Speaker 1: Just before we get started, we'd like to acknowledge and
Speaker 1: pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and torrest Rate islander people's
Speaker 1: they're the traditional custodians of the lands, the waterways and
Speaker 1: the skies all across Australia. We thank you for sharing
Speaker 1: and for caring for the land on which we are
Speaker 1: able to learn. We pay respects to elders past and present,
Speaker 1: and we share our friendship and our kindness.
Speaker 2: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
Speaker 3: from Millennials who want financial freedom. The last few years
Speaker 3: have been chaotic, to say the least. From bushfires and
Speaker 3: floods to a pandemic and a couple of wars, the
Speaker 3: world has been through a lot in recent times, and
Speaker 3: if you're anything like us, you've probably wanted to help
Speaker 3: out struggling communities by donating to a good cause. But
Speaker 3: how do we decipher where our money should go and
Speaker 3: how can we budget for it? My name is Georgia King,
Speaker 3: and joining me to answer these questions and more is
Speaker 3: the woman whose love language is giving Victoria divine. You
Speaker 3: have lots of feelings about this one.
Speaker 1: My love language is giving tell me I'm wrong, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not wrong. It's also words of affirmation. So if
Speaker 1: you're good about it, love language is giving. Also, she's
Speaker 1: really nice, you'd actually been much better. But I have
Speaker 1: a lot of feelings on this, and come what may
Speaker 1: I feel like this could be an episode that divides
Speaker 1: a lot of us, not in a bad way, but
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of people have colorful opinions
Speaker 1: on giving in philanthropy and whether you should do it
Speaker 1: or not, or whether you should care about yourself. But
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a lot to be learned when
Speaker 1: you give. Like I genuinely am a believer that the
Speaker 1: more you give, the more you get back. And there
Speaker 1: would hope that you know, even with trees on the money,
Speaker 1: you guys are seeing that the more that we give
Speaker 1: to you, the more that comes back our way in love,
Speaker 1: obviously in being able to run a business. But gee,
Speaker 1: we are not here today to convince you. But today
Speaker 1: I guess we're here to give you some context and
Speaker 1: unpack some points around charity and philanthropy and give you
Speaker 1: the information that you need to make a conscious and
Speaker 1: educated decision around it. Today we've got some hot stats
Speaker 1: some history and some context around what giving in Australia
Speaker 1: means and the difference between charity and philanthropy and how
Speaker 1: does it work and what does it mean and ways
Speaker 1: that you can give back? Are we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about the ick factor, g king the I. Are we
Speaker 1: going to talk about tax and some tips for working
Speaker 1: it into your budget and much much more. Obviously I'm
Speaker 1: very passionate about this area. Can't wait.
Speaker 3: I can't believe it's taken us like two and a
Speaker 3: half years to talk about this.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like it's been intertwined in the
Speaker 1: conversations that we've had historically, Like it's not a surprise
Speaker 1: that we're talking about it officially on a podcast. But
Speaker 1: I feel like giving has always been a part of
Speaker 1: our budgets and always been a part of what She's
Speaker 1: on the money does, maybe not so visibly though, So
Speaker 1: now is the time to, you know, really talk about
Speaker 1: what it means to us.
Speaker 3: Let's begin be by defining the difference between charity and philanthropy,
Speaker 3: because I kind of thought they were the same thing.
Speaker 3: People might think that nice, that's the different nice.
Speaker 1: It's not all about where the money is going necessarily,
Speaker 1: the simple explanation here is that charity aims to relieve
Speaker 1: the pain of a particular social problem, whereas philanthropy attempts
Speaker 1: to address the root cause of that problem. So that's
Speaker 1: kind of cool. Now you're more educated, we can be
Speaker 1: done with the episode.
Speaker 3: There's a little more to it.
Speaker 1: There's not a bit more to it than that, you
Speaker 1: are correct. So charity would meet the immediate needs of somebody,
Speaker 1: so like providing them with food and water and shelter
Speaker 1: and medical care. And philanthropy actually looks more at identifying
Speaker 1: the root causes of systemic issues and making the world
Speaker 1: a better place by tackling societal problems at their roots.
