Oxfam drums up small biz charity support

Bizzone founder Sarah Trotman. Photo / Supplied

International charity Oxfam was drumming up support for its New Zealand operations at the Bizzone Expo in Auckland today to engage businesses into corporate giving.

Oxfam is one of 187 businesses exhibiting at the ASB Showgrounds until Friday.

Katherine Mason, Oxfam's partnerships manager, said the charity wanted to talk to local businesses about donations, sponsorship and payroll giving, which is when portion of an employee's salary is donated to the charity.

"We're here to build long-term relationships through partnership, to align business values with our own."

Oxfam New Zealand receives corporate donations from consultancy firm Beca and German-based infrastructure services firm Bilfinger Berger.

Bizzone founder Sarah Trotman said the expo, now in its sixth year, was the largest in the country. Trotman said she wanted businesses to take away three to four ideas on how they can further grow and develop their business from the expo.

"We want people to be able to run their businesses more effectively and engage with exhibitors."

Trotman said 53 per cent of people that visit the expo conduct business with the exhibitors by either hiring a marketing consultant, switching banks or taking on business mentoring during the three-day event, and about 68 per cent of visitors do business with the exhibitors within three months after the event.

Trotman said businesses can boost staff morale by donating to charities and showing the public it has a "heart and is not just focused on the dollar".

Air New Zealand, KiwiBank, ASB, National Bank, Juice TV and ANZ are all exhibitors at the event.