We always talk about ‘where the money goes’ in terms of the sponsorships that are given to our community, so the question of how we are able to do this year after year is an important one.
In the same way as a regular bank, your Community Bank offers products and services with the goal of being a profitable business. But Community Banking is based on a ‘profit-with-purpose’ model, which means our profits are returned directly to the community that has generated them – people living in postcodes 3799 and 3797 – that’s you!
We call this ‘shared value’ and this is a foundation of our Community Bank branches, which are owned by the community (account holders and shareholders) for the community.
Imagine a bag of money generated right here from the customers who bank with us. Once the typical expenses of running a business (franchise fees to Bendigo Bank, wages, operating costs and so on) are accounted for, the amount left is ‘profit with purpose’.
In big banks, 100% of that profit is returned to shareholders but in Community Banking we are different. Our shareholders agreed at the outset to receive only a 20% share, leaving the remaining 80% for reinvestment in the community via sponsorships. That’s where the money comes from and that’s how we’ve been able to put more than $3 million back into the community through sponsorships. Simple isn’t it?
And there’s a simple reason to bank at your Community Bank – because it means something you have to do every day anyway actually benefits you and your community every day.
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