A Snapshot of Australian Giving

I am proud to put my name to this new report, released by Koda today for the benefit of donors and fundraisers. I hope people find it interesting and most of all I hope it’s useful to anybody who either gives or relies on the giving of others. If you're not in that group, you might simply be interested in some of the more surprising stats within, like the fact Australians spend five times more on alcohol than they claim in charitable donations or the evidence that Australian women are more generous than Australian men.

One of the big questions we pose in the report is whether we are entering an era where giving in Australia might increase, while traditional fundraising charities struggle to attract support. We ask because what we see happening in this country is a decline in public trust in charities and a decline in giving levels, masked by growth in big-dollar philanthropy. We see more big philanthropy coming as well - and that’s great - but both the philanthropists and the general giving public expect more for their dollar with every passing year and we think things will get tougher for charities that survive by asking for traditional donations. 

This assessment points us to social enterprise, in its broadest sense. We think the medium-to-long term future of giving will favour sustainable businesses that exist to help other people, rather than shareholders. We might see this happening as new social enterprises enter the sector, but equally, this future is about more money flowing to existing charities that operate as 'social enterprises', as universities, hospitals and aged care businesses do.

We also think skilled volunteering will take on new significance, as traditional organisations become less important and people harness the power of technology to change the world, on their own terms, unconstrained by the limits of their day-to-day employment.

Enjoy this report and please feel free to share it far and wide.  

Thank you.