Speaker 1: And there's obviously a lot more privilege in being able
Speaker 1: to do philanthropy than just charity, obviously given how big
Speaker 1: the impact is. So charity is probably more what we
Speaker 1: would be able to contribute to on a smaller scale. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And philanthropy is often a bit bigger. It can be
Speaker 1: made up of lots of lots of people donating to
Speaker 1: that particular philanthropic cause. I think today we're going to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about charity and what that
Speaker 1: means and how it works for us.
Speaker 3: A couple of starts for you. V lord. All right,
Speaker 3: hi the girl, she's come in Early in December twenty twenty,
Speaker 3: they were around fifty eight thousand, six hundred registered charities
Speaker 3: in Australia. That's pretty heaps.
Speaker 1: That's heaps, isn't it. That doesn't mean that they're super
Speaker 1: big and really well known though, like, ok around fifty
Speaker 1: eight thousand massive charities, they.
Speaker 3: Should be quite small, right, Okay, So the charity's Aid
Speaker 3: Foundation rates Australia as the eighth highest of more than
Speaker 3: one hundred and forty countries over ten years because we're
Speaker 3: nice humans of the World Giving Index, with three in
Speaker 3: five Australians making a financial donation to a charity.
Speaker 1: See Nice Humans.
Speaker 3: As expected, the pandemic put financial stress on the sector,
Speaker 3: with total giving falling around seven point one percent in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty and a further twelve percent in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3: That's interesting, good statscal I. Actually that gives us a
Speaker 3: bit of context.
Speaker 1: And then also furthering that my stat that I'm going
Speaker 1: to share is in twenty seventeen, it's like twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: four point four million individual taxpayers claimed a total of
Speaker 1: three point seventy five billion dollars as tax deductible donations
Speaker 1: compared with four point five two million claiming three point
Speaker 1: eight four billion the year before. So gee, this is
Speaker 1: consistent with the trends that we've seen over the last
Speaker 1: ten years that actually show sadly a smaller proportion of
Speaker 1: Australians are giving, but those who are giving are giving more.
Speaker 3: Okay, interesting, right, they're kind of wonder why.
Speaker 1: I wonder why as well, given how prevalent charity is now,
Speaker 1: Like we're on social media, people are sharing their causes left,
Speaker 1: right and center. Like, I don't think that there's been
Speaker 1: a week I've been on social media that I haven't
Speaker 1: seen a gofund me pop up, Like, I just feel
Speaker 1: like charity is massive. So the fact that less people
Speaker 1: are doing it, what does that mean?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. Maybe that's just like too much decisions.
Speaker 1: And aaly's this paralysis.
Speaker 3: Maybe that's what I was trying to say.
Speaker 1: Trust I don't know. We're going to break it down
Speaker 1: in a hot second, though, we.
Speaker 3: Are Eila for outside of the world of benefit Gala's
Speaker 3: hospital wing donations and other shall we say, like Champagne
Speaker 3: and big name philanthropy. Why do the rest of us
Speaker 3: tend to give just because we're little legends.
Speaker 1: I think it's because we're little legends, So I think
Speaker 1: that we know that supporting our community is really important,
Speaker 1: or I would hope that we know that. But there
Speaker 1: was giving study done by Giving Australia in twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: and they reported the top three reasons why people were giving,
Speaker 1: and these top three reasons were someone said it's a
Speaker 1: really good cause slash charity and thirty nine percent of
Speaker 1: people said that. The second reason was they had respect
Speaker 1: for the work it does and that was twenty one percent,
Speaker 1: and the third one was that they had sympathy for
Speaker 1: the people that it helps and that came in at
Speaker 1: fourteen percent, which is really exciting. But also I feel
Speaker 1: like it's nice to know that they have clarity on
Speaker 1: why they are giving, But I want to see that
Speaker 1: further broken down, Like I don't want people to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a good idea, Like I would really like them
Speaker 1: to give I guess more detailed responses because I think
Speaker 1: the more we talk about it and the more reasons
Speaker 1: why you do something Georgia, the more likely you are
Speaker 1: to influence other people. And I guess I'm in a
Speaker 1: bit of a bias position here, which I probably should
Speaker 1: call out really earlier, is that I am involved in
Speaker 1: a charity. For those of you who don't know, I
Speaker 1: am the treasurer. Of course, I ended up with the
Speaker 1: motto of TLC for Kids, which is an absolutely gorgeous
Speaker 1: children's charity based here in Australia, and I have been
Speaker 1: doing that for the last three years and I am
Speaker 1: obsessed with them. I love it and I can see
Speaker 1: the impact that donating to charity has, like dollar for dollar,
Speaker 1: like we do these measurements that show us exactly where
Speaker 1: every dollar is going and how much of every dollar
Speaker 1: donated actually makes it to the kids, as opposed to
Speaker 1: you know admin costs and you know rent and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, which we have to pay as a charity.
