2008 Wishfest wishes near the million mark

Wishfest 08 volunteers granted nearly an entire year’s wishes in a single month, giving a record breaking $850,000 worth of help in September alone.

Each year, goodcompany volunteers give between $600,000 and $1 million dollars worth of free professional services to charities. That figure is set to jump, with Wishfest 08 nearly doubling goodcompany’s annual impact.

Popular launch events kicked off the festive month. Speed-dating for volunteers and community groups attracted great interest, with 82 new volunteers signing up.

goodcompany Chair, Greg Logan, was delighted with the result. He said “the generosity of Australian professionals is just amazing - I’m always impressed by our volunteers’ enthusiasm and commitment”. Logan says that while goodcompany can estimate the dollar value of Wishfest, the true impact is that volunteer generosity frees charities to use their resources where they’re most needed: on their clients.

Wishfest generated intense community group interest, with goodcompany highlighting different wishes and community groups each and every week, through the website and newsletter. The number of community groups actively wishing for volunteers reached a record 402, which is 72 more than the same point last year. 20 new community groups also joined during Wishfest - more than double the average monthly increase.

All this lead to almost 200 wishes coming through goodcompany’s matching process and a record breaking $850,000 of volunteer value in progress at month’s end. That’s close to an entire year’s worth of wishing in one month alone and a fantastic result for the community groups that goodcompany supports.