australia and New Zealand was significantly disrupted by customers not being able to access traditional fundraising tools in stores throughout prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns. For example, collecting spare change from customers, which has been a longstanding fundraising mechanism, was impacted by the community being encouraged to use electronic forms of payment, rather than cash, or shopping predominantly online. 

Despite this, close to $143,000 was raised for Kmart’s charity partners, The Reach Foundation, Headspace and the Graeme Dingle Foundation (NZ), to contribute to the wellbeing of young people and their families. Kmart also donated over $50,000 in gift cards and goods to grassroots community groups.  

Kmart’s sponsorship of GAMETIME through the National Basketball League also saw challenges. Restricted access to schools due to COVID-19 early in the basketball season created a need for GAMETIME to go to digital based interaction, with 87,150 students participating in face-to-face basketball clinics and 9,070 students engaged online.  

In the lead up to Christmas, new methods to allow customers to give to the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal were put in place and the Appeal collected over 256,108 gifts and raised $364,666 across Australia and New Zealand.  

Internationally, Kmart continued to support the Salaam Baalak Trust foundation in India and boosted the charity’s efforts through COVID-19 with $50,000 along with a matching donation by Wesfarmers in recognition of severe pandemic circumstances. In Bangalore, KAS and Kmart contributed $20,000 to the Swadha Foundation, $12,000 to Building Blocks and almost $11,000 to HerEssentials in an ongoing connection with the local community and the team. 

Target  

Target’s focus in the 2021 financial year remained on The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, raising close to $61,000 through customer collections for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Over the Christmas period, the Target Christmas Appeal sold a range of Christmas gift tags, raising $226,000 for UnitingCare Australia, which supported families at Christmas time across Australia. 

With a new strategy in place, Target is reviewing the focus of its community program and how to increase its direct and indirect contributions with renewed commitment to connect with the communities in which Target operates. 

Catch  

Catch has formalised its commitment to community by profiling the important work of one community organisation each month and providing customers with an opportunity to contribute to that organisation by rounding up with their purchase. Throughout the year, Catch customers contributed $245,000 via this round up scheme.

The Catch community program objective is to support community partners to make a difference in the lives of Australians across the country. Catch looks to partner with a range of organisations that undertake a broad mix of work in fields such as medical research, homelessness and disability care.