Fundraising Will Be Better Positioned

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Fundraising will be better positioned and understood by society when people grasp and learn the
true power of giving.
Introduction
“Philanthropy is a particular kind of charitable giving. It is focused on the root causes of problems and
making a sustainable improvement, as distinct from contributing to immediate relief.” (Forum on
Philanthropy and Fundraising, 2012)
Philanthropy, etymologically "love of humanity", carries the idea of caring, nourishing, developing
and enhancing what it is to be human for both the benefactor and the beneficiary. One modern
definition is "private initiatives, for public good, focusing on quality of life" (McCully, 2008).This
combines the social scientific aspect developed late last century with the original humanistic tradition,
and serves to contrast philanthropy with business (private initiatives for private good, focusing on
material prosperity) and government (public initiatives for public good, focusing on law and order).

(Zunz, 2012)
Philanthropy commonly overlaps with charity, though not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa.
The difference being that charity relieves the pains of social problems, whereas philanthropy attempts
to solve those problems at their root causes (the difference between giving a hungry man a fish, and
teaching him how to fish).
When people truly understand that the true power of giving is in giving to solve the root causes of
society's problems, fundraising will be better positioned and more respected.
Examination
What is considered as Philanthropy in Australia?
Philanthropy in Australia is quite varied. On the one hand, Australians are internationally seen as the
most generous people in the world when it comes to individual giving. After recent disasters such as
the Japanese Tsunami ordinary Australians contributed an astonishing amount to the people affected.
Similarly, Australia has a proud record of individual philanthropists - mainly business people and
entrepreneurs. For instance, Sir Macpherson Robertson is recognised as one of Australia’s great
philanthropists and helped fund many good causes. his monetary contribution to society was huge in
three different ways:
 as one of Australia's greatest philanthropists
 as Australia's top taxpayer of his day he made significant contributions to Australia's social
wellbeing
 by being mainly responsible for shaping the laws that made Victoria the philanthropy capital of
Australia - as such the monetary contributions still continue and Victoria still far outstrips other
parts of Australia in philanthropy (The White Hat Guide to 'Mac' Robertson)
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Australia however is less well represented in the areas of corporate philanthropy and 'Middle
Australians' philanthropic giving. Many small, family businesses and private businesses have a good
record of philanthropy in Australia, the record of corporations and publicly listed companies is not so
good. Similarly, many who have fared well in salaried or politically funded positions in the USA have
a fine record of philanthropy , a mid-level public servant approaching retirement in Australia is much
less likely to consider a philanthropic trust as a natural way to thank and enrich society for the benefits
they have received. In fact Australia has the lowest level of individual philanthropy in the OECD.
(Prime Minister’s Business Community Partnership, 2005)

