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www.givenow.com.au GiveNow News
1
Give More, Give Smarter, Give Better, Give Now!
The official news fromwww.givenow.com.au
EDITION 4, 2010
Back to Basics:The Kitchen Garden Revolution – Page 4
Organ Donations:How to Give Life – Page 6
GiveNow News www.givenow.com.au
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About Us:
GiveNow News is the official newsletter of GiveNow.com.au (proudly supported by ) dedicated to helping Australians give more, give smarter and give better. GiveNow.com.au is an initiative of the Our Community Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation established by Our Community to catalyse funding for Australian community groups and to transform the community sector through greater efficiencies and effectiveness. This newsletter has been produced with the support of the Liberman Family Foundation.
Publisher:
Our Community Foundation National Headquarters 51 Stanley Street West Melbourne VIC 3003 Australia
(PO Box 354 North Melbourne VIC 3051 Australia)
Telephone (03) 9320 6838 Fax (03) 9326 [email protected]/foundation
ISSN 1441-8947
Copyright:
© Our Community Foundation.
This is a free newsletter and we would like it to be distributed as widely as possible. Please feel free to send it on. If you want to use the individual articles, however, you’ll need to ask our permission (we almost always give it). Email your request to [email protected]
The articles in GiveNow News do not necessarily reflect the views of the Our Community Foundation, its staff or members. The purpose of this publication is to provide ideas, inspiration and best practice examples. We are not responsible for any actions taken by, or losses suffered by, any person on the basis of, or in reliance upon, any information in this newsletter, nor for any omission or error.
We welcome your input:We welcome your article ideas, input and feedback. Email [email protected]
Production schedule:GiveNow News is distributed monthly via email. This Issue Published: May 2010
Our Commitment to Corporate Responsibility:In line with the Australian Institute for Corporate Responsibility (AICR) model actions for achieving environmental sustainability, this publication is produced for online distribution. Where a hard copy is requested, we use 100% recycled paper.
Our Commitment to Accessibility:We are committed to ensuring our resources are accessible. This newsletter is available to subscribers in alternative formats on request. Email [email protected]
GiveNow
GiveNow.com.au is looking for volunteers to join us in inspiring and transforming giving in Australia.
In particular, we’d love to hear from you if you have an interest in online communities and social networking, or administrative/database skills.
There may be some scope for “virtual volunteering” opportunities (work carried out off-site, over the internet), plus some office-based work in West Melbourne.
Interested?
Please send your name, contact details and a few words about yourself to [email protected].
We all want to give, but sometimes it’s hard to know how to get started.
GiveNow.com.au is Australia’s most user-friendly giving portal – a place where you can put your dollars to work to start building the kind of world you want to live in.
No money? No worries! Through GiveNow.com.au you can also find out how to give time, blood, clothes, blankets, computers, mobile phones, bikes, even corks!
Log on to find the tools, ideas, inspiring stories and practical tips you need to convert your good intentions into action.
Join the Giving Revolution!
t START GIVING t READ THE GiveNow MANIFESTO
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Giving Tip: Byo H2o Spend a mere $15 and you can be personally responsible for returning about 75,000 litres of water to the struggling Murray-Darling river system!
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has launched a major water buyback program based on donations from the public in an attempt to boost the river. The Federal Government is already buying back from farmers more than $3 billion worth of water, but the ACF is attempting to buy even more with funds donated by the general public and corporate sponsors. Since launching the campaign in March, the ACF has already beaten its initial target of buying 200 million litres (approximately $40,000 worth).
Victoria’s Hattah Lakes, a collection of shallow lakes, creeks and swamps near Mildura, has been selected as the best place to use the water because it responded strongly to some environmental watering delivered by the Victorian Government last year.
The Federal Government has also committed an overall $350 million to buy back water in Queensland.
t BUY WATER FOR THE MURRAY-DARLING RIVER
What’s On?
