The increasing frequency of disaster events across Australia has stimulated an outpouring of spontaneous giving and volunteering, both formally through nonprofit and government agencies and informally through local community and online networks and grass-roots organising.
ACPNS research, currently and in years past, has aimed to understand the motivations and characteristics of giving and volunteering, and we offer the below articles in honour of Australia’s enormous and long-standing tradition of supporting individuals and organisations affected by natural disasters – mateship in action.
Disaster grantmaking
In times of disaster, many generous donors give to one or more appeals. The experienced grantmaker may then be called upon to do what they do best: distribute money. But is grantmaking in a disaster simply a variant of ‘everyday’ grantmaking? Or does it present some very different responsibilities?
Three key challenges facing disaster grantmakers are described and contextualised to three major disasters in Australia within the last decade: the 2011 Queensland floods and cyclone, the 2019/2020 bushfires, and the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic (specifically in an Australian context).
Citation: Williamson, Alexandra (2021) Disaster grantmaking. PhiLab: Canadian Philanthropy Partnership Research Network, 9 January 2021. [Article]
‘Double Disaster’: What can global philanthropy learn from Australia’s consecutive bushfire and COVID-19 crises?
If, as Oscar Wilde remarked, losing one parent may be regarded as a misfortune but losing two looks like carelessness, the same might be said of disasters. For Australian nonprofit organizations and philanthropic foundations scrambling to frame and action responses to the unprecedented damage caused by 2019-20 bushfires in four states, the advent of coronavirus seems worse than unlucky. But does Australia’s double experience of misfortune offer any useful insights?
While it is obviously too early for comprehensive national data on giving by individuals, corporates and philanthropic foundations, there are some key themes and reflections on the similarities, differences and challenges of Australia’s philanthropic response to disaster overload.
Citation: Williamson, Alexandra & Leat, Diana (2020) ‘Double Disaster’: What can global philanthropy learn from Australia’s consecutive bushfire and COVID-19 crises? Sage Publications.
Place-based and community-led: Australian case studies show how local, national and international philanthropy can connect to needs on the ground
The COVID-19 pandemic has stripped back many invisible assumptions and exposed systems and institutions to the full gaze of the public in unprecedented ways. While the pandemic is ongoing and its social and economic impacts will endure for have also created some positive changes. Such opportunities have surfaced in the work of Australia’s community foundation sector.
COVID-19 arrived while some of the 2019/20 ‘Black Summer’ Australian wildfires were still burning. Almost overnight, public debate about fires and climate crisis turned instead to the pandemic and the extraordinary public health measures put in place in response. As economic insecurity and fear took hold, community need was growing rapidly while fundraising became extremely challenging. Never was there a greater need for the connected, collaborative, and hyper-local approach that characterizes the work of community foundations. This short article presents three ‘bite-sized’ case study snapshots from the Australian context to illustrate the point: authentic connection to community and a simple structure to enable anyone to contribute within their capacity are key to making community foundations such effective responders in times of crisis. One local, one national and one international philanthropic funder highlight variation in practices and scope, while retaining a shared focus on equity, effectiveness and innovation.
Citation: Williamson, Alexandra & Scholz, Gerlinde (2021) Place-based and community-led: Australian case studies show how local, national and international philanthropy can connect to needs on the ground. The Philanthropic Year, 3, pp. 24-26, November 2021. [Featured article]
Giving Australia
Giving Australia is the largest ever national analysis of giving and volunteering undertaken in this country. Its findings and insights are informing the way nonprofits operate in many areas, from governance to ethical marketing and fundraising. This project provides a critical analysis on giving and volunteering behaviours, attitudes and trends in four key areas;
- Individual giving and volunteering
- Philanthropy and philanthropists
- The nonprofit perspective
- Business giving and volunteering
Volunteer Ready? Preparing Queenslanders for the expected unexpected (issues in insurance and risk management of volunteers)
Inevitably, some volunteers will be injured during their voluntary work, cause injury to others or damage another person’s property. While there are many legal protections already in place for volunteers, they do not cover every circumstance. Even where an organisation has taken out an insurance policy for their volunteers, it will may be subject to many exclusions, and may not cover ‘spontaneous’ volunteers in a disaster situation. It can be difficult for organisations (and their volunteers) to know exactly when their volunteers will be protected, and what they must do to make sure the protections apply. The “Expecting the unexpected” theme of this paper pays particular attention to the preparedness of volunteers during disasters.
Spontaneous Volunteering During Natural Disasters
Relatively little is understood about the motivations and characteristics of spontaneous volunteers. The aims of this project were to:
- Examine the characteristics and motivations of spontaneous volunteers who respond to a crisis event;
- Illuminate the effects of spontaneous volunteering on personal, social and civic networks;
- Explicate the conditions under which sustained volunteering and other forms of civic engagement arise from spontaneous volunteering and;
- Consider the practical implications of these findings for organisations involved in coordinating volunteers both with and beyond disaster events.
The study particularly illuminates the influence of the way(s) in which people are asked to help, the importance of relationships to people and place, and the therapeutic function of spontaneous volunteering as factors that both shape and motivate spontaneous volunteering experiences. Greater recognition of these factors could enhance the work of institutions and organisations that are involved in volunteer coordination, public health and health promotion aimed at community resilience.
Citation: Barraket, Jo, Keast, Robyn, Newton, Cameron J., Walters, Kristy, & James, Emily (2013) Spontaneous Volunteering During Natural Disasters. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland. [Working Paper]
Financial support for nonprofit organisations
Did you know that the Queensland Government is providing Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grants to assist directly impacted nonprofits following the devastating floods in February and March of 2022?
Grants of up to $50,000 to assist with the costs of clean-up and reinstatement are available for affected nonprofit organisations in South East Queensland. Money is available to hire or purchase equipment and materials, clean up, remove debris, repair or replace damaged infrastructure or goods and other costs associated with the recovery process. Grants for nonprofit organisations are available through two applications:
- An initial amount of up to $15,000 is available to support an initial claim. Evidence of the direct damage is required such as photographs, quotations, tax invoices or official receipts.
- A subsequent amount of up to $35,000 is available to support subsequent claims for which full evidence of payment is required.
Disaster assistance is also being offered to organisations affected by flooding in New South Wales. Find out more