Speaker 1: Like we exist as a business, but we are obviously
Speaker 1: and not for profit, and all of that goes back
Speaker 1: to the charity and back to the people it impacts.
Speaker 3: That's really cool that you get to see that breakdown.
Speaker 1: It is so special.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a criticism of donating to charities that like, none
Speaker 3: of it will actually get to the person that needs it.
Speaker 3: It's all just admin costs, as I mentioned, help.
Speaker 1: To you as the individual to do the research right.
Speaker 1: So I'm very critical in this space because I'm so
Speaker 1: close to it right. But every charity in Australia has
Speaker 1: to publish the annual report. It has to be public
Speaker 1: because you are a registered charity in Australia. You obviously
Speaker 1: get a number of tax benefits for doing that, and
Speaker 1: it's it's a good thing. But if you are genuinely
Speaker 1: interested in donating to a particular cause, maybe do a
Speaker 1: deep dive into the charity and understand what they do
Speaker 1: and how they do it. Because something that really frustrates
Speaker 1: me and this, You know, I understand that a CEO
Speaker 1: deserves to get paid at a CEO level, but sometimes
Speaker 1: I think in char they're making it a bit of
Speaker 1: a joke. Like I look at the way TLC for
Speaker 1: Kids is run and I'm just so proud to work
Speaker 1: for a company that is so transparent and cares so
Speaker 1: much more about the kids than they do themselves. It's
Speaker 1: an argument sometimes to you know, make sure that they're
Speaker 1: paying themselves properly because they care so much more about
Speaker 1: you know, the charity. But then you look at similar
Speaker 1: charities or charities that are you know, benefiting similar demographics,
Speaker 1: and you see that they're CEOs on a million dollars
Speaker 1: a year and you're like, are they doing it for
Speaker 1: the right reasons? It shouldn't take a million dollars to
Speaker 1: have somebody running that business or running that charity. So
Speaker 1: I think we really need to break it down. If
Speaker 1: you're going to donate to charity, great, donate to causes
Speaker 1: that make sense to you. But if you're worried about it,
Speaker 1: make sure that you're doing the research. And because charity
Speaker 1: in Australia is arguably so transparent, you should be able
Speaker 1: to find the information so that you can go, well,
Speaker 1: how much of it is going to kids? You know
Speaker 1: how many things were sent out like how can we
Speaker 1: measure that? What does that mean? And you know who's
Speaker 1: on their board? Do I like them? Do I not
Speaker 1: like them? Am I supporting this? Yet? I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot to it that a lot of us don't
Speaker 1: think about because you just go, it's chucking two dollars
Speaker 1: in the bucket when they come.
Speaker 3: Around, right, And it's so much more than that to
Speaker 3: me interesting on a more of a group level. V
Speaker 3: workplace giving is a thing, right, It's a massive thing
Speaker 3: and it's just another way that we give right, like
Speaker 3: workplace giving is essentially a joint relationship between the employers,
Speaker 3: employees and charities that actually enables individuals to donate a
Speaker 3: proportion of their pre tax salary, which we love. And
Speaker 3: some employers and I love this g they actually match
Speaker 3: staff donations because the ATO in twenty nineteen released some
Speaker 3: stats that said two hundred one thousand, two hundred and
Speaker 3: thirty seven Australians donated through workplace giving in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. The average donation was actually two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifteen dollars. Chunky boy, that's nice.
Speaker 3: Very decent.