What’s Not:ACCIDENTALLY DONATING YOUR LIFE SAVINGS : An elderly woman donated a suitcase to the Salvo store at Beaconsfield, in Melbourne’s outer east last month. Unfortunately, she didn’t know her husband had stuffed the lining with approximately $100,000 in cash. The couple who bought the case and failed to hand the money back were arrested on March 18 and have been charged with theft by finding.
What’s HotWASTING TIME ONLINE: US based ProcrasDonate has developed software that provides a charitable incentive to procrastinate less. Users register on the site, download the software, identify the organisations they’d like to support and pledge an amount for each hour wasted online. Then they select the websites they consider time-wasters (Facebook and Twitter are obvious choices) and link their account for payments. As the user goes about his or her everyday online activity, the software tracks time spent and automatically arranges the direct donation.
t CHECK OUT PROCRASDONATE
MAY:
16/5: RSPCA Million Paws Walk t GiveNow!
17/5-23/5: National Hepatitis Awareness Week t GiveNow!
23/5-29/5: National Palliative Care Week t GiveNow!
27/5-3/6: Reconciliation Week t GiveNow!
28/5: 65 Roses Day – Cystic Fibrosis NSW t GiveNow!
JUNE:
4/6-11/6: Medical Research Week t GiveNow!
MORE EVENTS
t http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/calendar/
GiveNow News www.givenow.com.au
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One of this country’s leading foodies heads up an innovative program to help Australian kids plant,
grow, prepare and serve fresh produce in an exciting way, as part of their school life. Spearheaded by Stephanie Alexander, whose cookbook The Cook’s Companion sits in more than 250,000 Australian homes, The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardening Foundation team has developed a child-friendly gardening program. The program was developed in response to what the Foundation identified as a serious gap in children’s understanding about where food comes from and which foods are healthy.
Creative Crusader
As the author of 11 cookbooks and considering herself fortunate to have been “raised by a mother who valued cooking fresh food in an interesting way,” Stephanie was concerned that the history and essence of food preparation was being lost to a whole generation.
“The kitchen garden project works because it is an enjoyable program that children love,” Stephanie says. “It is hands-on and they get to eat what they have grown.
“Our soon to be released, official two-and-a-half year evaluation, confirms that participant students are much more likely to try new foods, develop real skills and work together co-operatively.”Stephanie says that the project itself engages the school’s community to a degree that surprises some of the principals. “My long-term goal would be to make it possible for any primary school that wishes to, to introduce this program,” she says.
“At the moment we are concentrating on developing high-quality support for our existing 138 schools, so that they provide a convincing network of successful Kitchen Garden schools for other schools or interested funders to visit.”The pilot concept was initiated at the Kitchen Garden at Collingwood College in Melbourne. Stephanie continues to give one cooking class per week at the school to pass on her skills and passion to the students, kitchen staff and volunteers, and provides vision and guidance to the project overall. She is also actively involved in spreading the message of the Kitchen Garden’s successes through the media and at festivals, conferences and functions around the country.Stephanie says the value of preparing and cooking food is something we learn when we’re young and is essential if we want our children to grow into healthy adults and effective parents capable of preparing healthy foods for the next generation.
Stephanie Alexander
“Convenience foods have proliferated, fewer and fewer children have ever dug in the ground, or picked fresh apples or green beans, or even shopped in a fresh food market as opposed to a supermarket where almost everything is untouchable, packaged and displayed under unnatural lighting in sterile cabinets. Without tactile experience of ripeness, they lose contact with quality and become unquestioning consumers.” Desley Insall, The Kitchen Garden Foundation
t GIVE TO THE STEPHANIE ALEXANDER KITCHEN GARDEN FOUNDATION
www.givenow.com.au GiveNow News
5t GIVE TO THE STEPHANIE ALEXANDER KITCHEN GARDEN FOUNDATION
WHO? Gwenyth Graham, 82
WHERE?Perth, WA
WHAT? Volunteer with the Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees (CARAD)
WHY? In 2001, an Iraqi woman – an asylum seeker whose husband was being detained at the Perth Airport Detention Centre – and her three children required temporary accommodation. Unfortunately, there were no beds available in any of the transit houses affiliated with the
Who Gives?Gwenyth Graham
Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees (CARAD).
