Simple Acts of Philanthropy

It’s easy to think big when you think philanthropy.  Gates, Buffet and all their ‘pledge’ friends have put a lot of zeros on the cheques they’ve written and kudos to them. Here in Australia the movement to encourage the mega wealthy to put their hands deeper into their pockets is also gathering some steam. But philanthropy isn’t about the size of the numbers or the zeros that fall behind them. In the last couple of weeks I have been reminded on a couple of occasions that true philanthropy is best demonstrated by simple, small and thoughtful acts of generosity.  Like most acts of generosity in this day and age they are rarely reported upon and infrequently celebrated. I thought I’d use this occasion to highlight one simple act.

Recently I was in a taxi heading to a meeting. I wasn’t travelling far, but was running late and decided to foot the fare rather than risk a further delay at the tram stop. I jumped in a taxi and began chatting with the driver and the usual chit chat ensued. The taxi driver, whose name I have very unfortunately forgotten, asked me what I did for work.  As the trip was short, I gave the short answer – I work in philanthropy. The short answer didn’t satisfy the driver, he pressed and prodded. What exactly is philanthropy? Why does someone set up a Foundation? Who decides who gets the grants? What should you look for in an organisation that you’d like to give money to?  There aren’t short answers for any of those questions but we chatted away regardless. When I arrived at my destination the cab fare was $8 but my driver refused to accept any money, instead he asked me to give it away for him.  I’ve still got the $8 and I haven’t decided where or who to give it away to, giving away money is a tough gig after all.

We can often fall into the trap of believing that philanthropy is for the rich.  While we are living in an age where the mega rich in this country are under increasing scrutiny for their paucity of giving it’s easy to forget that there is an army of people giving simply.  Many people, some of limited means, give thoughtfully and without the benefit of, or concern for, tax deductions.

Anyone who has been reading the comments sections connected to recent articles on philanthropy in Australia recently will recognise that there’s a tangible level of public distrust around philanthropy in this country.  By celebrating the small stuff, perhaps we can change the public perceptions of what philanthropy is and why it’s important.

Now is the time to be celebrating the big and small stuff in philanthropy.  The latest 2008/2009 Australian Taxation Office stats show that tax deductible giving in Australia has fallen and fallen for the first time in a decade (check out the Philanthropy Australia blog here).  There could be a lot of reasons for the decline (GFC, giving exhaustion, lazy filling out of tax returns) but the important thing is that we work towards re-building and further growing the culture of giving in this country.

We’d love to hear about the simple acts of philanthropy you know about.

You can follow Caitriona Fay via @cat_fay on Twitter