Speaker 1: More than sixty six million dollars donated through workplace giving
Speaker 1: platforms that did include the employee matchup program though, just
Speaker 1: be aware. And those that were aged, I love this one.
Speaker 1: Those that were under thirty four, Gee, they're the biggest givers.
Speaker 3: Legends. What legends?
Speaker 1: We are both under thirty four For those listening along, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Can I ask why workplaces offer this? Is other tax
Speaker 3: benefits to them? Is it good pr or are they
Speaker 3: just good blocks? Look, there can be tax benefits to
Speaker 3: donating to charity. Absolutely, and you know what, there are
Speaker 3: some people who definitely donate to charity so that they
Speaker 3: don't have to pay to the tax office. I don't
Speaker 3: think that's the worst thing in the world, Like I
Speaker 3: would much prefer people who need it to get it,
Speaker 3: but I just would want to be doing it for
Speaker 3: the right reasons. I think it's really really important to
Speaker 3: understand that, yes, you can claim it on your tax
Speaker 3: actually and get tax back for it. But I'm pretty
Speaker 3: sure your donation has to be more than two dollars
Speaker 3: to be eligible.
Speaker 1: Okay, seems fair. Uh huh.
Speaker 3: And private ancillary funds, what are they?
Speaker 1: A path, a PAAF. In the philanthropic world, we refer
Speaker 1: to them as paths, and a path actually enables any
Speaker 1: individual or a family or an organization to put money
Speaker 1: aside in trust to support charities over the long term.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with this idea. Literally, it is all I
Speaker 1: talk about. Ask the TLC for Kids Board. I'm like, path,
Speaker 1: very good idea. One day will be big enough to
Speaker 1: have one, and it will be really incredible. And the
Speaker 1: reason I'm so obsessed with it is because g all
Speaker 1: you hear me talk about is investing in the power
Speaker 1: of investing. And what happens when you have a path
Speaker 1: is that you can actually put money into this and
Speaker 1: have it invested and then the dividends forever to go
Speaker 1: to a charity so you can have a long lasting
Speaker 1: impact instead of just donating two dollars here and there. Obviously,
Speaker 1: this is very I don't want to say elitist, but
Speaker 1: you would be in a very privileged position to be
Speaker 1: able to establish a path. They are not cheap because
Speaker 1: whenever you establish them, they are their own entities, they
Speaker 1: have their own tax returns, they have a lot of
Speaker 1: responsibilities that need to be met. But it is very,
Speaker 1: very cool to think that there are a lot of
Speaker 1: really wealthy families in Australia who have established these paths
Speaker 1: so that they can benefit the community and charity and
Speaker 1: the world basically forever. And I think that's really cool.
Speaker 3: That Israel I've never heard of a path, never heard
Speaker 3: of a path.
Speaker 1: Now you're a path genius.
Speaker 3: Exactly right. We will move away from paths. On the
Speaker 3: other side of the break, we will be talking about
Speaker 3: other ways of giving back. So don't go anywhere, guys.
Speaker 1: All right, gee, you told us that you were going
Speaker 1: to tell us other ways we can give back. What
Speaker 1: are they?
Speaker 3: Well, not all of us can afford to contribute to
Speaker 3: causes financially one hundred percent, so giving our time. I mean,
Speaker 3: we saw it very recently up in northern New South
Speaker 3: Wales and Queensland, the horrible floods. People were popping on
Speaker 3: their gun boots getting out there and shoveling that mud
Speaker 3: out of those destroyed homes. It was so heartening to see,
Speaker 3: also so horrible. Of course, thoughts are with everyone affected
Speaker 3: up there, But there are many meaningful ways that we
Speaker 3: can affect change without actually putting any money on the line.