So Gwenyth Graham offered the flat attached to her home as a temporary solution. The family lived with her for four years. She organised three visits a week to the husband and assisted the family with all their settlement needs, Centrelink applications, study applications and job searches.
Gwenyth says witnessing the hardship that many endured in detention fuelled her commitment to the work. Some detainees had been beaten or had harmed themselves. Many felt they had had their identity taken away, their name replaced with a number.
Gwenyth is no stranger to volunteer work, having served some 15 years with Amnesty International in Perth as well as accompanying her doctor husband on many visits to Aboriginal communities offering diagnosis and treatment of eye conditions.
She says the work she does with asylum seekers has changed since the Rudd Government’s decision to end the Temporary Protection Visa.
“We don’t have transit houses anymore but we have found people that have fallen between the cracks and they have come back to us for help,” she says.
One such person is the 26-year-old man from Barundi who is currently living with Gwenyth.
“You wouldn’t stay in anything if you didn’t get some rewards,” she says. “The real rewards are in the friendships and widening our experience. Loving more people and more people loving you.”
t GIVE TO CARAD
ELLE MACPHERSON Between her modelling commitments, acting roles, lingerie label and raising her two sons, Elle finds the time to be the Global Ambassador for the SMILE Foundation in Australia. Elle says: “The SMILE Foundation recognises the vital role of medical research in extending and improving the lives of children [with rare diseases] and their families.” Elle is also a European Ambassador for (RED), a global initiative in the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
t GIVE TO THE SMILE FOUNDATION
GEORGE CLOONEYClooney is on a mission to stop the human rights atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan. He has visited the area personally, and spoken with victims of rape and torture. The organisation he founded with his Ocean’s 11 co-stars, Not On Our Watch, has donated millions of dollars to help those suffering in the region, with much of the funding going through the United Nations World Food Programme. Clooney also focusses energy on helping those suffering from poverty in his own country and was one of the instigators of the recent celebrity benefit for Haiti.
TIGER WOODS When Woods turned pro in 1996, he and his late father created the Tiger Woods Foundation as a vehicle to educate and provide grants and scholarships to benefit young people. The foundation has grown to include three not-for-profit organisations that bear Woods’ name, which together have amassed $82 million in net assets. Woods’ foundation now depends on his ability to overcome his tarnished reputation by doing what he does best – on the golf course. Only time will tell if he can rebuild his brand with corporate sponsors.
Celebs Done Good:Photos by PR Photos
GiveNow News www.givenow.com.au
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THANKS, BUT NO THANKS
Some people believe that donating is a good thing but apathy prevents them from ever making that intention known. Others make an active decision not to become organ donors and formalise their objection on the Australian Organ Donor Register. Some reasons people opt out include:
• Notknowingenoughaboutorgandonation to make an informed decision
• Amistakenunderstandingoftheprocess
• Thedesiretobeburiedwiththebody intact because of, for example, a belief in reincarnation
• Asqueamishdislikeoftheideaofthe actual organ/tissue removal.
Giving DoctorQ: “I am interested in becoming an organ donor. What do I need to know and do I need to tell anyone?”
By signing up as a registered organ and tissue donor, you can save the lives of up to 10 people and significantly improve the lives of many more.
In 2009, 247 organ donors gave 799 Australians a new chance in life!
Australia enjoys a reputation for successful transplant outcomes, but, disappointingly, it also has one of the lowest donation rates in the developed world.
CRITICAL FACTS• Thereare1698people(asatApril
13) on the Australian transplant waiting list.
• Peopleonthetransplantlistmustwait, on average, between six months and four years for a suitable organ to become available. Some die waiting.
• Lastyear,lessthanhalfofthedemand for organs could be met.
