Canberrans are among the most generous Australians, but four-fifths of their donations go outside the ACT, Hands Across Canberra’s CEO, Peter Gordon, states. The 360 charities that the community foundation supports rely to some extent on local donations and local charity.
The financial year ends next Friday (30 June), and Hands Across Canberra is calling on ACT residents to give where they live and help locals in need to stay safe, fed, and warm.
At least 40,000 Canberrans are living below the poverty line, and “really struggling”, Mr Gordon said. “The most vulnerable people cop it the worst under any circumstance”: cost of living pressures, COVID-19, interest rate rises, and electricity and power price rises.
“They were struggling before all the prices went up,” Mr Gordon said. “Now the chance to keep their kids at school, give them school lunches, and just put a roof over their heads and have a warm house is really difficult. It’s very hard to achieve.”
This is where Hands Across Canberra steps in. The foundation was created in 2010 to raise funds for community-service organisations working with vulnerable Canberrans, and to encourage ACT residents to be generous at home.
Canberrans are the second most generous people in Australia, Mr Gordon remarked; on average, each adult donates about $700 every year to charity.
But 85 per cent of that $700 leaves Canberra to national and international charities.
That means, Mr Gordon suspects, that Canberrans are probably more aware of national or international charities than they are of local charities.
“A lot of charities in Canberra that work with vulnerable people are in quite a specialised area. Unless you had a particular issue in your family, or with yourself, you wouldn’t necessarily be aware of the work that some of them are doing. Our job is to raise awareness about the organisations that are out there doing great work, but are working quietly in the suburbs.”
Mr Gordon drew attention to two organisations that work with disadvantaged young people: Raw Potential Canberra and the Canberra Police Community Youth Club (PCYC).
“Both of those organisations employ quite a large number of youth workers, and it’s the job of those youth workers to try to engage young people in positive activities, which give them a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging, which are otherwise not available. If kids in difficult circumstances are left to their own devices, they can lead quite a challenging life. But if you give them opportunities, if you connect them to good people, such as what Menslink does or PCYC or Raw Potential, all of a sudden, the possibility of those young people choosing the right path, and the right path being actively supported, is quite achievable. But those things don’t happen by themselves. All of those organisations heavily rely on the generosity of local Canberrans.”
Again, many food relief organisations “sprang to life, in self-generated forms, as a result of COVID,” Mr Gordon said – “a remarkable phenomenon”.
“They’ve realised that the need is there, and they will keep providing a response to that need. They can’t get enough food; they can’t get enough volunteers to distribute the food; they can’t get enough of all the support structures they need to get the food out. The only thing they’ve got too much of is demand. Demand and supply haven’t quite caught up, and possibly never will.”
Other local charities deal with homelessness. “All of Australia is aware that we’re in a rental crisis,” Mr Gordon said. “The Federal Government’s announcement [on Sunday 18 June] of a $2 billion package for social and affordable housing is a wonderful thing.
- Labor pledges $2b extra housing support as bill stalls (17 June)
- ACT gets $50m as Labor releases breakdown of housing fund pie (18 June)
“However, those houses won’t be available for ages. So people that are living and sleeping rough or sleeping in a car in their backyard will be sleeping in cars and backyards for quite some time, unless we find ways to support homeless organisations, such as the Early Morning Centre in Civic.”
- Early Morning Centre is a lifesaver for homeless Canberrans (14 September 2022)
Hands Across Canberra supports a wide spectrum of charities: disabilities; cancer and other diseases; gender or sexual diversity; drug addiction; music, art, and photography; literacy; unpaid carers; emergency service volunteers; defence force welfare; women’s refuges, domestic violence and rape; Aboriginal women; men’s groups; community law; renting, homelessness, and low-income housing; refugees; newborns; and pets and wildlife.
“The more we make people aware that there are organisations here that are in real need, the more chance we’ve got of getting Canberrans to be generous at home,” Mr Gordon said.
Donors can either look through Hands Across Canberra’s list of 360 charities and donate directly to that organisation, or donate to the foundation, which distributes money through grants.
On Wednesday, Hands Across Canberra will announce a million-dollar grant round in partnership with the Snow Foundation, the John James Foundation, and Aspen Medical.
“Organisations apply,” Mr Gordon said. “We don’t tell them that they have to apply for particular things; it’s up to them to tell us what’s important to them, and then we respond to that.”
In the last financial year, for instance, Hands Across Canberra provided funds for HOME in Queanbeyan, a long-term home for 20 mentally ill people who are at risk of homelessness, to upgrade its kitchen; helped three West Belconnen charities, Pegasus Riding for the Disabled, Canberra City Care, and Karinya House, to expand their programs, with the support of Ginninderry; and distributed 165 laptops to more than 50 community organisations.
- Laptops donated to Canberra community organisations (15 December 2022)
“There is any number of opportunities for charities to do more; they’ve never got enough money,” Mr Gordon said. “We can create the chance for them to do more with generous support.”
Hands Across Canberra wants to raise $200,000 or $300,000 by the end of this month. All donations above $2 are tax-deductible, and Hands Across Canberra’s grants system can double or triple donations.
“You donate a dollar; it doesn’t cost you a dollar,” Mr Gordon said. “With our grant system, we generally turn a grants dollar into two or three dollars. So, the tax-deductible dollar, when it gets handed to the charity, ends up at two, three, or four dollars …
“There is no reason for people not to be generous locally, other than awareness. There’s need out there …”
For more information, visit: handsacrosscanberra.org.au/campaigns/end-of-financial-year-appeal-2023/.
