Your Tax Money !, page-24

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    Hmmm ... and while we are on charities ... Aussie generously donate around 6.9% of GDP every year !!

    Charitable Christmas giving: How much of your donation goes to those who need it?
    ABC Radio Adelaide
    By Brett Williamson
    Updated 16 Dec 2015, 12:40pm
    PHOTO: Australians give more than $104 billion to charity each year. (AAP)

    With 4.6 million Australians donating $104 billion each year to charities and not-for-profit organisations, well-meaning Christmas shoppers are being warned to check how much of their charitable gift will be gobbled up in fees.
    Recent trends have seen Australians turn towards buying ethical gifts for loved ones, with everything from cash donations to offerings of goats or chickens and water purification program sponsorship.
    Marketing researcher Barry Urquhart told 891 ABC Adelaide's Mornings program that while donators' hearts might be in the right place, most of their money might not make it where they intended.
    The problem was highlighted last week when the EJ Whitten Foundation discovered its external fundraising administrator was passing only 6 per cent of donations to the cancer research charity.
    "We have to put charities and not-for-profit organisations into perspective," Mr Urquhart said.
    "There is more turnover in charities than what Coles and Woolworths do collectively in supermarkets every year."
    Top charities in Australia

    There are large variations in how much donations are eaten into to cover off on administration costs.
    Of the $104 billion that is raised [each year], the industry does not account for at least 40 cents in the dollar under audits.
    Marketing researcher Barry Urquhart

    The Financial Institute of Australia and Pareto Fundraising listed Australia's top five charities in 2014 as World Vision, Salvation Army Eastern, Salvation Army Southern, Compassion Australia and Australian Red Cross.
    World Vision Australia reported 7.1 per cent of its gross income in 2014 went to administration costs, with an additional 15.9 per cent used on fundraising activities.
    The Salvation Army declared administration costs of 15.19 per cent in the 2010-11 financial year.
    "Of the $104 billion that is raised [each year], the industry does not account for at least 40 cents in the dollar under audits," Mr Urquhart said.
    Questions to ask when searching for best charitable gift

    Mr Urquhart said with a little research those shopping for donation-based gifts could find the best functioning charities.
    He recommended asking the following three questions:
    1. When will the recipient receive the money?
    2. Are you a professional organisation?
    3. How much of the money will go to the intended recipient?
    "More and more people are beginning to ask in Australia: 'Where is this money going to?'," he said.
    There are 63,000 tax-deductable organisations in Australia.
    Marketing researcher Barry Urquhart

    Each year the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) reviews the operations of all registered charities in Australia.
    "There are 63,000 tax-deductable organisations in Australia," Mr Urquhart said.
    In November 2015 the ACNC revoked the status of 169 charities due to the organisations either not logging two consecutive annual reports or not responding to communications.
    "We all have to be transparent, accountable and responsive, and if we are not, that is not good corporate governance," Mr Urquhart said.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...-how-much-money-goes-to-those-in-need/7020492
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    Cheers ... tight stops.

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