COMMON MYTHS•Myth1–Peoplewithchronic
health conditions can’t be donors Almost everyone can be a donor
– even the aged and people with chronic health conditions. Only a few medical conditions preclude the donation of organs. The governing factors are where and how a donor dies and the condition of their organs and tissue.
•Myth2–Donatingorgansissacrilegious
All major religions support organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
•Myth3–Beingadonormayimpact on the dying process
Someone must be declared brain dead or heart dead (with no chance of recovery) before a donation can occur. But people wanting to save the life of someone they know can donate a kidney or part of their liver while they are still alive.
•Myth4–Youcan’thaveanormalfuneral
Funeral arrangements are not affected by organ donation. Organ and tissue donations happen quickly after death and the body appears as if it has undergone normal surgery.
Cornea DonationsAustralia is in the top five countries for corneal donation rates.In 2008, 1096 people donated their corneas, ensuring that 1696 people had their sight restored.
Tissue DonorsEach year, 3000-4500 skin, heart and musculoskeletal tissues are transplanted.
CHRIS JONES’ STORY
Chris was diagnosed at 16 with poly-cystic kidneys, a genetic renal disease that leads to kidney failure. Eight years ago, he started dialysis. After three months of dialysis in hospital, Chris learnt how to do it himself at home, three times per week for four hours. Eventually he switched to nocturnal dialysis every second night, while he slept.
Then, one Sunday afternoon in 2007, the hospital rang Chris to say that there was a kidney available for him. Just that day, he had commented to a friend that he was coping really well and feeling quite healthy, so he was stunned. He nearly said no because, apart from feeling well, he was concerned about the toll that his recovery period would have on his family. At the time, Chris’ mum was in hospital suffering from complications arising from kidney and liver failure due to poly-cystic disease, requiring transplant of one kidney and the liver.
t READ CHRIS’ STORY
Statistics sourced from www.anzdata.org.au and www.donatelife.gov.au
Country Donor Rate
Spain
US
Italy United Kingdom
Australia
34
24
21
14
12*2008 figures: www.anzdata.org.au
(per million people*)
www.givenow.com.au GiveNow News
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SIGNING UP
• Peopleaged18andoverareabletorecord their consent on the Donor Register
• Registrationsofintentareacceptedfrom people aged 16 and 17
• Donorsmaylimittheirdonationtoonly certain organs or tissue
THE LAST SAY…
Even if you are registered as an organ donor, your family will still have the final say because:
• Thehospitalstaffdonotwanttocause unnecessary distress, or
• Youmayhavechangedyourmindand told your family, but not changed the Register.
This means it’s vital to talk to your family about your decision. Knowing what the deceased’s wishes are and having that confirmed by the registry, can help to ease the burden on your family during a distressing time.
Statistics sourced from www.anzdata.org.au
and www.donatelife.gov.au
t FIND OUT MORE
t BECOME A DONOR
t COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE
THE AUSTRALIAN ORGAN DONOR REGISTER
More than 1.3 million Australians have registered their legally valid consent or objection to organ/tissue donation.
An Australia Organ Donor card shows you are correctly registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register.
In 2005 the Australian Organ Donor Register was established to enable people to record their legal decision to become an organ or tissue donor after death. It’s the only national register for this purpose and is a lifeline for people on the waiting lists.
The Donor Register ensures that the consent (or objection) to donating organs and/or tissue for transplantation can be verified at all times, anywhere in Australia. In the event of death, information about the decision is accessed by authorised medical personnel and provided to the deceased’s family.
CHRIS JONES’ STORY
Chris was diagnosed at 16 with poly-cystic kidneys, a genetic renal disease that leads to kidney failure. Eight years ago, he started dialysis. After three months of dialysis in hospital, Chris learnt how to do it himself at home, three times per week for four hours. Eventually he switched to nocturnal dialysis every second night, while he slept.
