John has been involved with Red Cross for much of his life, and he was always aware it was a “very big charity” compared to say helping fund a piece of equipment for the local country hospital.But when he was handed the responsibility of approving fundraising at Aquinas College he decided he needed to better understand the whole charity sector.
Some charities in Australia have been running for over 100 years; the oldest is a benevolent fund established in the colony of NSW around 200 years ago to look after the needs of convicts who had finished their sentences and were starting to live in a country they didn’t know.
And while many charities are licensed and some have been awarded Tax Deductibility status by the Australian Tax Office, the advent of social media has seen the unregulated sector take off – GoFundMe, Everyday Hero, HBF Run for a Reason, are just three examples.
One difficulty of comparing charities is that there is no standard for auditing them, so it is difficult to get an accurate idea of what the overhead costs are, and importantly, what percentage of the funds raised actually end up where the donor expects.
John told the story of the “little old lady” in a country town who raised money every year for a charity that had not done what she was raising money for, for 15 years!
So it is important that you know how much of the money you donate gets to where you want it to go, is used for the purpose you want to help, and in the case of Aquinas for example, the fundraising reflects the core values of the school and what it stands for.
Thanks for helping the members better understand the charity sector, John.