Throughout 2019 the Colin Biggers & Paisley Foundation has continued its work to promote and protect the rights of women, children and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We are committed to improving access to justice, reducing unmet legal need and playing a leading role in making the justice system work better. We also believe in strong and active participation in the communities in which we operate, and we want to create opportunities for disadvantaged young people to find sound employment and keep it.
Our Foundation has provided pro bono legal advice to 154 individuals and organisations throughout 2019 and has directly supported 52 charities and not-for-profits through our volunteering and charitable contributions.
We strive to involve our people in community programs and this year we participated in 68 volunteering activities with our community partners in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, with 230 of our people contributing a total of 921 volunteering hours. We also organised our first regional volunteering trip where lawyers from our three offices travelled to regional NSW and shared their experience of studying and working in the law to inspire high school students to continue their secondary education.
We have contributed $178,850 in financial and in-kind support to organisations that we share values with and our people raised $44,419 through our workplace giving program. We hosted 115 events in our offices for our community partners.
We are proud of our ongoing commitment to work on behalf of vulnerable communities and for the public good. In 2020 we will continue to support our community with pro bono legal assistance, volunteering and fundraising.