There is a science to fundraising. Unbeknown to those who give to charity, their decisions and motivation are based on powerful psychological and behavioural economics. Research conducted by behavioural economist George Loewenstein and his co-authors found that donors are more motivated to donate when confronted by a story of a single victim rather than when faced with a wall of statistical information about those in need. Research also shows that as the number of donors to a particular cause increase, others are motivated to give to the same cause – indicating that giving can be an inherently social act. What would happen if many, motivated by the story of one, combined forces to enable change?
As South Africa continues to progress toward a service economy, an increasing number of people are spending a greater amount of time in offices. This has lead to the working environment becoming more integrated with our social lives. With this in mind, it would only make sense that our burgeoning middle class are given the opportunity, within their working environments, to contribute to South Africa’s upliftment by way of charitable giving.
Payroll giving would seem like an obvious solution for those who want to help change society in a meaningful way. With payroll giving, people can donate a percentage of their salary (before income tax), on a monthly basis, to non-profit organisations and so doing, improve the financial sustainability of such organisations. Although payroll giving presents itself as a good strategy, which is supported by government, it has been surprisingly slow to take on in South Africa.
Perhaps the answer to this would be that in South Africa payroll giving in its current form is somewhat impersonal, and payroll donors are unable to appreciate the significance of the difference that they are making. With an overwhelming need in many sectors ranging from poverty and health care to education and the environmental disaster which is rhino poaching, the side effect of this seemingly incurable need is that the average South African has begun to feel the effect of compassion fatigue. A lack of meaningful feedback on projects and non-profit activity creates the impression that the black hole of giving is ever-increasing and the small individual donation to large non-profit organisations has less relevance and makes little difference.
Despite this, a recent study conducted by Charities Aid Foundation South Africa on giving by “ordinary people” living in Gauteng found that people do still give. However, instead of donating to established non-profit organisations, they are redirecting their donations to individuals familiar to them and giving ‘goods in kind’ to non-profit organisations. This is good news and backs up Loewenstein’s research, but still leaves the fate of South Africa’s 130 000 non-profit organisations in the balance – they cannot be supported by international and governmental institutions alone.
This is where the concept of payroll giving can be revisited. Some may ask whether it still has a future in South Africa – we think so. With a more user-efficient and interactive approach, we believe that payroll giving can be revolutionised, providing a much-needed consistent income stream for non-profit organisations. The Different.org Different Payroll Giving system, launching this month, enables you to choose between a number of beneficiary non-profit organisations – and allows you to follow the change your donation makes by providing you with regular on-the-ground feedback.
As a donor, the Different.org wallet gives you the flexibility to decide where your money goes. Your monthly payroll donation is allocated to the wallet, and from here, you can choose to donate to multiple causes and non-profit organisations. The upside for non-profit organisations on Different.org is the opportunity to benefit from a three-source funding stream: direct funding via Different.org as a philanthropy crowdfunding plaform; Different Donations via Different Life; and the Different Payroll Giving system.
As well as being beneficial for non-profit organisations, the Different Payroll Giving system empowers you to enable non-profit organisations to continue their work – and gives you the opportunity to see how you are helping make a difference.
Go here to learn more: https://different.org/different-payroll-giving/
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