Tuesday, 26 March 2024
    Where do donations go?
    18
    Jan
    Charity

    Where do donations go?

    Do our good intentions always produce positive outcomes for the causes — and people — we hope to help? ABC News asks.

    Or are we naïvely contributing to not-so-effective organisations?

    Michael Noetel is a psychologist and senior lecturer in the school of behavioural and health sciences at the Australian Catholic University.

    He’s given a lot of thought to why we donate, and how our goodwill can have the greatest impact.

    “Most people give to charity because they want to help people,” he says.

    “But if that’s the case, we should really look for the charities that do the most good in the world — and I don’t think most of us do that yet.

    “We often give because there’s some nice feeling that we get when we think about a certain charity, but that nice feeling isn’t a good predictor of how effective the charity is at helping people.”

    For example, Dr Noetel points to a much-loved organisation: Guide Dogs Australia.

    “Guide dogs are amazing. They’re beautiful animals and they really help a blind person for about nine years, which is how long the guide dog’s career is before they have to be retired,” he says.

    “The problem is they cost $50,000 to train and they help one person for a short period of time. They don’t cure their blindness, they just make their life easier.”

    Conversely, Dr Noetel points out, there are charities overseas that can cure blindness for a fraction of that cost.

    “If you don’t care about where people live, or the colour of their skin, it costs $100 to permanently cure someone of blindness if it’s caused by trachoma in the developing world,” he says.

    Dr Noetel says such information isn’t a case against donating to the guide dogs — in fact, his mother is a big supporter — but it’s important to be equipped with information on how far our money goes.

    FULL STORY

    Where do your charity donations actually go? (ABC News)

    FULL STORY

    It takes two years and costs more than $50,000 to train a guide dog.(Supplied: Guide Dogs Victoria)