Canterbury Surrey Hills Community Finance Ltd. was created by locals to help locals get their banking back after the closure of banks on Maling Road, Canterbury and Union Road, Surrey Hills. The Surrey Hills Community Bank Branch opened in February 2003 and the Canterbury Community Bank Branch opened in August 2003.

We opened a third branch, the Ashburton Community Bank Branch, in October 2008. It was the first Community Bank branch to compete in a retail strip with branches from the major banks, and it has been successful in growing business and support from the local community. Our fourth Branch was opened in Balwyn in 2011.

Today, we are a committed member of the Community Bank network established by Bendigo Adelaide Bank in 1998. Bendigo Bank introduced the Community Bank network to empower local communities—giving them direct equity in their banking service provider, as well as the scale advantages associated with an established banking brand. Bendigo Bank provides the balance sheet, the financial products, systems and training, while the local community provides the premises, equipment and staff. At heart, we are a community business that focuses on supporting our community.

We have three objectives:

• provide exceptional banking services to our communities
• grow our capacity to invest in community projects
• provide a reasonable financial return to shareholders, many of whom live locally.

We are very proud of our strong and valued brand, our commitment to great customer service and our role in our communities. To date, we have invested more than $5 million in the Canterbury, Ashburton, Surrey Hills and Balwyn communities. We provide economic and social value by funding more than 290 community groups and organisations.  We have supported sporting club facility upgrades and provided equipment and uniforms for sports groups, provided equipment for aged-care and community welfare organisations, supported schools and early childhood centres and leadership opportunities through our youth programs just to name a few. To see more about the difference our Community Investment program makes visit our Community stories.

Since the opening of the first branch in 2003 we have supported more than 250 local groups and organisations, contributing more than $5 million in sponsorship, grants and incentive payments through our Community Investment Program.

The Program has developed over time, based on a changing perspective about how the Community Bank® model can assist our local communities. Originally, we used sponsorships as a way of telling the community we were here. Now, we’re looking at the returns we can get from our community investments. The continued return of funds to the community is reliant on the growth of banking business. Additional banking business grows the profits of the Company, which in turn allows us to grow the Community Investment Program.

We make an extraordinary contribution to community projects, programs, sporting clubs, disability services, aged care, welfare and schools and early childhood services. We support local organisations, to help them to deliver services and programs within our communities. Our partnerships and initiatives strengthen communities, creating a vibrant place where people want to live. It is much more than handing out money through sponsorships, grants and incentives. It is about building relationships to build strong and prosperous communities.

Community Groups & Events

This part of our Community Investment Program includes special interest groups, community and trader events, and our investment in youth programs. In 2019 we contributed significantly to local youth, through the Boroondara Youth Foundation, local Scout groups, the Magic Moments Foundation and our Business Boardroom program. We supported local traders associations and their various events, several rotary projects and a musical theatre production.

Sporting Clubs

We distributed our investments in sporting clubs across more than 10 sports, demonstrating our commitment to supporting this broad sector. We support clubs that provide opportunities to all ages, gender and ability. Football and Cricket clubs received significant funding to support facility upgrades, with many continuing to upgrade to electronic scoreboards. Pitch covers, rink repairs and portable goal purchases are just some examples of the way our funds are invested with sporting clubs. We have also provided funding to a number of clubs to conduct important education and awareness programs for players on mental health and other relevant topics.

Community Support

Community Support includes aged care and seniors, welfare and disability support. These organisations received a significant share of our total investment and provide highly valued services and opportunities to this important sector. Our funding helped activities such as purchasing vehicles for transportation of people with a disability and aged care residents, and a vehicle to deliver the volunteer-run Meals on Wheels program by Basscare.  We provided funding to two local schools that provide services for children with a disability and provided funds to implement a music program at Interchange Inner East.  We continued our support of the Boroondara Cares scholarship program, providing financial support for talented and educationally promising young people who are financially disadvantaged.

Education

We increased our support of schools and early childhood organisations in 2019, providing a grant for a local kindergarten to support a much needed playground upgrade. We continued to support school and preschool events and functions, and funded the purchase of a defibrillator and sporting equipment, and contributed toward an oval upgrade. We continued our support of a leadership program, leadership awards and a financial inclusion program at Swinburne University. We provided information sessions to students at local schools to teach them about money and the importance of saving.