Together with Aussie Broadband, More and Commander, Ignite Telecom customers can now choose to add as little as $1 to their bill every month to support a range of education and engagement programs that promote good mental health, a strong sense of identity and connection beyond connectivity – all important ingredients for building resilient young Australians. 

Telco Together Foundation General Manager, Warren Sainsbury, said “We are so pleased to welcome Ignite Telecom to the growing Small Change Big Change family. Ignite Telecom’s values and industry leadership complement the Foundations goal of uniting the industry through collaboration to make a real impact in helping young people to achieve their full potential”.

Ignite Telecom Managing Director, Ryan Thompson said Ignite’s employees and clients are incredibly excited about the prospect of helping so many people through the Small Change Big Change program

“Ignite Telecom was founded on the belief & core value of choice. We understand that every business is different in some way, shape, or form & that a cookie-cutter approach rarely meets customers’ specific needs & requirements. The same principle applies to people…

We all have unique personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses that should be celebrated”.

“As a collective group, our small donations will provide Small Change Big Change community partners with the ability to impact young Australians with recognition of success, accomplishment & belonging. Ultimately, setting our youth up in more powerful ways for good mental health and a happy, safe & fulfilling life”. 

To kick start the Small Change Big Change program, Ignite Telecom has pledged to match their customers’ donations, dollar for dollar. 

To date, the Foundation’s initiatives have raised more than $2.7M, with the money supporting a range of education and engagement programs.

Last year alone, the initiative distributed $213,000 in donations shared across three community partners; ReachOut, Red Dust & Beacon Foundation, with an estimated 20,420 young Australians impacted.

Small Change Big Change and its leveraging of existing telco customer relationships respond to two significant changes in the way in which Australian consumers are giving today:

Importantly, consumers are continuing to align themselves with purpose-led organisations like Ignite, not just because they are doing good things for the world, but because they’ve designed good things into their products and service offering. 

Secondly, in the latest published figures, just 26.7 per cent of the Australian population made a donation in 2018/19, a decrease from the previous year when 31 per cent of taxpayers made and claimed a donation gift. This is the lowest percentage of donors Australia has seen in four decades and is the first time since 1979 that the figure has fallen below 30 per cent. The possible reasons for this drop are multifaceted and may include personal budget constraints, consumers’ trust in charities, and concerns around the cost of charity administration as a proportion of their donation.

Small Change Big Change responds to these changes by providing an accredited charitable program that makes it easy to give small but regular donations.

Small Change Big Change is available to all members of the Telco Together Foundation. Telcos interested in taking part are encouraged to contact the Foundation

If you are one of the millions of telco customers looking to get involved with Small Change Big Change, we encourage you to reach out to our participating telcos.