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Giving to Charity

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Donating or direct giving is possibly the most common form of charitable donation in Australia, with over 4.6 million Australian taxpayers making a tax deductible donation in the 2008/09 financial year. Its greatest advantage is that it is simple; the donor has merely to choose a charity, make the donation and receive the receipt, which is vital if the donor wishes to claim a tax deduction. If the organisation to which the money is donated is a Deductible Gift Recipient, the donor will receive a tax deduction. The donation is usually "no strings" and the charity can therefore use the money wherever it is most needed, to assist with immediate costs.

With most direct donations, unless the sum is very large, the donor will have no say over where the funds will be allocated. Since individual sums are generally not large, the recipient organisation will not have the means to keep track of the purpose to which a particular donation was allocated.

Choosing a Charity

Here are some ways of choosing a charity to give to. There may be a number of motivations here. What are you passionate about? What do you feel most strongly about? What is the problem you feel you would like to fix - or who are the people you want to help? You might also like to think about whether there is a geographic basis to your giving. Do you want to donate to an area which you know well and are fond of, perhaps a community in which you live or grew up? Do you want to give to more remote communities, to people in rural Australia, to small or large towns - or to urban areas?

Community foundations are a useful resource for individuals, companies or other foundations seeking to fund worthy projects rather than make general donations, particularly if dealing with a particular geographic area. As community foundations are receiving many applications for funding, they may be willing to share those which they deem worthwhile but are unable to fund themselves with other funders.

Listed below are some further resources to assist you.

Associates of Philanthropy Australia

The following is a list of Associate Members of Philanthropy Australia who are also charities and/or Deductible Gift Recipients. Where an organisation is an Item 2 DGR (Ancillary Fund) and therefore not eligible recipients for grants from Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs), this has been noted. For a complete list of Associates, see our Members List.

Community Foundations

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The following Community Foundations are members of Philanthropy Australia. While most Community Foundations are not eligible for funding from PAFs, they can accept gifts from individuals and are also a useful source of information and interesting project applications for those PAFs which do not have a public profile.

Sub-funds that are also Members of Philanthropy Australia are listed beneath their respective Community Foundation.



Public Ancillary Funds

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The following Public Ancillary Funds are Full Members of Philanthropy Australia who are able to receive donations from the public. Community Foundations are also generally structured as Public Ancillary Funds (PuAFs); below are those PuAFs outside of the definition of Community Foundation, such as those that are not limited to a specific geographic area.



Other Charity Lists

There is no comprehensive list of all charities in Australia, but there are several websites which provide lists of charities. In some cases charities must pay to be listed, and in other cases the listing is free. None of these listings is comprehensive but there is generally a good representation of charities.

Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (AEGN)
AEGN provide a list of environment-focussed charities in Australia, ranging from grass-roots groups to large organisations.

OurCommunity.com.au
OurCommunity have an extensive listing of charities and also offer an online donation service.

ProBono Australia
Pro Bono have a listing of charities on their website, and they also produce their listing as a booklet which is distributed free of charge to solicitors, accountants, corporations, philanthropic trusts and other decision makers.

Connecting Up Directory
Connecting Up Australia provides a Directory of Australian nonprofit and charity organisations, including (where available) tax status, organisation type and ABN numbers.

Auscharity
AusCharity list some charities on their website and also distribute this listing as The Charities Book.



Tax Issues

ATO - Making a tax deductible donation
This page on the ATO's site offers information on tax deductible gifts, including the definition of a gift, how much is deductible, and how to make a tax deductible donation.


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