Then, one Sunday afternoon in 2007, the hospital rang Chris to say that there was a kidney available for him. Just that day, he had commented to a friend that he was coping really well and feeling quite healthy, so he was stunned. He nearly said no because, apart from feeling well, he was concerned about the toll that his recovery period would have on his family. At the time, Chris’ mum was in hospital suffering from complications arising from kidney and liver failure due to poly-cystic disease, requiring transplant of one kidney and the liver.
t READ CHRIS’ STORY
Statistics sourced from www.anzdata.org.au and www.donatelife.gov.au
Country Donor Rate
Spain
US
Italy United Kingdom
Australia
34
24
21
14
12*2008 figures: www.anzdata.org.au
(per million people*)
GiveNow News www.givenow.com.au
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UncharitableThoughtsIf Tiger Woods had said “I’m doing it for charity” he would have got off scot free …
fundraiser. Most of these projects don’t.
If he’d got major commercial sponsors on board it would be different, but our art dealer hasn’t – that’s not his area of expertise. If he was backed by a nationwide Crohn’s charity that could leverage donations, that might be different, but he’s working with a small organisation with limited resources. They’re not going to raise nearly as much as they would have got if the adventurer had simply stayed home and written them a cheque for those life savings.
Mind you, you can see why that didn’t happen. Yes, the skateboarder is putting in an immense effort – that’s why he thinks you’ll make a donation. But he’s not making the effort of doing something he doesn’t like. It’s not often you see the appeal: “This man is going to spend 12 months working in a dead-end job with people he hates in a job that gives him ulcers – just to raise money for charity! Won’t you help?”People do these things because they’re fun, and to publicise a cause, and to raise money for a cause, and all these are in themselves good things. But they must each be accounted for separately, in both moral and financial terms. And none of them should be confused with the very good thing that is reaching into your pocket for your own money and giving it to your chosen cause.
►t FIND YOUR CAUSE!
An art dealer with Crohn’s disease, let’s say, is setting out to ride round Australia on an electric skateboard,
setting a world record for the longest electric skateboard trip – and he hopes to raise $1 million for Crohn’s charities. There’s an upbeat human interest story for you.
Unless, it has to be said, you’re the treasurer of the Crohn’s charity eagerly awaiting a $1 million cheque, in which case you may have very mixed feelings about it.Our art dealer is attracting a lot of local media, which is good, but the charity treasurer may find herself grinding her teeth slightly as she reads what they’ve been saying. “I’ve got no idea how much we’ve raised so far,” our art dealer says expansively, “But if we raise $10,000 or $100,000 or $1 million, it’s all good.” Yes, but it’s not as good. Specifically, $10,000 is $990,000 less good than $1 million.“It’s not really about the money,” our art dealer says. “This trip is really about having fun and showing people I meet along the way that anything is possible.” Well, that’s a good thing, too – but how good? Because while the financial benefits of outings like this may be slightly wobbly the costs are entirely concrete. The whole trip will take about a month and a half, the intrepid skateboarder has a volunteer support crew of two people and a van, it takes $2500 worth of petrol, and he says that “One of the things I have to do when I finish this trip is repay all the money I’ve borrowed from my mother and the bank, because I’ve blown my life savings on this trip.” This may well be a great adventure, and a great opportunity to raise the profile of Crohn’s disease, and a great story; but it’s not shaping up to be such a great
“This man is going to spend 12 months working in a dead-end job with people he hates in a job that gives him ulcers – just to raise money for charity! Won’t you help?”
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Edgar’s Mission Edgar’s Mission is committed to the ongoing rescue, rehabilitation, and life-long care of abused, neglected and discarded animals. Donations to EM go directly to keeping the residents happy, health and safe and towards educating the community about animal welfare.
t http://www.givenow.com.au/edgarsmission
In the aftermath of the Black Saturday bushfires, Australians revealed their capacity for generosity. The $379 million raised was officially the largest single charitable appeal in Australia’s history. Together with interest, $389 million became available to help rebuild the areas devastated by bushfires.
A 12-month progress report reveals that almost all of the funds have been allocated. More than 22,000 individual payments totalling $232 million have been given to assist those who have spent the last year recovering and rebuilding. More than $57 million has been committed to community recovery initiatives.
