News

Canberrans – most selfish or most generous?

20 September 2011

Leading fundraising researcher, FIA member and ACT resident Bruno Yvanovich says ATO figures reveal Canberrans are among the most generous donors in Australia.

So Canberra’s citizens are apparently the most selfish in Australia? A national survey reported on Monday 11 July in the Canberra Times may say so, but their behaviour tells quite a different story.

In fact, on the basis of their donations claimed through the tax system, Canberrans are among the most generous in Australia, with the highest proportion of donors and a generous level of giving.

Each year, the ATO releases statistics on income tax which is analysed by the Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at the Queensland Institute of Technology.  The data for 2008-09 was recently published and has an interesting story in the Philanthropy State of Origin.  Note this refers only to individual donations claimed and excludes pre-tax workplace giving, funds that might be raised through raffles, charity shops and stalls, and church giving.  Gifts through companies, licensed clubs, foundations and the like are similarly excluded.

The ACT had the highest proportion of donors, that is those who claim a deduction for donations, at just under half of its taxpayers (47 per cent).  The next was Victoria some way back at 42 per cent - recall its citizens rallied strongly in the aftermath of the terrible Black Friday bushfires.  Tailing the field was the resources-boom state of WA, a long way off the pace at 32 per cent despite its supposed economic vigour.  Nationally, the proportion was nearly 38 per cent.

The ACT has consistently led the nation in the highest proportion of donors for nearly a decade.

In dollar terms, the highest average donation was from NSW at $523.54.  The second highest was from the ACT at $471.33 and Victoria was just behind at $470.08.  The lowest average was in the NT, where donors managed $293.78.  

The national average for 2008-09 was $450.05 which was $73.05 (14 per cent) less than the figure for 2007-08.  This sharp fall is telling evidence of the impact of the Global Financial Crisis.  It reversed a decade long trend of steady growth that far exceeded CPI and brought it back nearly to the level of 2006-07.

The GFC did cause a significant philanthropic hit overall – the total donated by all Australian taxpayers in 2008-09 was $2093 million, a fall of $253 million (11 per cent) on the previous year.  Again, this fall reversed a decade long trend of growth higher than that of total incomes.

Donors in the ACT however bucked the trend – the 2008-09 average was $16.40 higher than the 2007-08 average.

As before, the ACT has been consistently in the top three of the average donation league table for most of the past decade.

So where were these donors in 2008-09?

Well, postcode 2611, Weston Creek, had the highest proportion of donors at 46 per cent.  Their average gift was $486.21, which was third highest behind postcode 2602  - Ainslie, Dickson, etc - at $572.10 and postcode 2614 - Aranda, Hawker etc - which topped out at $675.51.

Apart from the generosity of the ACT, the intriguing but disappointing feature of the Philanthropy State of Origin is the below par efforts of the resource rich states of Queensland and WA.  On every measure, those states are well below the national average.  Sadly, a resources boom does not seem to create a philanthropic boom.

Canberrans may think of themselves as selfish when filling out a survey questionnaire, but their actions speak louder than words. We are in fact the most generous state or Territory in Australia and can be proud of this sense of community which squashes comprehensively any lingering gibes of a city with no soul.

References

McGregor-Lowndes, M. and Pelling, E., An Examination of Tax Deductible Donations Made by Individual Australian Taxpayers in2008 – 09, Working Paper No. CPNS 54, QUT (May 2011).

McGregor-Lowndes, M and Hoffman, K, An Examination of Tax Deductible Donations Made by Individual Australian Taxpayers in 2007-08, Working Paper No. 51, CPNS (May 2010)

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