Comments on: Fobbing off fundraisers

By: Nina

Nina — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:40:49 +0000

It’s true that there are an incredible amount of good causes to give to, and i often wish i had more time to compare, contrast and scrutinise between them in order to make an informed decision on who to give to.

A friend put me onto Givewell, http://www.givewell.com.au/, an organisation that started overseas but has been in Australia since 1997 researching charities and encouraging philanthropy.

Each year they publish a ‘good giving guide’ and award top charities accolades in three categories. This year the winners were:

Best Practice Not-for-Profit: The Fred Hollows Foundation
Best Community Project: Welfare Rights Centre (SA) Inc. – Housing Legal Clinic (HLC)
Best Communications Program: Lifeline Australia – ‘Help a Mate’ Suicide Prevention Campaign

I look to givewell each year for suggestions on who the industry leaders are and why.

For example the criteria for the Best Practice Award are:
- exhibit an ability to deal with significant social problems in tangible ways
- deliver thoughtful and practical programs across a range of social dimensions, including awareness raising, network development, solution finding and support provision
- demonstrate best practice organisational and financial management
- be transparent and accountable with clear financial reporting
- have strong fundraising and financing mechanism providing it with the capacity to deliver to its constituency.

After Fred Hollows Foundation won this award this year, i had a closer look at their website and decided to join their regular giving program.

Charities need to have those fundraisers out on the street, they’re proven to help them get more donors. I usually stop and listen to them if i genuinely have the time (what is 3 minutes out of my day?), and then go home and spend 5 minutes looking at their website and the givewell website/my good giving guide and see what i come up with. I am happy to give them my time, and then put in a bit more effort to decide if i’ll give them my money.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:42:28 +0000

I know how you feel. And it’s not just charities; we face the same decision when approached by individuals who are homeless or claim a particular need. In these cases it can be more difficult to determine whether the need is genuine, or to be confident the money will be used responsibly. Having said that, I’m not convinced that these reasons alone should prevent us giving. I wonder whether instead we should simply give generously, trusting that God will look after those things of which we cannot be certain.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:31:35 +0000

I don’t give money to any charity that comes up to me and asks; I give money every month to the Red Cross and Amnesty International and on occasion, one-offs to various groups that caught my attention — but already having made up my mind to not give to solicitors makes it a lot easier to say no.

Incidentally, I came up with this because I gave $5 once to some group that came doorknocking, only to receive in my mailbox, pretty much every week for almost a year, horrific images of starving kids and the like, with a note reading “You gave once, please considering giving more”.