The Distribution, Size, and Frequency of Charitable Donations from Individual Givers - Assignment Example

The distribution, size and frequency of charitable donations from individual givers are solely dependent on their, largely static, personal value. Therefore, there is little that a charity can do to attempt to increase its share of donor revenue from the general public.”- Comment. Part 1 Introduction The term ‘charity’ is generally associated with activities that help someone in distress or that help someone in coping with their miseries. In a polite sense, it is not considered as a favour but an act of benevolence. To charity is to practice humanity by providing someone with money, clothes, food and sometimes time and thereby assuring security to world’s vulnerable people (Global Impact, 2014). Charity is also often defined as almsgiving. It is a relief provided to needy people through public or private sources as an act of generosity and goodness (Taggart, n.d.). The different segment of this essay will portray the importance of charity and role played by charitable organisations, overview of charity revenue generated by them and ways to raise the donation amount that is donated by general public. Importance of charity Origin of the word “charity” goes back to 4th century; when while translating the bible from Greek to Latin, St. Jerome used the term “Charitas” or “caritas” as a synonym for “agape”, which means love (Taggart, n.d.). Hence, the original meaning of charity is love and an appropriate definition of term keeping in view modern and traditional meaning should be to give away something with love. Charity has been a concern for all mankind since ancient time and has been depicted in pictures drawn by various artists of different generations and civilization (Taggart, n.d.). Charity is considered as a noble cause in every religion and has been mentioned in different holy books as well. The word has not changed much over the centuries, that is charitas to charity but meaning associated with the term has changed by many folds. Earlier charity was considered as a part of the society but presently it itself is a foundation; as in its absence, societies cannot develop while leaving behind the unfortunate ones in distress and misery. In the modern world, the work of charity has taken shape of professional work. It is considered equal to any kind of social work and welfare activity; moreover, there are different laws associated to charity in different countries. For example, in England and Wales the ‘Charities Act 2011’ regulates the accounts, returns, reports and other activities associated with English and Welsh charities (ICAS, 2014). Charitable organisations – types and importance Until recently, the charitable work was undertaken by various religious institutions. However, over time the good work has been taken up by various government and non-government organisation with the motto to help and not to earn profit. There are a number of charitable organisations across the globe that is continuously undertaking activities to help people in distress. The charitable organisations are varied in nature. The different types of charity are (Top Nonprofits, 2012): Animal charity Although everyone love animals as their pets but there are loads of animals that are needed to look after. There is a long list of endangered animal species and animals which are tortured by humans for various purposes. These innocent creatures cannot speak for themselves and need a lot of attention. For them, there are animal charities like wildlife conservation and welfare organisations and sanctuaries. Environment charity These kind of charities focuses on promoting preservation, growth and sustainable development of environment. They often fight for preserving the aesthetic values of the nature that are being degraded by various industries. These includes national parks and nature conservation centres. International NGOs International NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) are charities that have headquarters in one specific country but they operate in various countries, especially under-developed economies. These organisations work for education to children, poverty relief, disaster relief, peace and human rights and more. Health charity Health charities focuses on any and every kind of health related issues. They support treatment of sick and disabled, fund researches related to cure of complicated diseases and often promote public awareness related to specific health issues. Education charity Education charities facilitate education for kind of students from every age group and every section of the society. They work toward making education affordable, accessible and effective. The education charities support several scholarship programs, experimental education methods and reforms related to education system. Art and culture charity These types of charities take responsibility of preserving cultural heritage, performing arts, literature and other art forms as well as celebrate the art and history. The promote art through historical societies and art galleries (Top Nonprofits, 2012). Some of the international recognized charitable institutions are World Wildlife Fund, Woman to Woman Breast Cancer Foundation, Performing Animal Welfare Society, UNICEF, Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and the list goes on (The American Institute of Philanthropy, 2014). Source of Funding of Charitable organisations The main sources of fund that are recognised by governing bodies are as follows: 1. Gifts and donations: Donations are usually made by individuals, private companies and corporate houses. Gifts and donations are an important source of revenue for charities as they attract tax-relief. However, raising donation is time-consuming and an expensive method. 2. Grant funding: grants are usually provided by public sector units, government bodies and large foundations. The amount is not required to be repaid and have the advantage of tax exemption. Such grants are usually specific in nature, which is, related to a specific cause. 3. Trading: Many charity foundations raise fund through selling hand-made products made by people the foundations support. The foundations often organise event shows and raise fund by selling its passes (Know How Non-Profit, n.d.). Raising donation share of Charity revenue It is extremely complicated to determine the frequency and size of donation that individuals make towards charity funds but when overall collected amount, is less than expected amount, it is obvious that individuals are making less investment. The very reason behind such a situation is the way of thinking of individuals. Many think that the money they donate does not get properly utilised whereas others think that their contribution hardly going make any difference. The lack of knowledge of how fund is allocated by a charity foundation often hinders the interest of individuals to donate. There are also many situations where people either consider charity as an easy business to earn money or they lack awareness about the particular cause and that prevent them from donating (Bennett and Barkensjo, 2005). To raise the revenue share of charity as a result of donation by individuals, it is important to first solve problem related to individual thinking. The public need to be ensured that their money is being utilised for an essential cause. If necessary, the foundations should work towards increasing