“The partnership started from word of mouth, which I think, despite living in a digital age where people look to communicate electronically, is still the best way to get trusted referrals. Our chief executive, Patrick Delany has a mentor in...
“The partnership started from word of mouth, which I think, despite living in a digital age where people look to communicate electronically, is still the best way to get trusted referrals. Our chief executive, Patrick Delany has a mentor in his family, and attended a fundraising dinner with Raise Founder, Vicki Condon. Following that he suggested that we look at Raise as an opportunity, the timing was perfect as we were looking at refreshing our community strategy and the wellbeing of young people was emerging as a key area of focus for us.”
More than a community strategy, it’s a truly ‘human program’
“Raise aligns perfectly with our community strategy and brings a really ‘human program’ to our portfolio of partners through the ability to engage directly with young people. Every interaction between a mentor and a mentee is part of a story and those stories of making a supportive, one-to-one connection with young people gives everyone at the Foxtel Group a rich sense of making a contribution.
The overwhelming feedback is that mentors feel they’re making a difference with the young people they work with, but they also come back with stories about their own learning experience as a mentor. They are having an experience that’s growing them as people as much as they’re making a contribution back to the community. I think that’s quite an interesting and unique aspect of the program.”
Opportunities, engagement and professional management makes a great partnership
“Raise provides a range of ways to get involved. Outside of the opportunity to mentor, we can engage through workplace giving, workplace excursions and innovative initiatives like the Elevate program. We’re looking forward to running the workplace excursions. As you can imagine Foxtel is a pretty fun place to see behind the scenes and I am sure the mentees that come into the Fox Sports studios will find it really engaging and insightful. These kind of physical visits and events give us another way to engage our employees, particularly for those who can’t make the time commitment to mentor, as they still get a tangible sense of the programs we are involved in and the level of commitment we are making to the future generation.
Our goal for our community partnerships is to lend our voice and extend our reach as a major media organisation in the country. The Foxtel Group is not just Foxtel anymore and half of our customers are streaming subscribers through Kayo and Binge. That reaches around four million households throughout Australia, so it provides a great platform for our community partners like Raise.
Being able to provide Raise with access to broadcasting their message through our Community Service Announcement program, prizes for fundraising and access to major media names and sport stars are easy ways for us to contribute. But it’s the other opportunities, especially the volunteer mentoring, that provide such a stand-out partnership – that and the complete professionalism and proactive engagement of the Raise team. The focus on research and evidence, plus the professional team and quality of the advisory board, makes it one of our best partnerships. We don’t have to follow up, it all comes to us from the team at Raise. All of the opportunities we work on with Raise are underpinned by a great relationship with the team there.”
“In summary we think the programs are fabulous and they make a real personal difference to both the mentors and mentees. At Foxtel, we’re big advocates for the work Raise does, both for its impact and the engagement that we have with it.