Media Release - GivingTuesday – a time to change things for the better
Charities are calling on Australian politicians, businesses, philanthropists, the community and charities themselves to support GivingTuesday in recognition of the positive difference our volunteers, staff, supporters and advocates make within our communities every day of the year.
Rev Tim Costello, Chair of the Community Council for Australia (CCA) and member of the FixFundraising coalition said; ‘GivingTuesday is fundamentally about hope. Our special hope this GivingTuesday is that Commonwealth, State and Territory leaders from around Australia will give something very precious to every charity, every donor, every community in Australia – reduced red tape. Charities across Australia could be much more effective if we had more time and capacity to serve our communities. This could be easily achieved with one agreed set of fundraising requirements for all Australian charities rather than the current overlapping yet entirely separate levels of time-consuming administration.’
All Australian governments support the need to streamline fundraising regulations so that every charity big and small across Australia does not have to make separate fundraising applications and returns for every individual jurisdiction just because they have a ‘donate here’ button on their website. Unfortunately, despite over a decade of meetings and inquiries and reports and talking about fundraising regulatory reform, very little meaningful change has happened.
David Crosbie, CEO of CCA said ‘GivingTuesday is the ideal time for governments to finally fix the fundraising regulatory mess. Small charities around Australia are already facing tough times working out how to survive without also having to try and comply with so many separate regulators. While governments talk about being prepared to make changes, the reality is that too many charities are being strangled by. Charities want to spend their time serving their communities, not being strangled by pointless red tape and duplication of requirements.’
Rev Costello said; ‘After another year of natural disasters, a global pandemic and increasing economic pain as costs rise, the role of charities in Australia’s economic and social fabric has never been more vital. Charities are supporting the most vulnerable in our community, helping our natural environment to recover, providing essential health services and helping people into employment. Many charities are now facing a very challenging Christmas. We can all offer support to charities by making donations - big and small. I believe giving is one of the joys we can all share.’
Charities supporting the call for GivingTuesday to be a day for governments to make a commitment to fundraising regulatory reform include Justice Connect; the Governance Institute of Australia; the Australian Institute of Company Directors; the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association; and others.
