Australian attitudes towards NFPs and giving

The national research study on how many Australians do and don’t give, The Australian Communities Trends Report, has been released.

The study shows that four in five Australians give financially to charities, with one in four being regular givers and giving financially at least once a month. However one in five Australians, almost four million adults, do not give any money at all to charities or not-for-profits.

The research shows that Australians are more committed to supporting local charities and causes (90 per cent) above global causes or needs (1 in 10). It was also noted that slightly more Australians support charities that are committed to awareness raising and providing information around key issues (54 per cent) compared to charities involved in direct action (46 per cent).

It was highlighted that generation Y are twice as likely to prefer awareness raising over direct action compared to the over 30’s. However generation Y have much more of a global focus in the charities they support than the over 30’s.

The study also identifies that the challenge for charities is that Australians are almost twice as likely to give one-off donations than regular support, and are twice as likely to have volunteered at one-off events than be ongoing volunteers. Australians are most motivated by children’s charities

The top 3 causes that Australians are motivated to contribute to are:

1. Children’s charities,
2. Medical research, and
3. Animal welfare.

The report shows that for generation Y, animal welfare is a clear number one.

The top 3 essentials for a charity they are to support, as rated by Australians as “extremely / very important” are:

1. That admin costs are kept below twenty per cent (72 per cent),
2. That the organisation is registered as a charity  (72 per cent), and
3. And that there is transparency around the reporting of admin costs (71 per cent).

The report identified that there is some fundraising uncertainties facing charities. The rising cost of living is one of the strongest impediments to Australians giving and 60 per cent of all respondents stated that the younger generations are not as generous as the rest of Australians, with almost half of generation Y (49 per cent) also agreeing with this.
However, the report also identified that charities are very well regarded in Australia and scored a net promotor score of 29, one of the highest of all Australian sectors and up two points from 2015.

The national research results on how many Australians do and don’t give will be officially revealed by Mark McCrindle at The Australian Communities Forum on Thursday 13th October 2016 at Customs House, Sydney.