26th October, 2005
More than 40 per cent of Australians were involved in volunteer work during the year to January 2005 giving an estimated 836 hours of their time, according to a report on the country’s philanthropic trends.

The recently released Giving Australia: Research on Philanthropy in Australia report found that Australian business and individuals gave an estimated $11 billion last year, a figure which excludes the response to the Asian tsunami.

Of this, $5.7 billion was donated directly by some 13.4 million individuals with the average donation $424. A further $2 billion was donated by individuals through “charity gambling” or their support for events while Australian businesses gave $3.3 billion.

The report shows that since 1997 the giving of money by individuals has increased in absolute terms by 88 per cent. Volunteerism is also on the rise with the proportion of those who volunteer rising from an estimated 24 per cent in 1995 to 34 per cent in 2002.

It reveals that religious institutions receive more than a third of all donations by individuals, the international aid and development organisations receive about one dollar in every eight donated.

The data also shows that while Australians give about one-and-a-half times as much as Canadians, people living in the United States give more than twice as much as Australians.

- DAVID ADAMS