Donation Frustration? We Hear You - And We Fixed It.
Struggling to choose an Australian charity that will actually do good stuff with your coin? We’ve got you. Introducing the Goods Charity Stress Test: where only the best can win.
good.film
3 years ago
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In the streaming age, we’re spoiled for choice. Ever sat there struggle-scrolling to decide? We get it! If you ask us, that experience isn’t all that different when you’re keen to donate to charity. Hundreds of truly great charities, doing superb work for worthy causes. You want to donate, but the choice-paralysis kicks in hard (and sadly, there’s no charity for choice-paralysis just yet).
Goods has taken the pain out of the process - leaving you to soak in all the good-giving feels, guilt free. We’ve broken down the act of giving into causes - think Climate Change, Environment, Mental Health, and dozens more - so you can support the causes that mean the most to you. Even better, we’ve chosen three of the best & brightest charities that support each cause - and you guessed it, your cash supports all three. You’ve got $30 to donate to a cause, you say? We’ll split that three ways our chosen charities helping out your chosen cause.
So, how did we arrive at these charities? With over 40 causes on offer, you don’t need to be Rain Man to work out that more than 120 charities had to be vetted for selection across every cause. So we here at Goods did what any great data-lover would do: rolled up our research sleeves and put our charities through their paces, using a strict methodology that ensures only the best make it onto the philanthro-podium.
There’s four separate checks we put a charity through to ensure it’s up to scratch (and fully worthy of your hard-earned cash). Firstly, Transparency & Stability. The principal regulator of charities in Australia is the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, which collects reams of data and verifies a charity’s website, reporting, privacy policy, and finances. Because financial reporting can often determine the health and longevity of a charity, if we find that their reporting isn’t up to date with the ACNC, we can fairly assume that it’s not the best place to plonk your donation right now - and we scratch it from the list. It ensures that there’s next to no chance of any The Big Short -style financial calamity with our charity choices.
Next up, Tax Deductibility. We check the Australian Business Register to ensure that each charity has DGR status, meaning that they are fully endorsed Deductible Gift Recipients. Lots of trusts and foundations can only legally donate to charities that are DGR registered (many not-for-profits aren’t), making this a critical hurdle for philanthropic grant-makers - so we’ve made it a non-negoshe for our Good Giving Fund, too. And hey, it’s always a nice bonus to check Yes on that ‘Did you make any donations?’ box on your income tax return each year!
Thirdly, Communication. We pore over the charity’s website to assess their intent, their actions, their outcomes, and their management. We gauge what they have to offer the community, and how precisely they meet their aims to help a given cause. Then, we scour their socials to gain insights into how they’re trending, how committed they are to engaging with their following, and how much appeal they provide to the community at large. Any red flags with vague or unprofessional communication? That’s a sure sign of issues within the charity’s structure, direction or prospects. Only the best of the bunch can make it past this checkpoint!
But we’re not done yet. Lastly, we assess a charity’s Reputation. This final check ensures there aren’t any systemic (or hidden) issues within the charity that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Dodgy dealings, negative press or anything unscrupulous in the ether? No deal. This last step acts as a safety net to make sure our final charity choices are as squeaky clean as they come.
It’s also worth noting that charities can have different approaches to helping the same cause: some research the issue, aiming for a future cure; some provide advocacy to help us understand the issue and raise awareness; and some charities focus on service delivery to help those in need right now, in the moment. Our aim is simply to spread the wealth and do the most good we can - so, wherever possible, we’ve chosen a research charity, an advocacy charity and a service delivery charity in our top three for each cause. You could call it the triple-threat of charitable giving.
So there you have it - quite the charitable obstacle course, no? You can rest assured that every one of the charities selected by Goods has cleared the aforementioned scrutineering with flying colours, and are doing the very best work in their field. We know donations don’t grow on trees; they only exist thanks to the good-giving nature of people like you. So it’s important to know that your gift is going somewhere great - and doing the absolute most good it possibly can.
