2015-06-19
Susan Griffiths-Sussems (National Fundraising Coordinator)
It's almost that time of year again… time to sift through your receipts, chase up your Group Certificate, rummage through your inbox looking for that Movember receipt for $25 and wonder if you actually did sponsor someone. Or did you just say you would?
Every year, our National Office coordinates four fundraising appeals. This June appeal we have a target of just on $400k. Income will be generated by a variety of platforms — emails, letters, Facebook — and this income will find its way back to the donor's home State. Your home state.
As you may know, donations to not-for-profit organisations that have deductible gift recipients status are tax deductible. This means that you can have the amount you donate to such organisations taken off your taxable income — so, you pay less tax.
Donating to the Greens is also tax deductible. In fact, as long as you are donating to a political party registered with the Australian Electoral Commission, deductibility can be claimed. However, there are limitations. Donations (and membership) between $2 and $1,500 may be claimed back. Items that attract GST such as raffle tickets and event fees are not.
Currently, there is some conjecture in the not-for-profit space about the lure of tax deductibility for donors. Some organisations argue that these days, donors are less concerned with that aspect of giving and that the end-of-financial-year appeal has become redundant.
While this may be the case for some organisations, the evidence for the Greens is that tax time is still important, and that a tax deductible receipt is valuable.
Take, for example, the National June fundraising appeal for 2012. This was the last appeal for the financial year before the year of the 2013 federal election, so the same timing as we are now in for this federal election cycle.
May/June 2012 was — in terms of election campaigns — relatively quiet. Queensland had gone to the polls in March, and the NT and ACT were campaigning for their elections in August and October respectively. As we know, people will donate more during the pointy end of a campaign so it would be reasonable to expect that this appeal — like the one in March before it and the one in November — would be fairly quiet.
Not so.
The above table reflects income from our appeals, donations made specifically to States. It does not include membership, items that attract GST or contributions made to national projects.
The average donation is also higher in June, so this tells us that donors give more at this time of year. So — for us, outside of election times, the June appeal generates the most income of our quarterly appeals.
You may also notice that your mailbox is heaving with letters from organisations that you support, would support or would never even consider supporting asking you for a donation. In fact, you probably received one from Richard Di Natale. Go check. We'll wait.
Why, in this day and age, do we send snail mail? Because it works. We — on average — get a better response rate from direct mail than we do from email. We also receive a higher average gift and we reach people who don't have email. Also, there is evidence to suggest that millennials — those aged in their 20s and 30s — prefer print. Yes, really! As hard copy letters dwindle in popularity there is something pleasing about receiving a letter addressed to you, and to actually read a story giving you a tangible reason to support the organisation you love. It is about you.
So, as you ferret about in your paperwork, trying to pull it all together for your tax dude, remember to make your tax-deductible donation to your favourite organisation (hint — it's The Greens) before June 30. You've got less than a week. But no pressure.