Charities tapping into Christmas and social media
Many not for profit and charity groups have got a lot smarter over the years in tapping into some of the large amounts of money that get spent over Christmas. Christmas catalogues full of gifts for good cause groups have become widespread. In recent times, that has extended to bypassing a present all together, and giving someone a donation which actually goes direct to the good cause.
This form of fundraising is now also tapping into social media, so much so that even my humble blog gets occasional requests to promote a cause from people who specifically target the avenues of social media to widen their reach.
Here’s one example I recently received on behalf of World Vision. Their Smiles gift campaign enables you to pay to provide assistance to a project in a developing country, such as clean water or better medicine, and a person who would otherwise have get a Christmas gift from you instead gets a card telling them what project has been supported in stead of the money being spent on a present.
4 Comments, Comment or Ping
Maree Robertson
I’ve chosen for many years to spend my Chrsitmas shopping money in this kind of way. One thing to be aware of : some charities spend a much higher percentage of their income on administration & promotion than others. When I was a volunteer working for what was then CAA in the early nineties, the comparison between them & World Vision was stark (~10% compared to ~40% I vaguely recall).
Anyhow, IMHO, you can’t beat OXFAM, either their catalogue, or their shops, & you can be sure of their very long record in supporting community based, grassroots projects that aim to empower marginalised & disdavantaged people the world over, including indigenous Australians, without the questionable urge to plaster images of starving children on TV screens or turning the kids into copies of our ‘progressive’ culture….. Pax, Maree
Dec 20th, 2009
Lorikeet
A guy from The Smith Family appeared on a current affairs program and said they didn’t have enough gifts because some people bought unsuitable items. I suppose too many people might buy toys suited to little children, with too few gifts being available for children in older age groups.
My daughter-in-law bought movie vouchers for teenagers and donated those this year. One year she bought CD cases, because a charity told her they didn’t get enough items for teenage boys.
But the guy from The Smith Family said donations of cash were the most useful, because he could use them to pick up the shortfall of gifts for various age groups.
If you sponsor a child through World Vision, you aren’t allowed to buy gifts – just send little things such as a balloon, handkerchief, postcard or hair ribbon. If you start sending large gifts, other children will be jealous.
For some years, the local primary school has done shoe boxes filled with small items – one shoe box per child. By the time a number of schools have donated their filled boxes, there are enough to give to an entire community.
Ordinary things that we all take for granted such as soap, toothbrushes, hair ribbons, handkerchiefs and combs are very well received by children in the third world. A tennis ball or yo-yo will also fit in a shoe box and give a child many hours of happy play time.
Dec 21st, 2009
Kathy Davis GradCertBus (Philanthropy & Nonprofit Studies) CFRE EMFIA
As a long time professional fundraiser for charities, I applaud your interest in keeping the sector honest.
I am sure you agree that professionals should be paid for their work.
Government does not 100% fund charities. They are businesses that produce income which is spent on programs for charitable purposes, so it is normal that a nonprofit business should incur expenses to pay staff. Charitable organisations are not 100% run by volunteers using donated space, services and equipment.
We should be focussed on the social outcomes of charities – the good that is being done. We should also appreciate that this is partly a result of the work of professional fundraisers who operate according to a code of ethics, and other staff who earn less than most for-profit employees and are often highly skilled and dedicated, and very much thanks to the donors.
You might like to read Charities Reform in Australia by Gary Johns Volume 11, Number 4, 2004, pages 293-306 for a good overview of the work being done towards more transparency and accountability, which the third sector supports.
It’s wonderful that you have highlighted the work of some great charities. May you continue to support them and think independently. :-)
Jan 24th, 2010
Lorikeet
Well here’s something I don’t like about some “charitable” organisations.
Churches which run aged care centres are tax free organisations with greater access to volunteers than the private sector.
But despite collecting government funding and almost all of elderly people’s pensions, they underpay staff, ration linen, papers towels, pads and other consumables, and neglect the needs of our vulnerable elderly people in order to fill their coffers.
When Accreditation teams come along, the availability of various necessities becomes abundant, and more nurses are on duty to fool the government into believing that they aren’t running a fundraising racket at the expense of both the vulnerable and the eminently exploitable.
Churches, along with the private/corporate sector, employ large numbers of visa holders who are underpaid and overworked, partly because they cannot join unions and have few legal rights.
It’s a sad day when Asian workers get so angry that they want to go back where they came from to end this abuse.
While other people are enjoying Australia Day Celebrations with Aussie flags flying everywhere (including inside aged care centres which are run by global enterprises), Asian workers will be at home, having had their shifts for the day cancelled so they cannot receive any Public Holiday penalty rates.
Please Andrew, what can we do about this?
Jan 25th, 2010
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