The following data has been extracted from the Giving Australia 2016 Philanthropy and philanthropists report. The full report is available for free download.
The top three issues/areas to which survey respondents directed their grantmaking were:
- social services (63.7%)
- education and research (62.7%), and
- health (52.9%).
The majority of respondents (81.4%) reported having a process to review their grantmaking priorities.
Just over half (53.9%) of respondents indicated the grantmaking processes of their fund(s) have changed significantly over the past 10 years.
The top three influences over granting choices were:
- alignment with personal passions
- sound governance in the receiving organisation, and
- perceived competence of the charity.
The level of due diligence of organisations or causes undertaken by donors differed with the size of a gift.
Reporting and evaluation were seen by many as having an important role to play in considering repeat funding with respondents noting that:
- reporting and evaluation processes required adequate resourcing of skills and time, and
- some projects have much longer-term outcomes or indirect benefits that are difficult to measure.
Just under half (46.9%) of respondents stated that their fund has conducted an evaluation of its own effectiveness.
