Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Following on from a previous thread that all Australians are selfish, Mrs JTL pointed out that they are also really crap at donating to charities.

Now I did a quick google, and I can't find any stats (you get the biggest load of nonsense when you google australia + charity). Doesn't exist apparently:blink:

Are australians a load of tight wads? And if they are, god save us as the economy bombs:eek:.

Do you feel the need to give, even when you're skint yourself? Or do you just think 'f**k it, look after number one and the family?'

JTL

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I actually disagree here. My daughter has just dyed her hair for the Be Brave and Shave appeal in aid of the Leukaemia Foundation of Australia and the response was pretty good. There were a few kids in the school doing it too and where my husband works they even bring a barber in ffor all the lads to do it too.

There are plenty of charities being supported throughout Australia:

http://www.shopsinoz.com/charities.html

:)

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I think maybe they have to spread their money around as there is always some charity on the phone, at your door or hanging around outside woollies and coles - i don't remember it being asked for money all the time like that at home.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I'm sick of people turning up on the doorstep asking for cash for charities. I give my cash to the charities I want to support, and I don't want to spend time justifying myself to doorknockers.
The Bloke and the MIL seem to give to anyone that shakes a tin on the doorstep - but only if they get a tax receipt. That seems more important to them than where their money is actually going.
Very odd.....

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

My local branch of BOQ did their hair for Leukemia today and raised stacks. The Australian owner of the branch donated the same amount again. You may not get the street corner flag sellers, but the big events raise stacks from what I've heard. Volunteer Marine Rescue wouldn't exist without charity contributions and neither would Surf Lifesaving.

I think most people have one or two charities that they regularly give to and so may not be able to afford more low key charities.

Poll, if they show how much they've given to charity on their tax returns, the government give the tax paid to the charity as well - I think. Or they get the tax back - one of the two :blink:

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I get alot of phone calls asking for money. They say $40 a month would be sufficient:eek:
Charity ain't cheap is it.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

In my experience, no Aussie can ask for a donation without immediately getting in the fact it's tax deductable. Many will carry around the 'book' so they can give you a receipt.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Nope. I find Aussies very generous when it comes to charity. At the brigade we do collections and I'm always amazed at what people put in. My wife did a collection for a charity raffle and she had too much stuff for one raffle. Butchers seem to be very generous.

I can't remember the stats but about a week after the Boxing Day tsunami the Australian public had donated more than the governments of Germany, France and Spain. Note that I said Australian public the Aussie government was putting in on top of that. (It's funny how that story was viewed from the different ends of the planet. The UK press concentrated on how Germany managed to get a relief plane to Banda Aceh before the Aussies. Given the relatively small donation made by the Germans at that time you've got to wonder whether they spent any time loading it with anything.)

So no the Aussies are not tight arses when it comes to charity. And I've found very few of them to be selfish.

:p

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

A quick look on Google came up with this.

http://www.caritas.org.au/AM/Templat...LDisplay.cfm&C

At the end of the article they have this: "Sprouting from this terrible death and destruction, was an outpouring of generosity from around the world on a scale never seen before. Apart from the millions that poured in from governments and multilateral donors, private charitable donations reached 2.5 billion. In Australia, donations reached nearly 400 million, and Cartias Australia raised a record amount of over 23 million".

400 million out of 2.5 billion sounds really crap ;):rolleyes:

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Many vol fire brigades and SES units make a fair amount of money out of this. We have thousands of (saved) dollars in the bank from fundraising. Big business almost.

Aussies are good at supporting their local community. If you have one of course(!)

We had a sausage sizzle "for the Tsunami''. As one bloke said at work, 'How much do they cost"?

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Yeah I realise they get the tax back, but it just seems odd - they both seem more focused on whether they can get a receipt and get the tax back, than on who they are actually giving the money too. :confused: The Bloke actually didn't know who he had donated to, on one occasion that I asked him, "doesn't matter who it was, I got a receipt, thats the important thing." Perhaps its me, but the priorities seem to be wrong?

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

What?! :blink::eek: Darling Dearest you're in real trouble for putting words in my mouth! I don't think we've had any discussion on the subject lately or ever.

Mrs JTL

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

They can't be that bad otherwise there wouldn't be so many Op Shops around.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I don't think it's about priorities. I think you're trying to read to much into what is an automatic response.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I'd rather people just give to be honest, and by some quirk it's quite noble they'd rather give, (AND get a tax deduction:p) than conduct a full analysis of where their gold coin is going:

It's going to pay for the charity's salaried workers and overheads!.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

And let's not forget the amount of time Aussie spend doing voluntary work and helping out with kids' stuff like school, scouts, etc...

I reckon that volunteerism is more prevalent here than in other places I've lived.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

It is this type of charitable donation (people's time) that really get my respect. I have observed more people giving their time here than I did in the UK. Hat's off to them all.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Up here it's the Surf Life Savers that amaze me with their generosity of time. At weekends when the rest of us are recovering from hangovers or shopping or having a lie-in these good folk are on patrol.

On the purely financial side I am shocked as to how generous some people on relatively low incomes actually are.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I've never found the folks in this area to be stingy when contributing to charity. We always do very well when raising funds for the local Brigade, we also run several fund raisers for charities at the local club & they always bring large crowds.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I'm not saying I'm holier than thou. Cos when I first arrived here, with no job etc, I got stopped on the street by a young lady who spent about 20 minutes trying to soften me up into donating (on a regular ongoing basis) to oxfam.

