GPC APAC Launches a new foundation

Over the past few weeks, leading automotive aftermarket parts supplier, GPC Asia Pacific, established a new philanthropic Foundation developed to assist employees and communities in need, and to support the establishment of career pathways into the automotive industry.

The Foundation will help provide the opportunity for GPC Asia Pacific’s 6,000 employees to participate in a range of charitable activities, whether by volunteering, or by supporting fundraising initiatives to support the Foundation and GPC Asia Pacific’s charity partners.

GPC Asia Pacific CEO, Rob Cameron, explained “We are establishing this Foundation to provide an opportunity for GPC Asia Pacific and our team members to make an important contribution in supporting our team members and the communities we operate in through times of hardship or disaster. This year, we have seen the great difference we can make by leveraging our reach and scale, and by engaging the passion of our team members, customers and business partners to raise over $300,000 to support bushfire disaster relief.”

“As we watch the COVID-19 pandemic play out across Australian and New Zealand, it could not be more timely to launch this Foundation and ensure we have the right programmes in place to help those who are going to need support at this time,” said Cameron.

The GPC Asia Pacific Foundation will be built on the following five pillars:

  1. A Team Member Hardship Fund, providing short-term, temporary financial support to employees who find themselves in times of hardship and duress.
  2. A Disaster Relief Fund, providing support to individuals and communities impacted by natural disasters, including by supporting appropriate relief organisations.
  3. A Charitable Foundation, focussed on addressing disadvantage though educational pathways into the automotive industry.
  4. Third-Party Charity Support, underpinning provisions for charity partners, such as the Starlight Children’s Foundation in Australia and CanTeen in New Zealand.
  5. Team Member Volunteering, providing a formal program to encourage and enable the donation of employee time to support charity partners, or local community organisations.

Cameron, who will chair the Foundation’s Grants Committee, said “The establishment of the Foundation is a reflection of GPC Asia Pacific team members’ community mindedness and generosity over many years. Its creation is consistent with our value of genuinely caring and enables us collectively to go the extra mile in caring for the members of the GPC Asia Pacific family, as well as those suffering hardship in the community,” he concluded.

For more information, see the “Foundation” tab @ https://gpcasiapac.com/our-culture/