The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, qut

How much is given and who gives?

Donations, bequests and legacies: A$3,993m

Donations from businesses: A$863m

Donations from trusts and foundations: A$474m

Sponsorships: A$1,381m

Other fundraising: A$1,903m

Total: A$8,614m

Giving as a percentage of GDP is difficult to estimate, but to give a snapshot using comparable data from the original Giving Australia report in 2005, giving in the US was estimated to be 1.67% of GDP, and in the United Kingdom (UK) 0.73%. Australia sits at 0.69% and the available figure for Canada is 0.72%. Recent comparisons with 10 other countries’ average scores on five measures of giving find Australia ranked seventh behind Ireland and the UK (McGregor-Lowndes, Flack, et al. 2014a, iii-1).

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011) Household Expenditure Survey found that in 2009–10 the average weekly amount of donations to charity by all Australian households was A$4.26, whereas churches, synagogues and related groups received an average weekly amount of A$2.97 per household. The total amount of household donations to all organisations was therefore $7.23 per week in 2009-2010, although the ABS advised caution with the use of this estimate. It is anticipated that this figure will be updated by the ABS in 2016 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011).

Levels of giving in Australia to entities that are recognised by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as ‘deductible gift recipients’ (DGRs) have been tracked since 1979, with the most recent data available for the 2013-14 financial year. This dataset shows that in 2013-14 a total of 4.54 million individual taxpayers made and claimed tax-deductible donations to DGRs totalling A$2.62 billion. This represented an increase from the previous income year’s total of A$2.29 billion. Gift deductions represent 7.85% of all personal taxpayer deductions (McGregor-Lowndes and Crittall 2016).

Using ATO taxation data for 2011 and 2012 and their own survey, JBWere (McLeod 2012, 2013) reported that compared with the previous year, deductible giving recorded in 2012 with both the number of givers and the size of donations claimed was up, with major contributors being individual giving and levels of giving to Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs). The report noted the growing importance of electronic fundraising and the knowledge that this channel brings.

Other Australian trends noted here were:

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  multidecade trends have seen a significant fall in religious giving, while international aid has gained
  
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  a growing proportion of Australians are giving, although this is related to rising income levels rather than an improved culture of giving
  
• 
  New South Wales still dominates in terms of dollars given and donations per giver, while Victoria maintains its healthy lead in the proportion of givers
  
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  the amount of giving per giver has risen by 6.6% over the last decade, outstripping inflation by 2.9%
  
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  giving improves with age in terms of both participation rates and size of gift, suggesting a positive opportunity for charities when it comes to baby boomers and a potential opportunity for structured giving to make further gains
  
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  the number of Ancillary Funds continues to grow with the total of both Private (PAF) and Public (PuAF) funds reaching almost 3,000 at June 2013
  
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  the total assets of PAFs were worth A$2.1 billion in 2011 with cumulative distributions (since 2001) at almost A$1 billion (total assets of PuAFs were A$1.57 billion in 2012-13) (McGregor- Lowndes and Crittall 2015)
  
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  a number of major gifts have been made in a very public fashion in 2013, and this may represent the start of a cultural shift in the way wealthy Australians give, and
  
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  going public to raise awareness and inspire others is likely to be contagious (McLeod 2012, 2013).
  

Trend data has been captured on giving via the ACPNS analysis of the ATO data on tax-deductible donations claimed by Australia taxpayers over a considerable time, as noted in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 Total tax-deductible donations to inflation-adjusted total tax-deductible donations since 1978-79 (McGregor-Lowndes and Crittall 2016) (note that disclosure of tax-deductible donations was not required in income tax returns from 1988 – 1992)

Figure 2.1 above shows the total amount of deductible donations made by individual Australians from the 1978-1979 financial year to the 2013-2014 final year in comparison with the total amount of deductible donations during that period adjusted to incorporate the inflation rate (as measured by the Consumer Price Index). As Figure 2.1 shows, total tax deductions dropped in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 but have risen since. The total amount donated is at its highest point ever at the 2013-2014 mark, exceeding the previous high of A$2,345.55 million set in 2007-2008. *Note the disclosure of tax-deductible donations was not required in income tax returns from 1988-1992 (McGregor-Lowndes and Crittall 2016).

In a six-monthly survey of the use of electronic banking channels by givers, conducted by the National Australia Bank (2014) during the period March 2013 and February 2014, it was found that:

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  charitable giving had grown by 8.1% from the previous year
  
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  average annual donation size had increased by A$13 to A$315 per giver
  
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  a total of 33% of all donations went to humanitarian services charities
  
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  health and disability causes received 12.3% of donations
  
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  community services and children/family causes received 11.4% of donations
  
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  medical research and services (excluding cancer) received 11.3% of donations
  
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  cancer-specific charities received 9.6% of donations
  
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  animals and environmental causes received 8.2% of all donations
  
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  donations increased with the age of the giver, with those over 65 years donating on average A$388 in the year
  
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  in terms of the average dollar amount given per person per state, the Australian Capital Territory, with A$121 per person, was the most generous state (A$55 higher than the national average), and
  
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  Western Australia was the second most generous state with A$72 given per person.
  

It should be noted that the Giving Australia 2005 report used a more liberal definition of ‘gift’ to arrive at an estimated total of giving at A$11 billion for 2005 (excluding Tsunami giving of A$300 million). The A$11 billion total comprised A$5.7 billion from adult Australians, A$2 billion from charity gambling or special events and A$3.3 billion from business sources (ACOSS 2005). Note that the NAB Charitable Giving Index only includes donations via credit card, direct debit, BPAY and EFTPOS. Direct transfers into charity bank accounts are not captured (e.g. bequests and cheque donations will not be captured).

What is known about levels of giving by business is discussed in more detail in chapters 10-12 in this review; however, it will be noted that most previous studies of business giving have focused on the larger business corporations with little attention given to small and microbusinesses. In any review of the giving patterns of individuals it should be noted that the contributions of individuals through their businesses is thought to be significant and largely overlooked (Schaper and Savery 2004).