Australians have increased their average charitable donations each year since 2009/10, and a nationwide QUT led study aims to find out what motivates people to give to nonprofit organisations.
The Giving Australia 2015-2016 project is the largest ever study on giving and volunteering in Australia and is underway, led by QUT’s Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (ACPNS).
ACPNS interim director Dr Wendy Scaife said the project aims to find out more about the views of thousands of Australians from all walks of life as to why they give (or don’t) their time and dollars to charities or nonprofit organisations.
“We know that since 2010 the average donation has increased but there is still a lot of unmet need in the community that government coffers will never cover," Dr Scaife said.
“We hope to find out how people choose which charities to support as donors and volunteers, how they decide on what they can give and how they choose to contribute this support.
“We know, for example, that the number of people participating in workplace giving has increased since 2012. At QUT, for example, hundreds of staff are ongoing payroll givers to QUT’s Learning Potential Fund which assists students from disadvantaged backgrounds to complete a university degree.
“The results of this research will ultimately affect everybody in the community because the charitable organisations that provide us with a huge number of services rely heavily on the goodwill of all Australians.
“At the same time, we know that most of us or our families will benefit from those services sometime in our lifetime.”
Dr Scaife said the research was looking for gaps, barriers and opportunities to make it easier to give and volunteer.
“We hope the research will prompt new, ongoing giving and volunteering by Australians,” she said.
“Our findings will help the nonprofit sector which must do lots with little and inform government policy through our research funders, the Commonwealth Department of Social Services and the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership.”
Everyday Australians are encouraged to have their say by registering to participate in or receive updates about the project via the study website
The Giving Australia 2015-2016 project is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services and is an initiative of the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership. It is a collaborative effort of two universities – QUT and the Centre for Social Impact at Swinburne University of Technology; a business research centre, the Centre for Corporate Public Affairs; and four key peak bodies, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, Fundraising Institute Australia, Philanthropy Australia and Volunteering Australia.
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