Giving patterns, priorities, and attitudes of philanthropists.
The 2012 Bank of America Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy examined the giving patterns,
priorities and attitudes of America’s wealthiest households. The study was based on a nationwide
survey of high net worth U.S. households. Each had a net worth of $1 million or more, excluding the
value of their home. The average net worth of respondents was $10.7 million; nearly half of them had
a net worth of between $3 million and $20 million. They gave an average of 9% of their annual income
and had an 89% volunteer rate. The key findings were: Wealthy donors remain strongly committed to
giving; more wealthy donors are volunteering their time; wealthy donors give strategically; educational
organizations drew most donors and dollars; making an impact is the greatest motivator for wealthy
donors; other considerations are more important than tax benefits; appropriate administration and
fundraising spending are top considerations of high net worth donors; wealthy donors trust nonprofits
and individuals to solve problems; half also give to political organisations. (The Center on
Philanthropy, 2012)
The psychology of philanthropic giving.
What motivates people to give? Just because someone has the capacity to give, does not automatically
make them givers. One principal driver involves one’s identity: who one is and how they view
themselves. The degree to which identities are malleable, involve a readiness to act, and help make
sense of the world have significant implications determining whether and how much people give.
Wendy Liu and Jennifer Aaker examined how a focus on time versus money lead to two distinct
mindsets which impact consumers' willingness to donate to charitable causes. Three experiments,
conducted both in the lab and in the field, revealed that asking individuals to think about "how much
time they would like to donate" as opposed to "how much money they would like to donate") to a non-
profit increases the amount that they ultimately will donate (Liu, 2008).
The sociology of philanthropic giving
Pamela Weipking found that people think in absolute amounts when deciding on donations. She
exhorts fundraisers to take advantage of this knowledge and use absolute amounts when asking for
donations rather than relative examples. Give donors an idea of appropriate donations in a specific
donation opportunity (Wiepking, 2008).
Marketing impact on philanthropy.
Kotler and Zoltman defined social marketing as ‘the application of the principles and tools of
marketing to achieve socially desirable goals . . . (which) includes the control of programs calculated
to influence the acceptability of social ideas’ (Kotler & Zoltman, 1971). Niblett further expounds that
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the goal of the social marketer ‘is to affect behaviour change, or create action that leads to behaviour
change’ (Niblett, 2005). Social marketers thereby engage in raising awareness of an issue or
attempting to change attitudes; such activities are conducted with the ultimate purpose of influencing
behaviour.
What is the government’s role in encouraging philanthropy?
Besides funding research (Prime Minister’s Business Community Partnership, 2005), Governments
could consider funding voluntary sector infrastructure that is deliberately designed to facilitate giving.
Governments can play a role in facilitating events or national awards that celebrate individual
philanthropy. National awards can help motivate donors with a need for prestige (Harbaugh, 1998).
Philanthropy is being facilitated in various ways by technological and cultural change (Steve
MacLaughlin, 2012). Today, many donations are made through the internet and government can play a
role in harnessing that power by funding philanthropic portals. Governments have a role to play in
encouraging giving not only as a consequence of the incremental benefit that may be delivered by non-
profits, but because of the benefit that the act of giving itself may confer on society. (Smith &
Grønberg, 2006)
Summary
A look at the dimensions of giving explains the state of affairs of fundraising and what we need to
concentrate on to become better positioned and understood by society. With increasing human need at
both the national and international levels, there is a strong case for a more marketing oriented approach
to the facilitation of individual giving. If individual giving is to be maintained at current levels and
strengthened to meet future needs, it will be essential that politicians take a broader look at
encouraging giving other than tax breaks. They need to understand what motivates philanthropy; they
need to understand the difference between charity and philanthropy and find ways to educate and
encourage more intelligent giving to root causes rather than remedies.
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References
Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising. (2012, July). Report of the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising
May 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2014, from
http://www.businesstoarts.ie/images/uploads/PhilanthropyReport_final.pdf
Harbaugh, W. (1998). The Prestige Motive for Making Charitable Transfers. American Economic Review, Papers
and Proceedings 88 , 277 – 282.
Kotler, P. (1971). Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change. Journal of Marketing , 35 (3), pp3 –
12.
Liu, W. (2008). The Happiness of Giving: The Time-Ask Effect . Journal of Consumer Research , 543 - 557.
McCully, G. (2008). Philanthropy Reconsidered: Private Initiatives - Public Good - Quality of Life. AuthorHouse.
Niblett, G. R. (2005). Stretching the Limits of Social Marketing Partnerships, Upstream and Downstream:
Setting the Context for the 10th Innovations in Social Marketing Conference. Social Marketing Quarterly , 9 -
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Philanthropy Australia. (2014). Inspiring Giving. Retrieved July 7, 2014, from http://www.philanthropy.org.au/
Prime Minister’s Business Community Partnership. (2005, October). Giving Australia: Research on philanthropy
in Australia. Retrieved July 7, 2014, from http://www.formerministers.dss.gov.au/wp-
content/uploads/2012/06/giving_australia.pdf
Sargeant, A. J. (2010). Fundraising: Principles and Practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Sargeant, A. J. (2010). The Social Marketing of Giving. Public Management Review , 12 (5), 635-662.
Sargeant, A. (2002). What Turns Donor’s On? What Turns Them Off? In C. a. Walker, A Lot of Give (pp. 162 -
179). Hodder & Stoughton.
Shang, J. R. (2009). A Field experiment In Charitable Contribution: The Impact of Social Information on
Voluntary Provision of Public Goods. The Economic Journal , 119 (October), 1422-1439.
Shang, J. R. (2008). Identity Congruency Effects on Donations. Journal of Marketing Research , Vol. XLV (June),
351–361.
Smith, S. R. (2006). Scope and Theory of Government-Nonprofit Relations. In W. P. (eds) (Ed.), The Nonprofit
Sector: A Research Handbook (2nd. edn.). New Haven, CT: Yale.
Steve MacLaughlin (2012, February). The 2011 Online Giving Report. Retrieved August 02, 2014, from
Blackbaud online giving report:
https://www.blackbaud.com/files/resources/downloads/WhitePaper_2011OnlineGivingReport.pdf
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in collaboration with Bank of America Philanthropic
Management . (2012). The 2012 Bank of America Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy. Retrieved July 7, 2014,
from
http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/files/research/2012_bank_of_america_study_of_high_net_worth_philant
hropy.pdf
The White Hat Guide to 'Mac' Robertson. (n.d.). Retrieved August 02, 2014, from White Hat:
http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/People/MacRobertson.asp
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Wiepking, P. (2008). For The Love of Mankind: A Socioplogical Study on Charitable Giving.
Zunz, O. (2012). Philanthropy in America: A History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.