How leave donation works in Australia.

You've probably noticed the leave balance sitting in your account — days you keep meaning to take but never quite get around to. You're not alone. Across Australian workplaces, there are 209 million days of untaken leave sitting on company balance sheets right now, worth an estimated $39 billion.

Leave donation gives that accrued leave a second purpose: instead of cashing it out or letting it accumulate, employees can choose to convert it into a tax-deductible donation to a registered Australian charity — all without touching their regular salary.

So how does it actually work?

The process is straightforward. Here's the journey from start to finish:

Step 1 — The employee chooses their leave

Using the Leave2Give app, an employee selects how many hours of accrued annual leave they'd like to donate. It could be a couple of hours, a day, or however much they feel comfortable giving. They also choose which DGR-registered charity they want to support.

Step 2 — It goes through payroll

The value of the donated leave — calculated at the employee's salary rate — is processed as a charitable donation through the Leave2Give platform. Crucially, the employee's take-home pay stays exactly the same. The leave is simply deducted from their accrued balance.

Step 3 — The charity receives the funds

The money is transferred directly to the chosen charity — unrestricted, meaning they can use it however they need most. The employee receives a tax receipt for the full amount, which they can claim as a deduction at tax time.

Who can participate?

Leave donation is available to any Australian employee whose employer is registered on the Leave2Give platform. If your employer isn't yet on the platform, the best thing you can do is send them a link to our For Employers page and ask them to get in touch.

Which charities can receive leave donations?

Any charity with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status in Australia is eligible to receive leave donations. That covers thousands of registered charities — from major national organisations like the Cancer Council and Lifeline, to smaller local groups doing vital community work.

You can verify whether a charity holds DGR status through the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).

Is the donation tax deductible?

Yes — in most cases. Because the donation is processed as a direct gift to a DGR-registered charity, employees receive a tax receipt for the full dollar value of the leave they donated. This can be claimed as a deduction in their personal tax return.

Tax treatment can vary depending on individual circumstances, so we always recommend checking with a tax adviser if you're unsure.

What's in it for employers?

Quite a lot, actually. Annual leave liability is a real financial burden — it sits on the balance sheet as money owed to staff. When employees donate some of that leave, the liability reduces. On top of that, workplace giving programs consistently improve staff engagement, morale, and retention. And it gives employers genuine, measurable ESG content for annual reports.

Best of all — it costs the employer nothing. The leave was already accrued. Leave2Give simply gives it a better use.

What's in it for charities?

Leave donation gives charities access to a funding stream that has nothing to do with discretionary income — so they're not competing with Netflix subscriptions or mortgage stress. Contributions tend to be larger than typical micro-donations (because they're based on salary rates), and they come in regularly as more employees join the program. It's recurring, scalable, and unrestricted.

Ready to get started?

Whether you're an employee wanting to make your unused leave count, an employer looking for a zero-cost giving program, or a charity wanting to tap into a new funding source — Leave2Give makes it simple.