Media Release
AUSTRALIANS are being encouraged to establish an annual giving plan to better target their donations and learn more about the community organisations seeking their support.
The end of the financial year is traditionally one of the strongest giving periods for donations to Australian community organisations and thousands of groups rely heavily on their mid-year appeals to support their activities throughout the rest of the year.
It is important that Australians become better informed about the community groups running appeals and their activities but it was also important for people to review whether they could afford to give more, said Dr Rhonda Galbally AO, the CEO of www.ourcommunity.com.au, which runs Australia's only free online donation service.
Dr Galbally said if many groups didn't have a strong mid-year boost, it would impact on their ability to provide for the community during the coming year, whether that was providing care for the homeless, running a soup kitchen, providing sporting opportunities for our children or any of the many and varied community activities.
"It is a critical time for donations. Many groups rely on the money raised in this small window around Tax time to support their ongoing work," Dr Galbally said. "Any drop-off now will definitely have an impact on the community later in the year."
Dr Galbally said establishing an annual giving plan meant donors could identify the priorities and interest areas they wanted to support and then identify suitable community groups that matched those priorities or that made a difference to their family, friends or local community.
"People don't want to just give and be done with it and the reality is that community groups don't just want a one-off donation. They want an ongoing relationship where they can work together with donors and supporters to build a stronger community," Dr Galbally said.
Dr Galbally said people were increasingly using the Internet to find out more about groups they wanted to donate to. She said more than a quarter of a million dollars had now been donated through ourcommunity's National Community Giving Centre, the free online donation facility sponsored by the National Australia Bank.
"As people have become more comfortable with securely and safely banking, buying and paying bills online, they are also donating online in greater numbers," she said.
Some results of online giving through the www.ourcommunity.com.au service:
- Over 235 separate community appeals have been listed since the service opened.
- Over $255,000 has been donated online to a variety of community groups.
- Donations in the 12 months to May 31 jumped 196 per cent over the previous year.
- The average donation rose to $118 - up from $99 in May 2002.
- The highest donation recorded has been $5000, the minimum is $5.
- The number of individual donations rose by 149 per cent in the year to May 2003.
- Groups have found a significant percentage of donors giving online are "new" donors who had not been found through traditional means.
- A new group of "trawler" donors has emerged. They are regular visitors to the ourcommunity.com.au site who "trawl" through the listed appeals, donating to a number of different appeals on each visit.
- Groups generally find the level of average online donation is much higher than that given through traditional methods.
Facilities to encourage people to donate time through volunteering, donate blood, to remember groups in their will and donate their unwanted computers had also been established recently to assist people to help groups in as many ways as possible.
People wanting to find groups seeking assistance can visit www.ourcommunity.com.au/donations or look up one of the thousands of worthwhile groups operating in their own neighbourhood.
Appeals listed on the site include: Oxfam, National Heart Foundation, Eye Research Foundation, Reconciliation Australia, Aids Trust of Australia, Royal District Nursing Service, MS Trish Research Foundation, Benevolent Society, Don Dunstan Foundation, Mental Health Research Institute, Anglicare, SADS, Jesuit Social Services, Asthma Foundation of NSW, Stepfamily Association of Victoria, Yooralla Society, Lifeline Canberra, Carries House, Kids Under Cover, Motor Neurone Disease Association of SA, Animals Australia, Bone Marrow Donor Institute, Montrose Access.
For more information contact Our Community on (03) 9320 6800.