Speaker 1: Right, absolutely there are, And I guess that's a really
Speaker 1: good place to point out that you're really privileged if
Speaker 1: you can give money to charity. Like how special is
Speaker 1: it to be in a financial position that you have
Speaker 1: enough money for you, George, but you also have enough
Speaker 1: money to share for somebody else. When you give, you
Speaker 1: often give with no expectation of return, and that's what's
Speaker 1: happening with charity. You're not giving to them in the
Speaker 1: hope that you get a solid investment return. You're giving
Speaker 1: because it is arguably one of the right things to do,
Speaker 1: and it's something that a lot of us feel like
Speaker 1: we should be doing, but we just don't have the
Speaker 1: budget for it, Like you might be a young couple
Speaker 1: and you're desperately saving for your first home, and that's
Speaker 1: okay if it's not part of your budget. I would
Speaker 1: love to think that over time it could be built
Speaker 1: in and from little things, big things grow. It's been
Speaker 1: a while since I said that on the space We're
Speaker 1: bringing it back. We're bringing it back. G But it's
Speaker 1: one of those things that if it's in line with
Speaker 1: your budget, that's okay. If it's not, also okay. But
Speaker 1: it's not just about money. It can sometimes be about
Speaker 1: the thought. It can be about consistently being a kind
Speaker 1: person and helping others where you can and where is feasible.
Speaker 1: But it could also be about volunteering some time, it
Speaker 1: could be about mentoring somebody, Like I am so wildly
Speaker 1: passionate about this. I'm also really passionate about talking about
Speaker 1: the difference between volunteering and you know, giving hands on
Speaker 1: support versus donating money. And I feel like sometimes people
Speaker 1: really want to just get their hands sturdy, and they
Speaker 1: want to get into the nitty gritty of it and go,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, gee, Like we spent a whole day
Speaker 1: out helping pack bags for the homeless, or you know,
Speaker 1: we went down to this soup kitchen or we did this,
Speaker 1: or we did that, and you go, that is really
Speaker 1: great And for a young person who doesn't have a
Speaker 1: lot of money, that is such a fantastic and really
Speaker 1: beautiful way to give back, because we've got to be
Speaker 1: honest with you. Sometimes that can be really confronting. It's
Speaker 1: not easy to change your circumstance and go and you know,
Speaker 1: be a part of that. And I adore it. I
Speaker 1: think it's really important. But on the flip side, for
Speaker 1: people who are much wealthier, you know what, if you're
Speaker 1: a high flying CEO, is your time best used down
Speaker 1: at the soup kitchen serving or is it better for
Speaker 1: you to work a few more overtime hours so you
Speaker 1: can donate some more money to charity so that you
Speaker 1: can fund the soup kitchen for the next few weeks
Speaker 1: or do you know what I mean? Like, I feel
Speaker 1: like we need to have this conversation around trade off
Speaker 1: and what that means, because too often people think money's
Speaker 1: the only way to donate because that's what the wealthy do.
Speaker 1: Whereas we do need hands on deck, we do need people,
Speaker 1: you know, turning up in gum boots with a shovel,
Speaker 1: But sometimes we also need the financial support. So all
Speaker 1: of that is well and good, and we're talking about
Speaker 1: this time versus value trade off here g But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I, personally, and I know
Speaker 1: a lot of other people get a lot out of
Speaker 1: volunteering and doing the nitty gritty and getting your hands dirty,
Speaker 1: and I feel like it keeps us connected with our
Speaker 1: communit unity and it genuinely makes you feel like you're
Speaker 1: contributing to your community and so reporting them and it's
Speaker 1: so nice connecting with people when you were there. It's
Speaker 1: not necessarily about just throwing money at the problem and
Speaker 1: hoping it's not a thing. And I mean, if that's
Speaker 1: what you want to do, you're more than welcome to.
Speaker 1: But there is this balance between Okay, giving money is
Speaker 1: really important, but also sometimes it's equally important to learn
Speaker 1: to get in there and to be a part of
Speaker 1: that community and see what they can do and how
Speaker 1: they can do it, and.
Speaker 3: Like connecting with people I also found. I used to
Speaker 3: volunteer at this legendary place called Orange Sky Laundry. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: I remember, Yeah, So we'd go down every Monday night.
Speaker 3: We had these vans. One had showers in it and
Speaker 3: the other had washing machines and we would wash and
Speaker 3: dry the clothes of people doing it tough on the
Speaker 3: streets of Melbourne or in low income housing situations, and
Speaker 3: it was just the best, Like it was so like
Speaker 3: the majority of those people just wanted to have a
Speaker 3: big old yarn, someone that like a friendly face checking
Speaker 3: with every Monday, and it was it was the best.