When I tried to explain to her I had no income, and had no idea when I would have a steady income, that didn't put her off.

And she turned really narky when I put my foot down and said NO! not until I have some money coming in.

Nowadays, every cold call we get, we just say, we don't give money to charities that cold call.

I had a funny argument with a guy on the phone a couple of weeks ago. I said to him that we were on the "Do not call" register, and so he should not be calling us. He said "ahh, but charities are exempt", so I said, "why not check the do not call register anyway, cos It'll save you pissing off lots of people who don't want cold calls, and will never donate to your charity after getting one of your calls"

And he said "thats beside the point" and hung up!

JTL

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Thats a very good point. I volunteer with meals on wheels and at the school and there are many many others who do the same. :)

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

We did :rolleyes: last night. It's the senility kicking in:p

You even laughed when I said it would be a good thread on expats.

I'll get you that brain training game for your birthday, might improve your memory.

JTL

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

So basically you're a tight arse and you need to transfer it onto Aussies so you can feel a bit more comfortable. :p

No wonder you go around annoying your neighbours. ;):D

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I'm not a tight arse now!! In fact, we give to charity rather than buying each other presents for birthdays, xmas etc.

And the neighbours annoyed me first, so it's only fair I give them some grief in return :p, the tight arsed selfish aussies that they are.

JTL

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Don't agree. Where I work there is always some sort of charity collection/fund raising drive going on. There was one this week for the RSPCA that raised quite a few k.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

So you've taken citizenship then? ;):D

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Congratulations on the wrongest thread title you've ever posted :D

I do a lot of work for charidee, I just don't like to talk about it ;)

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Oh good point!! Thats right, I'm an aussie, so forget Charity, for my next Birthday I want a Nintendo Wii and a Nintendo DS, :p

JTL

You've also just reminded me I should have voted today... oooops:o

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

In my workplaces, people take charity very seriously.

I used to work in Geelong and the workplace adopted:
United Way (helps people in need)
Adopt a Family at Christmas
Let's Read (encouraging kids from underpriviledged homes to start reading)

plus the numerous Jeans for Genes, SIDS Kids, Blue (whatever it is called) Shave for Leukemia fundraisers....the list is endless.

My current place supports (and holds fundraisers) for Berry St, Smith family and others.

Never had this in UK- and we can give through payroll here.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Hi all.

I feel strongly about certain aspects of charity. I am a volunteer for a charity here in the U.K and running the London marathon in April which btw is one of the biggest single fundraising events held on one day anywhere in the world. People have been great with me and I generally find the U.K very charity orientated (cannot comment on Australia as I don't know).

I think it is becoming harder for charities to raise money as there are more and more of them. There is always an appeal on T.V and even phone calls here in the U.K I think people are suffering "charity fatigue" and rightly a little pissed off with it at times. People have their own favourite charity and people should be aware of that if they pass them by when collecting.

I do not think charities should be allowed by law to phone you, send you letters or knock your door. I once had a woman at B & Q really sneer at me because I would not buy A "badge" for £1 at the local B&Q, who is she to judge me and she does not know who I may give to already :frown:.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Likewise, I'm full of admiration for Surf, and for the SES - I deal with a lot of the behind the scenes stuff for the SES, including the reports of all their activations, and they are out there in the worst of the weather, trying to help other people and protect their properties, all totally voluntarily. When we have a major event like the floods in Mackay, one of the first things that needs doing is for us to get SES members from elsewhere in the State to help out the local guys, and there is never any shortage of people sticking their hands up to travel to wherever the affected area is, often at only a couple of hours notice. Similarly all the rural firies, who turn out at all hours whenever required, and if there's a serious bushfire they can be working for days like the SES volunteers can.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I must admit that on days of heavy rain and big winds I'm glad it's the SES and not the CFA that's out there. Hats off to the boys and girls :thumbsup:

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Yup - we may be first responders, but the SES are often out making good long after we are back in bed with our wives.:), having handed over to them.

The job, not our wives.:p

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

Just to add my 2 cents here.

I hate giving money to people in the streets, pouring money into buckets of some guy when I'm not sure where the money is going.

Having said that, myself, and most of my friends, and my workplace all sponsor various charities directly from our pay packet each week - including rural fire service and childrens charities such as oxfam.

So perhaps, although you don't see peopl handing money over in the street, maybe charities are run in other ways.

Also, could I point out that there are a lot of organisations that run almost entirely on donations and volunteers (with some limited gov't assistance)....

Surf life saving clubs
rural fire service
volunteer coastal patrol
volunteer rescue assocaitions
etc

Just because you don't see people putting money into plastic buckets in shopping centres does not mean aussies don't donate money..

Perhaps the best indicator is the heart foundation doorknock appeal, which, in one week raised $4.7 million (2007 figures).

A failorly decent amount from a charity to raise in one week from a country of tight arses.

Re: Aussies are tight arses for charities
 

I disagree. The Australian response to the Tsunami was impressive to say the least. Most people I know give to charity whether it be money to foster a child in a developing country or community volunteer work.