awareness among people regarding various causes they are working for, its victims and the necessity of fund. It is very important to alter the negative thinking and attitude of people toward charity and charitable organisations. There are quite a number of ways through which individuals can be made understand the importance of charity (Network for good, 2012): Establishing emotional attachment between the donor and sufferers. Making people believe that every single contribution is important and powerful enough to change someone’s life. Awareness among individuals that contribution made towards charity is tax-free. Reminding people that charity is and has always been a part of one’s tradition. Charity makes people build better social connections. Charity makes an individual feel responsible for any noble cause Charity foundations can invite people to visit the people they support or participate in charitable activities that way the public will feel more connected Increasing awareness among people that how improving life of the underprivileged people helps in overall improvement of society. Appeal the heart, not the head: According to academic researchers, a new study suggests that people get more influenced when their heart is involved rather than head. It can be interpreted as feelings help in driving donation more than analytical thinking. For example, between two statements, where one contains the details about ‘extreme hunger and water issues a poor girl is facing in a village in Namibia and how one’s financial contribution will help her’ and other explains in figures that ‘3 million people do not get to eat proper food, 5 million children does not have access to education in Namibia or how 5% of children dies every year because of unavailability of medicines’, the first situation stimulates one’s heart more and make them invest (Network for good, 2007). Part 2 Real-life case of a charity’s campaign to attract donations from personal givers India Giving Challenge A very successful example of real-life charity campaign is the India Giving Challenge organised by GiveIndia. In the year 2009, GiveIndia launched India’s first online fund raising event, India Giving Challenge; the event raised approximately US$ 195,000 that year. GiveIndia provided US$ 119,000 to the NGOs that raised most of fund. India Giving Challenge is designed to encourage NGOs to participate in the competition and raise maximum possible amount of fund from maximum number of donors during course of the event. Even corporate organisations participate in this competition (Alliance, 2014). To reason behind GiveIndia’s success, it is necessary to have a brief idea about the organisation. GiveIndia was established in 1999 and was registered as a non-profit in 2000 under the Companies Act, 1956. GiveIndia is not exactly a charity organisation; rather it is a donation platform that allows the donor to donate money to the cause of his choice through the NGO he prefers. All its activities are managed by team of professionals who have earlier worked with various renowned corporate houses (Give India Foundation, 2014). They work towards various causes, such as, women welfare and empowerment, child education and safety, environment and disability are a few to name it. GiveIndia has 200 best NGOs listed through whom fund reaches needy people. GiveIndia is extremely efficient in performing its duty towards the needy as well as the donors. They provide donors with feedback report which act as a proof of the money being actually utilized. An important strategy of GiveIndia is that they do not raise fund for themselves but they help people through proper guidance to donate to the best NGOs so that their fund is properly allocated to the cause (Give India Foundation, 2014). GiveIndia has been awarded with a number of awards so far. The India Giving Challenge 2012 was awarded as ‘fundraising campaign of the year’ by the South Asian Fundraising group. Their site won the ‘Charity Website of the year’ in 2012. GiveIndia provides a platform to individuals interested in making charity to select the cause on their own as they do not provide one choice rather multiple choices. It helps the donor to be flexible with his donation and since there is a feedback, the entire chain of activities is very transparent (Give India Foundation, 2014). Another strategy that GiveIndia employs is that they invite people to be a part of the activities they do, that is they ask people to volunteer if they are interested, for a cause of their choice. Since a variety of NGOs are listed with GiveIndia, therefore even the volunteers have a number of options to choose from (Kottasz, 2004). They have different yet simple programs so that employees of corporate organisation can contribute towards different causes even from their desk. The online approach along with its corporate partners which are various national and multi-national companies has provided GiveIndia scope to approach mass population (Give India Foundation, 2014). Conclusion Charity is a noble cause and requires tremendous community effort. However, with growing concern for better lives among individuals, they are becoming more and more self-centred. Often situation arise, when people think contribution in a charity is wastage of money. Hence, to make people aware about the work done by charities and influence them to contribute, the charities need to implement various social marketing strategies. The success story of GiveIndia is a perfect example for all NGOs and charity foundations as how they should work towards raising maximum fund from general public. In current scenario, aggressive measures must be taken in order to attract more and more funds and in the act of doing so, charity institutions should also involve corporate houses to maximise it funding sources. Reference list Alliance, 2014. India’s first online fundraising event a success. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Bennett, R. and Barkensjo, A., 2005. Causes and consequences of donor perceptions of the quality of the relationship marketing activities of charitable organizations. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 13(2), pp. 122-139. Give India Foundation, 2014. Give India the power to change lives. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Global Impact, 2014. Mission & Vision. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] ICAS, 2014. Charity law in England and Wales. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Know How Non-Profit, no date. Funding sources for charities and non profit organisations. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Kottasz, R., 2004. How should charitable organizations motivate young professionals to give philanthropically? International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 9(1), pp. 9-27. Network for good, 2007. To Increase Charitable Donations, Appeal to the Heart -- Not the Head. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Network for good, 2012. The secret to getting people to give: 15 reasons why people donate. [online] available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Taggart, D.R., no date. Charity. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] The American Institute of Philanthropy, 2014. A to Z List of Charities Rated by CharityWatch. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Top Nonprofits, 2012. Types of charities. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2014] Read More