I am woman, and I give. This is why.
On International Women’s Day, Good2Give CEO Lisa Grinham reflects on the generosity of women in Australia and what motivates her charitable giving.
At the end of last year, we commented on Australia ranking third in the world for giving in the CAF World Giving Index and according to the 2016 Koda Capital Australian Giving Snapshot, women gave a greater proportion of their taxable income than men.
Why?
Well, you’ll have a lot of speculation here about women being more nurturing, but to actually be more financially generous considering women on average earn so much less than men – it’s quite a fascinating fact.
So today, on International Women’s Day, I’d like to say openly why I give. Here’s my top five reasons:
1. I live by the values of the organisation I lead
I’m the CEO of Good2Give, and we’re all about building a culture of giving in Australia and achieving an ambitious goal of delivering $300 million to charities and communities by 2020. Giving to charities has been part of my DNA for many years, and to lead a team of people who come to work every day wanting to ‘do good’ makes it even easier to do so.
2. Working at Good2Give makes it easy
In fact, a little too easy. Everyone at Good2Give has access to our easy-to-use Good2Give Workplace Giving Platform! It’s so easy that, in my job, it can be an occupational hazard!
3. Social responsibility is important
I’m aware of how lucky I am. I was born into a beautiful country (Australia), in a great family, I went to a good school and progressed on to university and a fulfilling and relatively lucrative career. I look around and see that’s not true for everyone, people don’t have the same chances I did and I believe in reaching out to those in need. So I do. Because I can. And, because I enjoy doing so. Selfishly, it makes me feel good to give.
4. I am focused on what causes I support
I believe all Aussie kids should have access to a great education. Education is a key to having life choices. I personally support Daystar Foundation with my donations and also volunteer my time. Plus I’ve given to another 20 charities in the last year – what did I say about an occupational hazard?!
5. I believe leaders have a role to embody generosity as a key value
So I do, and I happen to be a woman, so I guess that makes me a woman leader who believes that we have a role to embody generosity as a key value. I’m on the Board of Daystar Foundation and the International Women’s Forum Australia. I really feel strongly that business, community, government and household leaders should lead by example.
A culture of giving builds generous workplaces and homes. Children grow up to become young leaders with a sense of connection to their community and responsibility of citizenship. Across all environments and sectors we need examples of generous leadership, of corporate values connected to the community that build culture and belonging for staff. It helps charitable organisations to help others, and it makes Australia stronger as a whole.
If leaders (no matter where you lead, no matter what gender you identify as) aren’t collectively working towards that goal in some way, then we’re missing something. In our communities and workplaces.
