Business approach pays off
Buy some olives with the European Foods brand and there is a good chance they’ll have been packaged by Westcare Foodpak, a division of not-for-profit-group Westcare Industries.
The group is also responsible for a lot of the safety garments used on mine sites and be State and local government workers, many of the files used in Perth hospitals and even the boxes used by companies such as AGR, Coventrys and Jorgensen Albums.
The charity, which started its life as the Tuberculosis and Chest Association of Western Australia, set itself up to operate like a business from its foundation.
Back then its role was to employ and accommodate people recuperating from tuberculosis.
With TB largely eradicated in most parts of Australia, the association gradually evolved into Westcare with the aim of providing employment, accommodation and training to disabled people.
It employs about 150 disabled people, has five business units – Westcare Print, Westcare Central Safety, Westcare Box, Westcare Industrial Packaging and Westcare Foodpak – and accommodation at a number of properties around Perth.
On the accommodation front, its Florence Hummerston Village in Shenton Park recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Westcare corporate business manager Peter Taliangis said the charity had a philosophy of operating like a business.
"That way we have more money to pour into our programs," he said.
Last year Westcare returned an after-tax surplus of $169,000 on the back of revenue from ordinary activities of about $6.8 million.
Not surprisingly, given the organisation’s role, nearly $3 million of its expenses were staffing costs.
Westcare receives wage subsidies to employ disabled people, however those subsidies are limited. In fact it employs more disabled people than it has subsidies for.
Besides its broadened employment, accommodation and training role for people with disabilities, Westcare remains true to its past by giving annual donations to tuberculosis research.
While the disease may be virtually non-existent here, it is widespread in the Asia-Pacific region.
Mr Taliangis said Westcare was involved with an Australian Red Cross tuberculosis program in Bali and also helped fund research into drug-resistant TB strains.
He said that TB focus was still responsible for about 50 per cent of the donations the charity received.
"About 50 per cent of our donors give to us because a family member had TB," he said.
One of Westcare’s main fundraising programs is its Christmas Seals program. The seals are designed to be stuck on the back of Christmas card envelopes.
This year the invitation has gone out to every school-aged child in WA to create a design to be featured on the seals. Participating students and schools will have the chance to win cash and prizes worth more than $2,000.
The seals have been a part of Westcare’s fundraising for the past 60 years.