But there is still a significant amount of work to be done as thousands of people continue their physical, emotional and financial recovery
t VIEW THE REPORT
t GIVE TO A BUSHFIRE APPEAL
Victorian Bushfires
Two Great Causes
APPEAL FUND - 1 YEAR LATER
Western ChancesWestern Chances assists talented and self-motivated young people in Melbourne’s western suburbs to realise their potential by providing scholarships and other related programs. Socially responsible businesses interested in the western suburbs community are given an opportunity to get involved, meet other like-minded businesses and contribute to the future sustainability of the Scholarship Program.
t http://www.givenow.com.au/cause1057
GiveNow News www.givenow.com.au
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PLEASE EXPLAIN
Giving while you work means donating your time, money or skills to a chosen cause with the support of – or facilitation by – your workplace. You can be an employee or business owner. You can give individually, or on behalf of your organisation, or together with your colleagues as representatives of your workplace.
WHY GIVE AT WORK?Whether you give from your kitchen table or your office desk, it’s the commitment that counts. But giving while you work has its benefits:• Participationinfundraisingisgreat
for team building and workplace morale
• Givingwhileyouworkfreesupyourleisure time – job done!
Giving Bootcamp
• Workplacegivingmotivatesinvolvement in other community activities
7 WAYS TO GIVE WHILE YOU WORK
1. PAYROLL DEDUCTION
If you’re an employee you can donate money to any number of causes through a workplace giving program administered by your employer. Simply nominate your preferred recipient organisation, specify the donation, and the amount will automatically be deducted from your earnings each time you get paid. Because the organisation receives the donation as a lump sum from your employer, its administrative time and costs are greatly reduced, so 100% of your dollar goes to the cause. All listed organisations must be Deductible Gift Recipients (look up the Australian Business Register here) and donations must be over $2 to be
GIVING WHILE YOU WORKPrepare to embrace the new financial year with these workplace giving resolutions. Benefaction guaranteed!
As a pro bono provider you will learn greater resourcefulness, sharpen your negotiating skills, gain a wider variety of experiences and possibly benefit from opportunities that may not have presented themselves in the commercial world
JUSTICE FOR FREEIn an address to the Victorian Bar in April 2009, former High Court Justice The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG hailed pro bono work as “a unique and essential contribution to the proper administration of justice”.
He noted the case of Andrew Mallard who was jailed in 1994 for the murder a Perth jeweller. After hundreds of pro bono hours spent trying to proving his innocence, a successful second leave application to the High Court saw Mallard’s murder conviction quashed, the charge against him formally withdrawn and his freedom reinstated after 12 years in prison.
Kirby is a passionate advocate for pro bono programs for Australian law schools. “If law students only met clients in large offices that charge standard fees, they may never get a taste of the variety of legal problems that affect their fellow citizens in the wider community,” he has said.
tax deductible. Your employer will document your participation at the financial year’s end.
2. PRO BONO SERVICES
Pro bono, or “for the public good”, traditionally describes the provision of legal services for free or significantly reduced fees to those who can’t afford them. Increasingly though, professionals in the marketing, technology, design and consulting sectors are offering their skills for nothing – or close to it – in the same spirit of social responsibility. As a pro bono provider you will learn greater resourcefulness, sharpen your negotiating skills, gain a wider variety of experiences and possibly benefit from opportunities that may not have presented themselves in the commercial world. To find a group to give to pro bono go to Our Community’s Directory of Community Organisations.
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5. CORPORATE VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
Try working for someone else for a day! Join your colleagues over a hot stove, knee-deep in rubbish or down a production line and experience the realities of food wastage, environmental pollution or crisis care, amongst other things. There’s great satisfaction in helping others, not to mention opportunities to broaden your professional network, reinvigorate your morale and bridge the gap between your company and your community in a meaningful, hands-on way. Try: Fareshare, Landcare Australia and Oxfam Australia.
