Media Release

Women donate more frequently than men but men donate larger amounts, a report based on analysis of 15 years of online donations data has revealed.

The GiveNow report, released by Our Community today, finds that while men and women donate roughly even amounts overall, there are big differences in the types of causes they support.

"For example, animal welfare causes are far more popular with women, while emergency and safety causes are more popular with men," said Denis Moriarty, Group Managing Director of Our Community, which operates the commission-free GiveNow online donations website.

Our Community's analysis of $66 million in donations made through GiveNow to nearly 4000 different Australian community projects over 15 years reveals some concerning trends in Australian online giving.

"The average value of a donation has not meaningfully shifted in more than 10 years - this is exceptionally disappointing," Mr Moriarty said.

"It's also worth noting that there's not a huge disparity in the average value of donations made from people living in low-income areas as opposed to high-income areas. Clearly, how much you give has little to do with where you live."

Who Gives? was released in the same week that GiveNow surpassed the $70 million milestone.

The report aims to shine a light on the trends shaping online fundraising in Australia.

"We want not-for-profit organisations to use the insights we've gleaned by looking at trends over time to help shape their online fundraising strategy, to strengthen their financial position, and ultimately to help them to fulfil their mission," Mr Moriarty said.

Written by Our Community's in-house data scientist, Joost Van Der Linden, Who Gives? confirms many long-established trends in giving.

The most lucrative months for causes listed on GiveNow are June and December, and the average value of donations is highest on Mondays. Donation volume is highest between 11am and 4pm.

"The GiveNow dataset provides an unprecedented opportunity to analyse longterm aggregated donation behaviour on Australia's leading commission-free donation platform," Mr van der Linden said.

"We see that regular donations are becoming increasingly popular on GiveNow. For organisations looking for a steady income stream, this is good news, as the average lifetime value of a regular donation is much higher ($789) than the average one-off donation ($205)."

The report examines the following key questions:

  • Donations: Do donors prefer to give one-off donations or regular donations? What donation amounts are the most popular? In what months, days and hours do users donate the most?
  • Causes: The number and value of donations to any particular cause is a product of that cause's general popularity, visibility and geographical location. What can we learn from examining causes?
  • Interest areas: Animal welfare, disaster relief, health and wellness - do certain interest areas attract more donations? How has this changed over time?
  • Gender: What are the donation habits of men and women? Who donates the most, and to what interest areas?
  • Location: Where do the most generous donors come from? What's the relationship between donor behaviour and donor income?

As a commission-free online donations platform, GiveNow works to give all Australian not-forprofit organisations access to technologically-enabled donations, regardless of the organisation's size, purpose, location or budget.

"We are driven by providing intuitive, affordable and cutting-edge technology and data to the not-for-profit sector," said GiveNow manager Jarred Slomoi.

"The rapid advances of technology and the emergence of incredible amounts of data, and new ways of crunching it, provides a great opportunity for organisations to adapt and improve their processes.

"We are excited that Who Gives? will assist organisations in doing this."

More information:

Comment:

Jarred Slomoi
GiveNow General Manager
03 9320 6848
jarreds@givenow.com.au