Australians gave $9 billion in annual tax-deductible donations, study reveals

The annual study, just released by the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (ACPNS) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), found that the average donation made to DGR-status charities was $2031.60, compared to $1067.17 in the previous income year.

The figures relate to the 2022–23 financial year, reflecting the time and effort required by researchers to collate and verify the data.

The authors said the study’s data was unusually influenced by a single unprecedented donation. “It was publicly reported in June 2023 that Andrew and Nicola Forrest had made a gift valued at $5 billion comprising 220 million shares of Fortescue Ltd to the Minderoo Foundation, representing one-fifth of the couple’s shareholding. It can be reasonably assumed that this generous gift has influenced the data this year,” the report states. Total donations were up by almost 100 per cent on the year before as a result of this gift.

The research – led by Emeritus Professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes, Marie Balczun and Dr Alexandra Williamson – provides a snapshot of a transformative period, as Australia was emerging from the pandemic and looking to build momentum post-covid during the 2022–23 year. Inflation and the cost of living were both rising.

Away from the showstopper gift to the Mideroo Foundation, the numbers were mostly only modestly up on the previous year. In fact, the median tax-deductible gift, highlighted by the authors as a better way of judging typical giving, rose by only $2, up to $150.

McGregor-Lowndes told the Community Advocate that the study aimed to assist decision-makers and policy makers at all levels of government, fundraisers looking to set benchmarks, and authors of submissions to government, such as the current Treasury consultation on ancillary funds, which closes this week.

“It brings the relevant figures for the sector out of the huge mass of tax data in an accurate and neutral form to facilitate informed decision-making,” he said.

As a percentage of the tax-paying population, the 4.248 million donors represented 27.81 per cent of overall tax-payers – the first increase since 2019–20, but the fifth straight year that less than 30 per cent of Australian taxpayers claimed a tax deduction for giving.

Women were slightly more generous than men, with 2.35 million female taxpayers (29.50 per cent) donating, compared to 2.13 million male taxpayers (26.16 per cent). However, men donated more in dollar terms, at $5.52 billion to women’s $3.58 billion. Again, the Forrest family’s donation is reflected in those figures, which are up 115.31 per cent for men and 80.13 per cent for women on the year before.