6. OPEN DOOR POLICY
Can your workplace provide an opportunity to someone less fortunate? Australian-based international law firm Freehills has invited vendors from The Big Issue into its Sydney, Melbourne and Perth offices to sell the magazine to staff in a welcoming, safe environment where sales are pretty much guaranteed. Vendor Emma is given lunch and space in the library where staff assist with her ongoing studies. She thrives on the support and ongoing contact. In a like-minded way, a renowned Melbourne restaurateur regularly hosts her favourite cause’s biggest fundraiser of the year. She provides the venue, food and drink while they wine and dine supporters. Your
workplace might be able to contribute meeting space, provide access to the photocopier, or access to your staff – ask your employees what the groups that they volunteer with might be able to use.
7. HOLIDAY SPIRIT
Most workplaces make a big deal about Christmas. There’s usually a party, a staff-run Kris Kringle and, to top it all off, a token gift (or more) from the boss. How would you and your colleagues feel about forfeiting one of these bonuses for a donation of equal value to a cause instead? Many international aid agencies promote gift catalogues (goats, mosquito nets, classroom resources) at Christmas time, but a cash donation to a local cause would be equally well received. Get into the holiday spirit!
t COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE
t FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WORKPLACE GIVING
3. PRODUCT GIVEAWAYS
Another option is to provide pro bono product instead of service. Giving away goods at cost or no cost is a great way for your company to support the community and possibly promote its product at the same time! Think about who supplies first aid kits to sports fundraisers, why real estate agents provide promotional signage for public events or how raffle ticket prizes are secured. Last year’s stock or seconds and samples can be highly valued by opportunity shops, school fetes and raffle organisers.
4.CORPORATE FUNDRAISING
You could easily fulfil your yearly giving commitment just by participating in a handful of fundraising days. There are many fun and highly successful programs that your workplace can sign up for. Try the Biggest Morning Tea (Cancer Council), Red Nose Day (SIDS and Kids), Jeans for Genes (Children’s Medical Research Institute), World’s Greatest Shave (Leukaemia Foundation), 40 Hour Famine (World Vision) and Movember (Men’s health) for starters. If you and your workmates prefer fundraising in the fresh air, there are some great opportunities to pound the pavement for sponsorship dollars: Oxfam Trailwalker (Melbourne/Sydney), the Cancer Council’s Mothers Day Classic (national) or the RSPCA’s Million Paws Walk (national).
Corporate Giving HelpThe Australian Institute of Corporate Responsibility provides cutting edge resources to help businesses become better givers. The AICR provides information on developing corporate responsibility initiatives in eight areas:
• environmental sustainability, • human rights, • community engagement, • workforce, • socially responsible investment; • good governance; • addressing systemic disadvantage; and • social marketing.
Find out more t www.aicr.com.au.
GiveNow News www.givenow.com.au
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Giving Stats
Tweeters more likely to donate
Donation Dilemmas
People who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are more generous when it comes to donating money to causes than those who do not, according to new research.
A marketing agency in the UK surveyed 24,000 people between October and December last year, finding:
• Social networkers aged 25-34 were 37% more likely to have given $250 or more to charity in the previous 12 months than the rest of those surveyed
• Social networkers aged 35-44 were 8% more likely to have given more than $250
t VIEW THE REPORT
Two years ago, the Tasmanian chapter of the Cancer Council refused to accept any money raised at a $100-a-head fundraiser headlined by Roberta
Williams, ex-wife of the recently murdered gangland figure Carl Williams.
At the time, the chief executive of the Cancer Council of Tasmania, Lawson Ride, told 3AW the organisation had to weigh up the “reputational risk” of being affiliated with the underworld and “whether the cost of accepting the donation could be greater than the donation” itself.
Now three charitable organisations in the UK are faced with a similar dilemma: whether to accept a share in the more than $1.6 million worth of legacy requests left by convicted child sex offender Reginald Forester-Smith. Spokespeople for Girlguiding Scotland, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support have all said that they are unable to comment until they have finished liaising with the executors of the estate.
t REMEMBER A COMMUNITY GROUP IN YOUR WILL