Speaker 3: And you do you get so much out of it.
Speaker 3: I'm sure I got much more out of it than
Speaker 3: they did.
Speaker 1: I know when you kind of feel a little bit guilty.
Speaker 1: I've done that before as well, and I just feel
Speaker 1: like I end up walking away feeling so nourished, and
Speaker 1: I've heard these beautiful stories and I've got to be
Speaker 1: a part of their community. And usually if you are
Speaker 1: dealing with that demographic, they're so welcoming. They just want
Speaker 1: to have a chat with you, like they just want
Speaker 1: to sit down and have a cup of tea, and
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, like I can afford the time to
Speaker 1: do exactly, I absolutely can do.
Speaker 3: That, yeah, one hundred percent. All right, let's move on
Speaker 3: a little bit here. What sorts of things would you
Speaker 3: say are good to take into consideration in this world
Speaker 3: of charity and philanthropy, outside of the fact that there
Speaker 3: are always going to be some causes that we connect
Speaker 3: with more than others.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, And I do think it's genuinely important to
Speaker 1: be connecting with causes that you feel passionate about. It's
Speaker 1: not about saying this is the charity of choice. You
Speaker 1: need to go and support this particular one, because you're
Speaker 1: more likely to have sustainable change and sustainable donations if
Speaker 1: you really feel connected with that. And that's to me
Speaker 1: really important to also donate in line with your values.
Speaker 1: But that's one of the things that can get caught
Speaker 1: up in the charity in philanthropic space, right like your
Speaker 1: values might not be being met. And gee, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've heard of it before as well, But charities exist
Speaker 1: where they do really good work and they support really
Speaker 1: great causes, but then they're not supporters of our friends
Speaker 1: in the lgbtqia plus community, or they're not doing the
Speaker 1: right thing by our indigenous friends, or they're not doing
Speaker 1: the right thing when it comes to having really exorbitant
Speaker 1: organizational CEO costs. And I touched on all of this
Speaker 1: stuff before, but we really need to make sure that
Speaker 1: they're not in a way greenwashing us and telling us
Speaker 1: they do this really great thing, and then it's not
Speaker 1: actually translating, and a good way of understanding that is
Speaker 1: kind of going, all right, well, if I donated a dollar,
Speaker 1: how much of that dollar would actually go to the cause?
Speaker 1: And thinking about charity in that way, for me feels
Speaker 1: like it's a bit more impactful. It's a bit better
Speaker 1: to think of it that way because you're okay, well,
Speaker 1: as much of that dollar is going to charity as possible,
Speaker 1: whereas there is some charity is where twenty percent of
Speaker 1: it ends up with the cause and the rest of
Speaker 1: the eighty years about their fancy office and their fancy
Speaker 1: CEO and supporting strategy days that they might not need.
Speaker 1: And I just I don't want to be supporting that,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you guys don't. And the only way
Speaker 1: you're going to learn about it is if I call
Speaker 1: it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah one hundred and as you said before, you can
Speaker 3: kind of find out how legitimate a company is by
Speaker 3: looking at their annual reports or a charity rather.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and like and charity At the moment, I
Speaker 1: think is really important to be having a conversation about
Speaker 1: because George, you mentioned that we've been through so much.
Speaker 1: We're currently going through some world wars. We've gone through
Speaker 1: bushfires at the start of COVID, then COVID happened, then
Speaker 1: we're having the floods, like we have been through it all,
Speaker 1: and that has meant that people are giving to different
Speaker 1: charities which are very very viable. It's very very important
Speaker 1: to be giving to those who need it, Like there
Speaker 1: is no way I would say, don't donate to the
Speaker 1: flood relief because we need to do something else. In fact,
Speaker 1: she's on the money donated to the flood or relief
Speaker 1: because that's really important to us. But we also need
Speaker 1: to remember that there are lots of charities throughout that
Speaker 1: time didn't survive because they didn't have the donations coming
Speaker 1: in the door that they needed. And I remember having
Speaker 1: these conversations, you know, even in TLC, how are we
Speaker 1: going to make sure that we as a charity survive
Speaker 1: this pandemic because the priority isn't necessarily on donating to
Speaker 1: a children's charity right now. I think it's important obviously,
Speaker 1: but more often than not, charity that is front of
Speaker 1: mind usually gets serviced first, or the charities that have
Speaker 1: the really really big names and you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to call them out on here, but you're very
Speaker 1: likely to give to them because they have the exposure.
