Australia named as second most charitable country in the world by CAF World Giving Index
Australia finished in second place in CAF’s World Giving Index, narrowly missing out to Indonesia which topped the index for the first time.
Australians performed well across the board, finishing third in donating money, sixth in volunteering their time and 24th in helping a stranger.
According to the NAB Charitable Giving Index 2018, the rate of charitable giving in Australia increased by 1.2% in 2017. But overall growth in giving was still reported as being relatively weak, and below the average growth rate.
Lisa Grinham, Chief Executive Officer of Good2Give, says:
“Whilst I am thrilled that Australia has made it to the second most charitable country in the CAF World Giving Index, we still have a lot of work to do. Giving is vital for charities supporting communities in need. And in order to grow giving, we need to ensure we make it quick and easy for donors to give by utilising new technologies.
“Saying that, this report is reflective of the charitable values of Australian people, and we are seeing some encouraging signs from business too; according to the 2016/17 ATO workplace giving stats, the number of companies participating in workplace giving in Australia increased by 13%.”
Giving around the globe
This year’s CAF World Giving Index has found that more people across the world are helping a stranger and volunteering their time compared to last year, but the proportion of those donating money has declined for the second year in a row.
John Low, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation says:
“It is forever humbling to see how people across the world continue to be moved to help others, giving their time, donating money and helping strangers. It is a basic human instinct to lend a helping hand, and it is always amazing to see how people in countries which have suffered conflict and natural disasters are stirred to help those in need.
“But we should be concerned that for the second year running there has been a decline in the proportion of people donating money to good causes. It is a reminder to all of us in civil society that we should never take giving for granted.”
Other Key Findings of the Index include:
- Levels of giving across Africa are continuing to grow, confirming a trend which appeared in last year’s Index.
- Myanmar, the most generous country on earth for 2017, fell to 9th place in the rankings, owing largely to a fall in the number of people volunteering.
- New Zealand rounded off the medal places in third, whilst the United States finished in fourth.
How does the World Giving Index work?
The CAF World Giving Index 2018 includes data from more than 150,000 people in 146 countries that was collected throughout 2017. In most countries surveyed, 1,000 questionnaires were completed by a representative sample of individuals living across the country.
In order to establish a rounded measure of giving behaviour across the world, the CAF World Giving Index relies on a simple averaging of the responses from the three key questions below.
Have you:
- Helped a stranger, or someone you didn’t know who needed help?
- Donated money to a charity?
- Volunteered your time to an organisation?
Each country is then given a percentage score and countries are ranked based on these scores.
When looking at Australia’s performance against other countries we are performing well, however this is also dependent on other countries performance.
Notes to editors:
Methodology
The World Giving Index is primarily based upon data from Gallup’s World View World Poll, which is an ongoing research project carried out in more than 146 countries in 2017 that together represent around 95% of the world’s population. The survey asks questions on many different aspects of life today including giving behaviour. The countries surveyed, and questions asked in each region varies from year to year and is determined by Gallup. More detail on Gallup’s methodology can be viewed online.
About Good2Give
Committed to building a more giving society, Good2Give provides innovative technology solutions to help businesses, donors and charities connect. As well as advising businesses on how to engage with charities, Good2Give’s market-leading technology platforms allow for the efficient and secure processing of around a million donations annually.
Since 2001, Good2Give has facilitated $200 million to more than 7,000 Australian and international communities.
Good2Give was originally launched in 2000 as Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) Australia, and continues to be a part of the CAF Global Alliance representing Australia and New Zealand.
About CAF
CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) is a leading international charity registered in the United Kingdom, with nine offices covering six continents. We exist to make giving go further, so together we can transform more lives and communities around the world. We are a champion for better giving, and for over 90 years we’ve been helping donors, companies, charities and social organisations make a bigger impact.
We are CAF and we make giving count.
