Thursday, February 19, 2009
Restoring livelihoods and rebuilding lives in the aftermath of the floods
I was watching CNN last night with more reporting on the ferocity and devastation of the Victorian fires when the commentator tried to explain the distance between the fire front and the flooding in Queensland.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
What Makes You Happy?
The Australian Wellbeing Index investigates how Australians feel about their own lives and life in Australia. The first report of seven years of research by Deakin University and Australian Unity makes fascinating reading"
Charitable support in the face of the Victorian bushfires
At a time when corporate profits have gone south and their philanthropic giving is being squeezed, it's great to see the establishment of the SBS Foundation and its creative commitment in the form of $2m worth of airtime for charities and charitable causes( http://www.sbs.com.au/future/web/upload_media/site_32_rand_1817458830_SBS_Foundation_FINAL.doc)
The lucky charities selected will receive 12 months of support which is what is really required to build brand recognition and a strong profile.This is often what is needed for a charity to develop a sustainable funding model, and is just what many charities don't believe that donor confidence can be sustained if their donations go into marketing. Such a conundrum is referred to as the 'gift relationship' described by Richard Titmuss in his seminal work The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy contrasting ethcially based behaviour and behaviour motivated by self interest.
For example, in Australia the Red Cross provides a service allowing donors to make anonymous blood and blood product donations. Titmuss suggests that in this where there is no financial reward and where there is no cost for recipients who also do not know the identity of the donor, then this free gift of blood leaves the relationship between giver and receiver as being uncompromised by any 'contract of custom;legal bond;functional determinism;situations of discriminatory power; nor by domination, constraint or compulsion'.
Comparing that with the US model, where people are paid to donate blood. When this was introduced people's willingness to donate blood reduced because the transaction had become tarnished by commercialism causing such consequences as the repression of expressions of altruism and an erosion of a sense of community.
The enormity of the devastation in the Victorian Bushfires makes me glad to be living in Australia, able to donate my blood and blood products freely, knowing that I'm doing my bit to alleviate the suffering of the many burn victims. Australians all over the world are rallying to the call to action in solidarity with the people of Victoria. It's that sense of community, identifying with the trauma and willingness to dig deep that is fundamentally a part of our national psyche and our sense of wellbeing. It brings out the best in all of us.
The lucky charities selected will receive 12 months of support which is what is really required to build brand recognition and a strong profile.This is often what is needed for a charity to develop a sustainable funding model, and is just what many charities don't believe that donor confidence can be sustained if their donations go into marketing. Such a conundrum is referred to as the 'gift relationship' described by Richard Titmuss in his seminal work The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy contrasting ethcially based behaviour and behaviour motivated by self interest.
For example, in Australia the Red Cross provides a service allowing donors to make anonymous blood and blood product donations. Titmuss suggests that in this where there is no financial reward and where there is no cost for recipients who also do not know the identity of the donor, then this free gift of blood leaves the relationship between giver and receiver as being uncompromised by any 'contract of custom;legal bond;functional determinism;situations of discriminatory power; nor by domination, constraint or compulsion'.
Comparing that with the US model, where people are paid to donate blood. When this was introduced people's willingness to donate blood reduced because the transaction had become tarnished by commercialism causing such consequences as the repression of expressions of altruism and an erosion of a sense of community.
The enormity of the devastation in the Victorian Bushfires makes me glad to be living in Australia, able to donate my blood and blood products freely, knowing that I'm doing my bit to alleviate the suffering of the many burn victims. Australians all over the world are rallying to the call to action in solidarity with the people of Victoria. It's that sense of community, identifying with the trauma and willingness to dig deep that is fundamentally a part of our national psyche and our sense of wellbeing. It brings out the best in all of us.
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