On ‘three bucket’ giving and the high-dollar value of regular donations

Growing up I was one of those whiny children who would constantly say “it's not fair,” and every time, my father's response was “well, what are you going to do about it?” It didn't take me long to work out that whinging wasn’t going to achieve much, and that he was building permission for me to take action. This led me, quite early, to participate in community building activities around the towns where we lived. We moved around a lot of different countries when I was young and lived in a lot of very challenged communities, and that experience taught me a lot. My parents really valued education, and we were encouraged to be responsible for the kind of world we wanted to live in. Giving was simply a part of that process - it was always something we were expected to do, and I’ve just kept it going throughout my life.

Since my first job at 14 years old I’ve deliberately used my income to express my democracy. Giving is a privilege because there’s freedom in taking action on the things that matter to you. As I’ve gotten older, I've become a bit smarter and more informed around my giving, but that behaviour has always been part of me – it’s an expression of my choice and agency and a reminder that I can always do something. You can't open your front door and expect the kind of world you want to live in to be there - you've got to go out and build it.

I have always been involved in community, volunteering for organisations that matter to me, and I was a bit of a rat bag activist for quite a long time. But when it comes to giving money, I divide it between three buckets. The first bucket is family giving. My children have grown up very differently to me - they live in a nice suburb, go to the local schools with local friends and everything that they need is around them. So, my question was how to teach them that other parts of the world aren’t like this comfortable safe patch. Very early on at Christmas time, although there were Santa gifts, as a family, we halved the number of gifts we gave each other and used the money to collectively give to an organisation or a cause. Over time we shifted that into setting up a family sub fund account with the Australian Communities Foundation. That was 25 years ago, and although it’s still not particularly big as we’re not high net worth individuals, there’s enough in there to make some grants. For us, it’s not about the amount of money but about the process and action. My husband and I have left a bequest so that our children, who are young adults now, can run it and pursue their own passions, rather than ours.

Secondly, I am a regular giver to about half a dozen organisations that matter to me. And I always give to the organisations I’m involved with, whether it’s as a board member, volunteer or staff. I believe that regular monthly giving is important. Having worked in the sector a long time, I know how precious regular, predictable, untied income is. Not every dollar is worth 100 cents; some might only be worth $0.50 some might be worth 120 cents. For me the highest value dollar comes from regular, predictable, untied income because you can plan with it. You can make promises to the community about what you're going to do, and you can spend it on what you need, when you need.

And my third bucket is the ad hoc giving – that responsive, ‘in the moment’ action which can be anything from supporting family and friends or donating to a cause that I'm moved by, either through appreciation and joy or through sheer bloody anger about something that needs addressing.

So, I think about my giving in those three ways and last year it added up to just over 10% of my salary in total.

Giving is an absolute privilege and a joy. But I am also very aware that some of my reflexive giving is a sugar hit – it helps me feel better in the moment, often about an issue I’m struggling with. There are thousands of instances where giving has made me feel better about being alive and deepened my relationship to my community because it’s activating my citizenship.

It’s about my democratic participation. It's my choice about what I to give to, and I’m a big fan of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). I tend to only give to registered charities, as it’s a proxy for quality and appropriate governance management. If I'm giving to individuals in the moment, then that's a bit different because it’s driven by connection. But generally, I’ve learned that giving is about expressing what matters to me and the things I believe we should be working on.

I would love to see more people move towards this regular, predictable giving with the organisations they trust. When you’re running an organisation and making promises to community about how you're going to support them or what resources you're going to provide, bootstrapping it month to month or year to year is pretty tough. But if organisations have a strong base of monthly gifts from donors, it gives them much more confidence to tell the community that they’re here for the long haul.

I would also love to see more generosity from our high-net wealth end of giving. The latest research showed that 50% of these individuals who earn a salary of $1,000,000 or more a year, didn't claim a tax deduction for any kind of charitable gift. So, I'd love to see us create a culture and celebration of high-net wealth giving to make it easier to give. If we can continue to encourage and celebrate giving, I think the results will be really powerful because it’s important for lots of reasons. One to be a good human and two to have curiosity and generosity about the world you live in. Giving is part of our democracy.