Charity Tops Aussie Christmas List
22 October 2012 at 9:47 am
The most popular preference for a corporate gift this Christmas is a donation to charity, a survey of Australian businesses has revealed.
The survey, carried out on behalf Not for Profit organisation Karma Currency Foundation, also found that would-be recipients preferred the option to choose the charity to receive their gift donation.
Karma Currency chief executive, Ash Rosshandler, said that when respondents were asked to explain their preference for a charitable donation, the most common explanation was a wish for control over who received their donation.
“Even though most people have not come across charitable donations in the form of gifts, when presented with the opportunity, over half our survey were very interested in being able to choose which charities will receive their donation,” Rosshandler said.
Karma Currency says that charitable donations in the form of a corporate gift at Christmas are rare in Australia.
The survey revealed that only 5.1% of businesses gave charitable gifts last year but double the number (10%) intend to gift donations this coming Christmas.
However, it says that the gift-giving intentions of Australian businesses still lag behind the preferences of recipients.
Nearly a third of survey respondents (27.7%) would prefer to receive a donation to charity, making the charitable donation the most popular type of gift.
If given the option, over half of the survey respondents (55.7%) said they would be very interested in being able to specify which charity would receive their gift donation.
It is quite remarkable how the intention is to use charity giving but the practice does not always meet this. Very interesting considering the current economic climate.
We are a not-for-profit in WA. Last year instead of the annual $10 Secret Santa we chose a charity to donate our $10 to. It wasn’t complusary and many staff still held a Secret Santa, but I thought it was a great way for us to give back to other charities in other areas. We also chose several local, relatively unheard of charities, so it was great exposure for them, and really made you aware of what is in your own backyard so to speak.
Essentially if a charity can do it, why can’t others?