Speaker 1: They're in all the supermarkets. You can put the money
Speaker 1: in the tin or you know, they have these big
Speaker 1: call centers that call up and say, hey, do you
Speaker 1: want to make a donation? And I think it's important
Speaker 1: to realize that there are a lot of charities that
Speaker 1: just don't have the funds to do that, that still
Speaker 1: need supporting, especially after the pandemic we've gone through. Like
Speaker 1: it's it's crazy, but I think we need to remember
Speaker 1: that there are a lot of small charities out there
Speaker 1: doing really good things that need a lot more support.
Speaker 3: And that's exactly right feet Like, there are fifty eight thousand,
Speaker 3: six hundred, six hundred charities in Australia, Like not all
Speaker 3: of them are going well, it's just impossible.
Speaker 1: And I look at a lot of the charities, I'm like, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: Like is this actually about the kids? Is it actually
Speaker 1: about the cause or is it about you having a
Speaker 1: big bougie charity gala because that costs a lot to
Speaker 1: host and obviously the return on investment there is significant,
Speaker 1: but like the privilege of being able to get a
Speaker 1: bunch of multimillionaires into a room to raise a million
Speaker 1: dollars for charity is gorgeous, but that is not a
Speaker 1: privilege that all charities have. So I think being able
Speaker 1: to find a charity of the lines to your values
Speaker 1: and what you want to achieve, while also funding someone
Speaker 1: that maybe isn't getting the funding that is so visible.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this kind of brings me to my next question
Speaker 3: about go fund me campaigns, because these can kind of
Speaker 3: operate on a more personal level. People can put anything
Speaker 3: up there and ask for your money. Remember again, start
Speaker 3: of the pandemic, we were all going through the bushfire
Speaker 3: in certain parts of Australia and Celeste Barber the absolute legend.
Speaker 3: So fifty million dollars insane. But then what a queen
Speaker 3: later on because of I don't even know what the
Speaker 3: details were in that, but the money that she raised
Speaker 3: wasn't able to be distributed how she wanted it to be.
Speaker 1: It all it was heartbreaking. So what happened was she
Speaker 1: had raised all of this money, but when she signed
Speaker 1: up to the gofund me, in the terms and conditions,
Speaker 1: obviously you have to nominate a charity, and if you're
Speaker 1: raising money for that charity, they like their terms and
Speaker 1: conditions are all of that money goes to the nominated
Speaker 1: charity because if you have donated to that, you weren't
Speaker 1: donating for anybody else. You were donating for that specific cause,
Speaker 1: So it has to go to that cause. And she
Speaker 1: obviously established it not knowing she was going to raise
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars, and unfortunately all of it had to
Speaker 1: go to one charity instead of being distributed between a
Speaker 1: number of different charities and locations. So I think it
Speaker 1: ended up only benefiting one state as opposed to a
Speaker 1: number of states. Yeah, which is upsetting, but that's the
Speaker 1: nature of gofund me, right, Yeah, Okay, so that organization
Speaker 1: is obviously putting the money to good use. It's not
Speaker 1: anything to do with them, like they didn't choose that
Speaker 1: they wanted to share it. But then charities also have
Speaker 1: particular mandates to be a charity, so they can only
Speaker 1: spend on certain things, and unfortunately in the mandates, they
Speaker 1: weren't able to distribute it to other charities because it's
Speaker 1: against what their boards say, it's against everything that they
Speaker 1: were established for. Because obviously that charity does this one
Speaker 1: particular thing, and they've got to do that one particular thing.
