Why give?

Why do people give to appeals and causes?

There are thousands of good causes all asking for donations all year round. People want to make a difference but often feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of these requests for help. What is it that motivates people to donate to one appeal, but leaves them unmoved by another? Every single person is going to have different issues or causes that impact on them, depending on their interests, lifestyle, family background, life experience, their friends and colleagues and many more reasons. It can also come down to whether they were asked or who asked them.

In this help sheet we try to outline some of the reasons that people donate or give to community groups. These are designed to help individuals establish their own giving plan but also are a good checklist for community groups to see whether they are providing donors with enough reasons to give.

Do you give or do you decline?

An American study that asked people their motivation for giving has found that people give money because:

• They have money
• They have a need to be philanthropic
• To do good
• They have a tradition of giving
• They believe in supporting the community
• They respect and trust the organisation they are giving to
• They want to leave a legacy
• They want to feel part of a community or part of a team
• They like to make a difference
• They want to claim a tax deduction
• They were asked to give.

The same study found that people don't give money when:

• They are pressured to give
• They are promised something in return for their money or there are strings attached
• They had been advised previously that they would not be asked again for money
• They do not respect or trust the organisation asking
• They have not been educated about the value of philanthropy
• They do not have a sense of individual responsibility to their community
• They are not in the habit of giving generally or to a particular organisation
• They have not been told that they can give in-kind or pledge in any other way
• They do not have money at that moment
• They were not asked to give.

Examining your motivation

A good starting point is to ask yourself why you want to give to your community. For many people these reasons are varied but by answering this question frankly it will make a real difference to who you are giving to.

Tracy Gary, a renowned American donor activist and philanthropist for more than 25 years, suggests that one good idea is to establish your own mission statement answering the following question:

"What do I want to do with my giving and why?"

This question helps to define in your own mind what you want to achieve.

When working on your mission statement, these are some of the different factors to consider:

• Do you want to help individuals meet their material needs?
• Do you want to give back to society?
• Do you want to support research for improving society?
• Do you want to improve medical treatment and research?
• Do you want to prevent problems in individuals and society?
• Do you believe you or your family have enough?
• Do you believe that those with more should help those with less?
• Do you want to reduce your personal taxation?

Knowing why you are giving is an important first step and will help in your giving efforts.

It's the thought that counts

The question of why you should give must be considered in terms of what you can give. Of course, donating money is often the best way to contribute to a non-profit group as it offers the group flexibility. But if you're going down the giving road, it pays to think broadly about your resources ? don't restrict yourself to writing a cheque or donating online. If your bank balance is already strained, do you have some time to spare to wash clothes donated to the local op-shop? Do you have a washing machine they could use? Some book keeping skills you could lend to the organisation? Could you offer a day a week staffing the counter? Do you have some goods they could sell? Some coat-hangers to display their wares on?

There are so many ways to give and there are few non-profit groups that can afford to turn away useful offers of help. The Australian Red Cross, for example, offers visitors to its website the chance to contribute in a range of different ways, by:

• Making a donation to support services or programs in Australia or the Asia Pacific region
• Responding to international appeals for donations in a region of the giver's choosing
• Becoming a member
• Becoming a volunteer
• Taking part in or supporting campaigns
• Becoming a corporate partner
• Becoming a blood donor
• Donating through a will or bequest.

The moral case

Deciding if you should give - and, if so, how much - is often an intensely private matter. Whether your contribution starts and ends with a 20-cents-or-six-for-a-dollar chook raffle or a commitment to "tithe" a full 10 per cent of your income, giving can allow you to:

• express feelings of compassion about people in need
• fulfill a sense of social obligation
• address social imbalances by allocating some of your resources to those in greater need
• make a concrete response to a crisis ? a deadly earthquake appeal, a prolonged drought, etc.
• Maimonides, a 12th Century Jewish philosopher, formulated a "ladder", offering eights steps (from worst to best) of charitable giving:
  1. Giving unwillingly, making the recipient feel disgraced.
  2. Giving cheerfully but too little.
  3. Giving cheerfully and adequately but only after being asked.
  4. Giving before being asked (but this can be spoiled if the giver shows off about the donation and disgraces the receiver).
  5. Giving without knowing the receiver (but the recipient knows the identity of the giver).
  6. Giving anonymously to a known needy recipient.
  7. Giving anonymously to an anonymous person.
  8. Helping a person to help him/herself ? giving finances, resources or even your time to help someone become self-reliant.

A powerful gift

One of the most compelling arguments for giving is the power your donation affords you to influence and shape the world in a way you deem important. Most people don't give to just anyone who asks but direct their donations to causes or community organisations they believe in. And you don't have to have been personally touched by an issue to believe in it - it is unlikely that the more than a million Amnesty International members and supporters worldwide have all been victims of human rights abuses. But they support the belief that no-one else should be a victim either.

By donating your money, or your goods, or your time, wisely you can express how you want to shape the world. And that's powerful stuff.

Just to say thanks

Making a donation of time, money or goods can also offer the opportunity to say thank you to a group or cause for which you feel a connection. For example, a cancer survivor may be more inclined to make a donation to a cancer research charity or the hospital they attended as a patient than, say, to a support group for diabetics.

Another reason for giving could be to support the institutions that help to shape or support your community - hospitals, schools, religious institutions, sporting organisations, environmental groups etc.

A gift that keeps on giving back

Being a giver often means being a receiver. Aside from the personal satisfaction you will get from knowing your resources are going toward a good cause, you may also get some unexpected rewards. Most volunteers report that they gain more from their association with a community group - through added stimulation, new avenues for expression, companionship, an opportunity to expand an interest, a feeling of worthiness and usefulness, etc - than they contributed.

Some people also find that their giving (particularly in relation to giving of time or expertise) can constitute a good investment in their careers, allowing them to expand their skills or expertise, further explore their own capacities and thereby improve their own employability.

Of course, the warm inner glow you may get from knowing that your contribution - financial or otherwise - has helped make a difference is a gift in itself.

A few words on tax deductions

Some gifts may be tax deductible ? depending on the status of the group to which you are donating. Not many community groups have DGR (Deductible Gift Recipient) status (only about 19,000 of the estimated 700,000 community organisations in Australia have DGR status), so if achieving a tax deduction is your motivation for your donation, make sure you check the group's status first.

The reality is that most people are not motivated by tax deductions. It can be a bonus but few people give away $1 to receive a 50c tax deduction.

Don't wait to be asked

Few people would argue that no group or cause is worthy of our support. But how many times have you heard people say that they don't give to charities or community groups because they don't want their hard-earned funds wasted on administration costs?

One easy way for you to overcome this problem is to help a non-profit organisation cut down its costs by thinking about who you want to give to - and following through with a donation. This will prevent the group having to go to the trouble and expense of asking you through expensive advertising campaigns, mail-outs, etc.

There is strength in numbers. You can make your resources work effectively for the type of world you want by entrusting your donation to a group that shares your values and vision and best knows how to use it effectively.

As Mother Teresa reportedly said: "We realise that what we are accomplishing is a drop in the ocean. But if this drop were not in the ocean, it would be missed."

This help sheet has been prepared by ourcommunity.com.au, a national resource for Australia's 700,000 community and non-profit organisations.