Thorn believes community involvement is inseparable from the services it provides to customers. Thorn’s entire team is committed to developing and maintaining long term strategic partnerships with community organisations, networks, and local communities where we operate to create mutual benefit.
As part of Thorn’s commitment, staff are encouraged to participate in community activities along with Thorn providing direct financial support, including matching staff donations dollar for dollar for approved activities. Initiatives supported by Thorn are the Children’s Tumour Foundation of Australia, Project New Dawn, Mission Australia and White Ribbon.
Thorn’s rental brands, in particular Radio Rentals, strongly align with White Ribbon’s core promise “We’ve got your back”
Thorn Group supports White Ribbon, Australia’s only national, male led Campaign to end men’s violence against women and promote gender equality and healthy relationships.
Thorn’s support of White Ribbon is organisation-wide, involving all 800 employees, brands and businesses under the Thorn Group banner, with all members of the leadership team White Ribbon ambassadors.
White Ribbon is an organisation that works to prevent violence by changing attitudes and behaviours. The prevention work is driven through social marketing, the Ambassador Program and initiatives with communities, schools, universities, sporting codes and workplaces.
Statistics show that domestic violence and family violence are the principal causes of homelessness for women and their children. One woman is killed every week in Australia as a result of domestic violence and one in four children is exposed to domestic violence.
Thorn’s brands, in particular Radio Rentals, strongly align with White Ribbon’s core promise “We’ve got your back”. Radio Rentals and Rentlo employees interact with some customers who are directly affected by domestic violence. By showing support for White Ribbon, Thorn aims to play an important role in the community; raising awareness and helping victims of domestic violence with basic needs and support.
Thorn actively supports the White Ribbon cause, through internal and external activations
The Children’s Tumour Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing information, support services and finding effective treatments for people living with neurofibromatosis (NF), a term for three distinct disorders: NF1, NF2, and schwannomatosis.
NF affects one in every 3,000 people, more than cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Huntington’s disease combined.
CTF is dedicated to:
CTF is committed to ensuring those suffering with NF receive adequate, multidisciplinary care throughout their lives.
CTF has strong links internationally to NF organisations and researchers in the USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and Europe. CTF also works closely with and provides funding to world-class local researchers and clinicians at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Royal North Shore Hospital.
“The children, adults and
families living with NF
inspire our woRld”
– CTF
Radio Rentals is also proud to be a founding partner in Project New Dawn which was created as an enterprise that could offer both jobs and accommodation to the homeless.
The core partners are ACSO in Melbourne, The Salvation Army in Brisbane and Perth, Mission Australia in Sydney (accommodation management and personal coaching), Radio Rentals (white goods and furniture), BP and Bunnings (housing guarantee, training and employment opportunities).
Participants selected for the project receive 12-18 months of employment and housing. With a stable source of income, participants pay their own rent and utilities which gives them a suitable rental history acceptable to other landlords when they graduate from the program.
The first house went live in 2008 in Melbourne and there are now six houses across Australia – two in Melbourne and one each in Newcastle, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.
When disaster strikes across Australia, such as bushfires or floods, or there is a worthwhile cause needing assistance, then there is a good chance that someone from Thorn will be there to assist our customers and the community in general. Over the years, assistance has been provided in various forms, including free supply of bedding, washing machines and refrigerators to relief centres, substantial goodwill credits on customer accounts and the donation of products for fundraising.
Some of these initiatives include:
