I haven’t purposely singled out the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre – this email I received today is one of many over the past few days that specifically references Tax-time as the reason to give.
I have a theory – and it would be great to hear yours: It’s not about a tax deduction, it’s about the cause.
If you are wealthy enough that a tax deduction makes an actual difference to your finances each year, chances are you don’t need to be reminded about it. Your accountant will do that for you.
If you are not wealthy enough for philanthropy to make a significant to your taxable income, then you probably care more about cancer, preventable blindness or three-legged puppies.
Of course, many people are concerned about reducing their taxable when they probably shouldn’t be; we all know of supporters who will phone at 9am on Monday July 3rd to chase their receipt for a $2 donation. But given this is such a small proportion of your organisation’s total tax-time giving value, and assuming that people have greater motivations to support you during the other 360 days of the year – shouldn’t we appeal to people’s compassion and sense of charity first and their self motivations second?
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