Options for giving to your community
Donating money is a good way to contribute to a Gold Coast community group, but
it's by no means the only option for helping.
There are so many ways to give and to help out local community groups and there
are few groups that can afford to turn away useful offers of help. It pays to
think broadly about your resources - don't restrict yourself to writing a cheque
or to donating online. The options are endless, but here are just a few to get
you started.
Make a donation
Give a donation as a gift - Instead of giving a birthday or Christmas present to
a friend, consider making a donation on their behalf to an appropriate Gold Coast
community group or charity. Give them a card telling them that you have made a
donation and provide the receipt. The benefit will last longer than a box of
chocolates or a pair of socks!
Ask your friends to give money, not presents - Ask your friends not to give you
Christmas or birthday presents this year but to instead donate the money they would
have spent to a nominated community group.
Donate a gold coin - Next time you host a party ask everyone to throw in a gold
coin for a nominated Gold Coast community group. If you can't all agree on the group
to help, put the names of the groups in a hat and draw one (or two) out.
Sponsor a child - Consider sponsoring a child through an overseas aid agency or help
to sponsor the education of an Australian child.
Donate to a community group online - There are dozens of appeals you can donate to
online at our Gold Coast Gives Donations Centre. Make a quick, safe and secure donation
without leaving your chair! If you don't have a credit card or feel more comfortable
signing your name on your donations, you can also donate to your favourite community
group by phone, fax or mail.
Give as you earn - Set up a payroll deduction to make a regular donation to a community
group. Call the Give As You Earn Helpline on 1300 653 567 or visit www.cafaustralia.org.
Pass it on - Does your business have excess office supplies, furniture, advertising
space or transport that it could give to a community group? You might even have a spare
desk and a telephone that a local organisation could put to use. If you don't know of
a group to give these things to, check out the community group wish lists or post a
gift list at the Gold Coast Gives Wishing Well.
Provide some in-kind support - Donations don't have to be financial. You can give away
goods and services instead. You could support a local sausage sizzle by donating the
sausages or onions, help out at a school building project by putting up the tarps, etc.
Donate your expertise - Consider whether you or your business could provide pro bono
assistance to a Gold Coast community group in the area of legal advice, accounting,
auditing, marketing, public relations or IT knowledge. It is a way of providing
significant expertise that the group would find costly to obtain otherwise.
Where there's a will, there's a way - Consider preparing a will that bequeaths all or
part of your estate to your favourite community group or groups.
Don't throw it out - recycle!
Think twice before you dispose of things that are still in good working order. Is
there a community group that could benefit from using them or could they sell them
at their next trash and treasure stall? Or for that matter could you sell it and
donate the proceeds?
Drop your unwanted (but still okay) clothes in a donation bin - Donation bins can
be found outside many Gold Coast churches, convenience stores and shopping centres.
Better still, if you can sew, make an item of clothing to donate to a local group
or homeless shelter.
Donate your old computers to a good cause - If you are upgrading your computer,
there are organisations that will take your old PCs, refurbish them and distribute
them to disadvantaged schools, families and community groups. Even if the computer
has had it, many of the components can often still be recycled. Visit Green PC or
the Australian Giving Centre for more information on computer recycling.
Find a good use for Aunty Fay's last birthday present - Everyone has unused or unopened
presents that just sit in a cupboard. Instead of letting them gather dust, why not
donate them to a community group to use as a prize in a raffle, auction or fundraiser?
Give a community group the gift of music - Go through your old record and CD collection
and donate anything you don't listen to anymore to one of your local community groups
or op-shop. Amazingly, there is always someone else out there who thought Bucks Fizz was great!
Donate your old printer cartridges to be recycled - You can actually get money for your
old computer printer cartridges and ribbons and a number of schools and community groups
are now collecting old cartridges to raise funds. Either donate the cartridges to the
groups themselves or get the refund yourself and donate that.
Trade in the treadly - If you're buying a new bike don't throw out the old one, give it to
an organisation that repairs bikes and donates them to disadvantaged children or sells them
cheaply. The Bicycle Revolution is a non-profit Gold Coast cooperative that repairs, recycles
and rejuvenates donated bicycles. Profits from sales are used to fund the work of Friends
of the Earth. Pay them a visit at 294 Montague Rd, West End.
Clean out your bookshelves - Book stalls are a staple of any Gold Coast community fete. Some
groups collect books year-round to stockpile for a big annual sale.
Recycle your garbage - Don't dump off-cut materials such as timber, wire, vinyl or fabrics.
Give them to Reverse Garbage (296 Montague Rd, West End), a non-profit cooperative that
collects materials for creative re-use by schools and artists in the Gold Coast community.
Grant a wish - Some groups have a wish list of equipment or goods they would buy if they had
the money. Browse the community group wish lists at the Gold Coast Gives Wishing Well. Check
in your back shed to see if you have a wish item. If your local group to doesn't have a wish
list, why not help them create one?
The gift of time
Community groups almost always need people's time as much as their money. Gold Coast residents
provided more than 53 million hours of unpaid volunteer work during 2000 - many groups could
not survive without that support. If you don't feel confident enough to help a community group
in public, see if they would like a hand behind the scenes. Every group needs people to help
type letters, answer phones and do countless other jobs like filing and photocopying.
To find out more about volunteering opportunities, go to www.ourcommunity.com.au/giving/giving_article.jsp?articleId=2432
Another option to consider is virtual volunteering, where a person gives their volunteering time at their computer. To find out more, visit Volunteer X Change
Here are some other ideas for giving your time.
Support crisis and help lines - Crisis telephone lines need volunteer counsellors to answer phones.