Speaker 1: The money can't be spent on anything else. So they're
Speaker 1: good people, they're doing good things. It's just a bit
Speaker 1: of a fickle platform, and I'm a bit I guess triggered,
Speaker 1: especially after the pandemic and seeing, you know, on a
Speaker 1: current affair that people were raising money for themselves but
Speaker 1: they weren't their authentic selves. Like it was really upsetting
Speaker 1: to think that you can have something on your Facebook
Speaker 1: feed or your Instagram feed pop up and you go, wow,
Speaker 1: that's such a special cause. Really connect with Georgia. She
Speaker 1: really needs that, and you donate, and then later find
Speaker 1: out that maybe they weren't that truthful, Like it just
Speaker 1: gives me the ick, Like that makes me feel honestly
Speaker 1: sick that people are donating and not being transparent about that.
Speaker 3: It's also enormously I'm just looking at the numbers now,
Speaker 3: there are seventy billion donors donating nine billion dollars as
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: YELP and ten thousand new campaigns are started every day,
Speaker 1: four million dollars raised every day.
Speaker 3: So it's super effective, super effective, but maybe it is
Speaker 3: pretty open to scammers being able to.
Speaker 1: Super effective again but also super accessible to start a
Speaker 1: course use. You can raise money for anything, and I've
Speaker 1: you know, donated to different things over time on GoFundMe
Speaker 1: that I want to support, but they might not necessarily
Speaker 1: be official charities. I might not necessarily be causes that
Speaker 1: are registered, but I want to support it, and I'm
Speaker 1: happy with the decisions I've made. But I think gofund
Speaker 1: me is more about the visibility and my opportunity created
Speaker 1: to make tangible change. And that's really great. But I
Speaker 1: just hate that there are people out there that exploit
Speaker 1: platforms like that, Like they shouldn't be allowed to do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they should be ramifications if you do.
Speaker 3: That, Okay, Well, I feel like the moral of the
Speaker 3: story today is that like intention is the most important thing.
Speaker 3: If you're donating your time or your money, it's the
Speaker 3: intention that matters, right, It's like less about what you
Speaker 3: can afford on that thov Have you ever experienced an
Speaker 3: eke after.
Speaker 1: When I see gofundmes. No, not when I've donated, but
Speaker 1: when I've seen gofundmes where I feel like they're not
Speaker 1: super transparent and then I see them blowing up and
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, why are we doing this? Like this
Speaker 1: is not a good thing to be putting your money towards.
Speaker 1: But like each to their own, it's not my decision
Speaker 1: what you donate too, And I mean that's probably me
Speaker 1: being a little bit unnecessarily judgmental.
Speaker 3: All right, before we head off for the day, V,
Speaker 3: let's chat through the tax implications of all of this.
Speaker 3: What do we need to be mindful of.
Speaker 1: Obviously this is cheese on the money, we do need
Speaker 1: to talk about tax. So if you are going to
Speaker 1: donate to a charity, please make sure that they are
Speaker 1: a DGR and that is a deductible gift recipient, which
Speaker 1: means that you are able to claim it on tax.
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily about you being able to claim that
Speaker 1: because like you donated it with goodwill, you're not trying
Speaker 1: to get a benefit out of it. But it means
Speaker 1: they're more legitimate. So g it also has to be
Speaker 1: a legitimate gift or donation. You can't just fudge it
Speaker 1: and put it on your tax return and hope it
Speaker 1: will stick. It has to be legitimate, and that is
Speaker 1: you voluntarily transferring money or a property without receiving or
Speaker 1: expecting to receive any type of material benefit in return,
Speaker 1: because obviously that would be a little bit dodgy. It
Speaker 1: must be as well, George, money or property. It can't
Speaker 1: be anything else. Like it can be financial assets. You
Speaker 1: could donate shares, you could donate cryptocurrency, but it has
Speaker 1: to be an actual asset and it needs to comply
Speaker 1: with relevant gift conditions. So for some dgrs that do
Speaker 1: have income tax laws, there are added canations that affect
Speaker 1: the type of deductible gifts that they can receive, So
Speaker 1: important to just be aware of that. Just make sure
Speaker 1: they're they're legitimate. If you really are worried, look into them,
Speaker 1: see what they're up to, and you know, have a
Speaker 1: think about what means the most to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think that's the perfect place to leave.
Speaker 1: It there, v Perfection. Do you want to wrap ith?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, let's wrap it before we head off. Remember
Speaker 3: guys that the advice shared on She's on the Money
Speaker 3: is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances.
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