Media Release
$100,000 donation given through Our Community's Australian Giving Centre
Media Release - June 20, 2005A DONATION of $100,000, the single
biggest amount donated online in Australia, has been made through the Australian Giving Centre at www.ourcommunity.com.au,
kicking off the traditional end-of-financial-year giving season.
The one-off donation of $100,000 was a gift to an appeal launched by a Victorian-based community organisation. The group is expected to publicly announce the donation once their generous benefactor has returned from a mid-year trip.
The $100,000 donation was both a great reward for the community organisation running the appeal as well as an endorsement of the growing popularity in the community of donating online, www.ourcommunity.com.au's Director of Communications, Mr Brian Walsh, said today.
Mr Walsh said the $100,000 donation towered over the previous largest amounts (several donations of $25,000 during the Tsunami appeals) given online through the Australian Giving Centre, which is supported by the Westpac Bank.
"There's no doubt that in the wake of the tsunami appeals, more Australians are turning to the Internet when they want to donate to a community group. They can read about the group in their own time and at their own pace and then - if they approve of what the group is doing and are motivated to take action - they can do so immediately," Mr Walsh said.
"The benefit for the community groups is that people can donate at any time - day or night. Effectively the office door is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Mr Walsh said while the $100,000 donation was unique, the experience with the Australian Giving Centre was that the average amount donated online tended to be about double the amount donated through traditional means.
There are currently over 570 community appeals listed on the Australian Giving Centre's free online donations service at www.ourcommunity.com.au. Almost $4.5 million has been raised for community groups since the online services began operation in 2001.
Mr Walsh said the days leading up to June 30 was an important period when many community groups ran appeals to raise the funds to keep them going through the second half of the year.
"We recently ran a survey of some 350 non-profit groups that showed community groups would rather people get actively involved in the group than just give money - but the survey also showed that funding still presented the biggest challenge to overcome," he said. "Groups need support and they need money and I think all community groups would be grateful for any demonstration of support.
The Australian Giving Centre at www.ourcommunity.com.au has received more than 25,000 individual donations since commencing operations. Supported by Westpac Bank, the Giving Centre also provides information and options for people wanting to donate money, time, clothes, furniture and computers as well as signing up to donate organs.
Media inquiries: Kathy Richardson (03) 9320 6800.
The one-off donation of $100,000 was a gift to an appeal launched by a Victorian-based community organisation. The group is expected to publicly announce the donation once their generous benefactor has returned from a mid-year trip.
The $100,000 donation was both a great reward for the community organisation running the appeal as well as an endorsement of the growing popularity in the community of donating online, www.ourcommunity.com.au's Director of Communications, Mr Brian Walsh, said today.
Mr Walsh said the $100,000 donation towered over the previous largest amounts (several donations of $25,000 during the Tsunami appeals) given online through the Australian Giving Centre, which is supported by the Westpac Bank.
"There's no doubt that in the wake of the tsunami appeals, more Australians are turning to the Internet when they want to donate to a community group. They can read about the group in their own time and at their own pace and then - if they approve of what the group is doing and are motivated to take action - they can do so immediately," Mr Walsh said.
"The benefit for the community groups is that people can donate at any time - day or night. Effectively the office door is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Mr Walsh said while the $100,000 donation was unique, the experience with the Australian Giving Centre was that the average amount donated online tended to be about double the amount donated through traditional means.
There are currently over 570 community appeals listed on the Australian Giving Centre's free online donations service at www.ourcommunity.com.au. Almost $4.5 million has been raised for community groups since the online services began operation in 2001.
Mr Walsh said the days leading up to June 30 was an important period when many community groups ran appeals to raise the funds to keep them going through the second half of the year.
"We recently ran a survey of some 350 non-profit groups that showed community groups would rather people get actively involved in the group than just give money - but the survey also showed that funding still presented the biggest challenge to overcome," he said. "Groups need support and they need money and I think all community groups would be grateful for any demonstration of support.
The Australian Giving Centre at www.ourcommunity.com.au has received more than 25,000 individual donations since commencing operations. Supported by Westpac Bank, the Giving Centre also provides information and options for people wanting to donate money, time, clothes, furniture and computers as well as signing up to donate organs.
Media inquiries: Kathy Richardson (03) 9320 6800.