Find out about help lines in your area and offer to help or to undertake the training required to
staff the lines.
Check to see if your elderly neighbours need some help - If you have elderly friends or neighbours
who are house-bound or struggle to get out, offer to help them out with the shopping or other errands.
Provide a break for a carer - If you have a friend or neighbour who is a full-time carer, offer
to step in and help for a couple of hours so they can get out and do a bit of shopping or just
have a break for a couple of hours.
Raise a seeing eye dog - Puppies are placed in homes at eight weeks of age, where they are taught
basic obedience. At 12 months they return to the kennels to begin their formal training. It can be
very rewarding to see the joy and independence a seeing eye dog can give a blind person. Visit
Seeing Eye Dogs Australia.
Become a tutor - Your knowledge and skills can teach others how to do any number of important jobs,
from using computers to managing a budget or growing a successful vegetable garden. Volunteer
home tutors help newly arrived migrants learn English and assist people who are hearing impaired.
Give your experience by joining a board or committee - Consider becoming a board member of a Gold Coast
community group that you are involved in and have a say on how the group runs and what it does. You
can make a lasting contribution and make a difference by becoming actively involved in something
you are truly passionate about.
Be a mentor and pass your knowledge on - Pass on your expertise to a young community leader. It gives
them the chance to bounce ideas off someone with experience.
Consider virtual volunteering - If you have computer access and the necessary skills, some
organisations now offer the opportunity to do volunteer work online. This might take the form of
giving free legal advice, typing an essay for a person with a disability, or simply keeping in
contact with someone who needs a friend. Virtual volunteering can be a way for you to help if you
have limited time or mobility or if you simply enjoy computers and want to employ your computer
skills in your volunteer work.
Sign up
Giving can be as easy as putting up your hand.
Join a Gold Coast community group - Don't just be a supporter, be a member of your local community
groups. While community groups love donations, many survive on the annual subscriptions from
dedicated members. Find a cause or a group dedicated to something you are interested in and sign up today.
Renew your memberships - If you are already a member of a local community group, renew your
membership to ensure your group doesn't have to waste its resources chasing you up.
Donate blood - Short on cash? Your gift doesn't have to be financial. You can give an even more
precious gift - your blood. Giving blood is safe and easy. See the Australian Red Cross Blood
Service for details.
Sign up as an organ donor - There's no time like the present to sign up as an organ donor. Each
year thousands of Australians wait for the gift of life. To join the Australian Organ Donor
Registry phone 1800 777 203 or visit the Health Insurance Commission website.
Sign others up
Everybody knows that there is strength in numbers - why not expand your giving by getting
others to join in?
Ask your workmates to give a hand - Spread the load and make community work a team effort by
organising your workmates to volunteer as a group. Apart from the satisfaction of doing
something worthwhile, making a valuable contribution to your community is a great exercise
in boosting office morale and team spirit.
Donate your winnings - Organise a footy tipping competition and donate some of the prize money
to a community group.
Give as you buy - Organise a pre-Christmas fundraising shopping tour to warehouses and factory
outlets and donate a percentage of the sales to a local charity.
Give donations for Secret Santa - Rather than buying Secret Santa Christmas gifts for
your work colleagues, donate the money to a community Christmas appeal and make your
gifts instead.
Tempt your workmates - A chocolate drive is an easy way to raise money for your
community group.
Get the family involved - Volunteering as a family is a great way to help out and bring
your family together.
Approach your boss - Ask your employer if they will provide a matching gift for whatever
your workplace can raise in a special fundraising effort for a Gold Coast community group.
Do you have a celebrity friend? - If you have access to celebrities or friends who are
in the public eye, ask them to put their pen to work for you by signing some
memorabilia that can be donated to a group to raise money.
Spend it wisely
As well as making direct donations, you can also help out Gold Coast community
groups by thinking a little more strategically about how you spend your money.
Buy greeting cards from a community group stall, charity shop or online
marketplace - Many charities and community groups raise funds by selling their
own cards. This is an easy way of helping out a local group and giving something
different to family and friends. Visit the Combined Charities Card Shop in City
Hall (near the Adelaide Street entrance).
Buy your presents from a community group - Many local groups and schools hold
fairs offering a wide range of goods. Larger groups sell online at sites such
as the Oxfam Community Aid Abroad shop.
Attend a local community event - Lots of Gold Coast schools, kindergartens and
local groups hold fetes, fairs and other fundraisers during the year. Offer your
support by going along and buying fairy floss, raffle tickets, or a turn at the
lucky dip. Find an event in the Gold Coast City Council events calendar.
Buy from businesses that support groups in your local community - Where possible,
shop with retailers or companies that donate a percentage of their profit to charity.
Buy a pet from an animal shelter - If you're looking for a new pet, visit an
animal shelter instead of a pet shop. Unfortunately, there are plenty of animals
looking for homes. Try the Gold Coast City Council animal shelters or RSPCA.
Buy a ribbon. Buy a Badge. Buy a pen - If you see an organisation selling ribbons,
pens or badges for a fundraising appeal go out of your way to purchase one. And
wear the ribbon or badge to show your support.
Say thanks
You can also support community groups by helping to support the people that
support them!
Hold drinks for your hard-working community group volunteers - Offer to hold a dinner
or drinks for your local community group to thank volunteers or staff or to provide
a get-together for major supporters or donors.
Spread the word - If you have enjoyed the support, encouragement or assistance of a
local community group - or just think they have done a super job - why not let others
in the community know? Send a letter to the local politicians, councillors and media
to let everyone know how important and valuable the community group is.
Resource links
This help sheet has been prepared by ourcommunity.com.au, a national resource
for Australia's 700,000 community and non-profit organisations.
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