eftpos Needs Help to Donate $1M to an Aussie Charity
12 July 2012 at 12:09 pm
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eftpos is donating $1million to charity |
Electronic funds transfer system company, eftpos Australia, wants to donate $1 million dollars to charity and it wants Australia’s opinion about which worthy cause should receive the donation.
eftpos Managing Director Bruce Mansfield said there were so many worthy causes in Australia that eftpos was seeking input and guidance from Australian consumers about where the money could be put to best use this year.
Last year, Australian encouraged eftpos to donate $1 million to the Salvos for a number of community programs across Australia.
Mansfield said eftpos had already spoken to a number of Australian charities and the community’s opinion would also be a key consideration in making the decision.
He said eftpos has launched a Facebook site asking Australians to select their preference for where the donation should be directed from a number of important social issues, including:
- Assisting people with disabilities
- Helping disadvantaged families and children
- Disease prevention
- Homelessness
- Medical research
- Mental health and depression
- Supporting families and children through health crisis
The survey will run for 10 days, finishing at midnight on 21 July and can be found here or here.
“Based on our research, these are some of the major issues in our society that would benefit from a significant donation,” Mansfield said.
“They are all very worthy of our support. That’s why we’re asking for a little guidance from the Australian community. After all, we will be asking the community to get involved in the eftpos Giveback campaign at Christmas, so we thought they might like to get involved in the selection process as well.”
Almost 6 million eftpos transactions are made each day, comprising $285 million in purchases and $40 million in cash out. In 2011, Australian consumers performed more than 2.1 billion eftpos transactions worth $131 billion at 325,000 merchants, using 750,000 eftpos terminals.
While I greatly admire and honour those organisations and individuals who give so generously to charities such as those listed, it seems that environmental organisations are never represented. The recipients of tax deductible gifts always seem to be health and wellness – very deserving I know – but what about the future of our native fauna and flora? With changes across all levels of government nationally the environment funds have either been drastically reduced or withdrawn altogether. It would be nice to see at least one national or state based environmental organisation listed as “a worthy charity”.
Let me think about that… better to save people, or animals and plants? Hmmmm… tough call. NOT!
JDRF is dedicated to finding a cure for type 1 diabetes and type 1 diabetes complications through the best available research.
Help us find a cure to Type 1 Diabetes pleeeease.
Whilst I applaud EFTPOS for their giving program maybe next year they could simply send the first 1000 Australians to land on their Facebook page $1000.00 worth of Karma Currency – Australia’s favourite online charity gift voucher.
Then, each receipient would be empowered to pass on the donation to the charities and projects they care about most.
We find it’s a little more engaging, more empowering and more enjoyable way to give.
But again, bravo EFTPOS.
This is an awesome initiative, but with so many different types of charities, I believe it would be more advantageous to share the $1M across 2-3 agencies.
And I have to agree with the previous post of including other types of charities and not just those focusing on health and wellbeing. The environment is a necessity for us to continue our health and wellbeing! Environmental NFPs often implement initiatives that work towards not only improving the environment but also the health and wellbeing of the community. I think reframing this to “worthy” charities is a great laterally-thinking option!
I’m sure if Australians realised just how cruel and un-scientific much of the animal testing is which is done routinely on modern day medical research, they’d think twice about supporting some charities in the name of medical research. How about – as no animal charities were listed here, eftpos only donates the money to those charities that do not test on animals if a medical research charity is listed? A little bit of transparency would highlight the terror that native wildlife, dogs, cats, rabbits and mice – even – yes, monkeys go through here in Australia. That’d be real charity.
Following the press over the past weeks an outstanding point has been the lack of awareness by both those offering help to those with the epilepsy condition, (neurologists). As well as the journalists employed to report on studies currently conducted, ie disregarding the prevalence of the condition in our society today.
Charities such as epilepsy Australia, who work without government funding, nor adequate membership nor public suppport struggle to complete studies such as Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), Annually physically struggling to aide those who then die, and their grieving families remain left unmet.
Donations such as eftpos need to be directed to groups such as this who are not supported, yet who are providing research to those with a condition which affects conservativley 185,825 people, the fifth highest disability in our country. When will we recognise the epilepsy condition publicly?
I agree that charities that deal with family issues,health issues including medical research are all great reasons to donate to, however, what about the animals?
Nearly everyone has had some sort of dealings with animals, albeit, as a family pet, farm animal or even necessary whilst working.
The RSPCA receives less than 3% government funding and yet if someone sees an injured animal or finds a lost pet, one of the first organisations people contact is the RSPCA.
Please remember the ANIMALS and donate to these charities too!
I have believe it or not had the financial industry take 50% of my pension since 1972 I have had the most horrific illness yet on top of this debilitating illness Ive had to endure the horror of for most of my life having to live off my mother peoples rubbish or charities because most of my pension income was lost even before I got it Brokers would give me credit to buy shares knowing Id have to quickly resell them and then Id next pension have to pay for the loss this went on year in year our you may be sceptical of the truth of this but I do have much evidence I wished I had more but the whole system seems devoted to burying the past
I agree with a previous comment regarding spreading the allocation among 2 or 3 charities. Whilst I understand the push back regarding health and well being charities benefiting from such a wonderful allocation, and am sympathetic to environmental causes, there are many health care charities independent of government whose work is critical to the health and wellbeing of Australians. One such charity is Kidney Health Australia whose vision is: ‘to save and improve the lives of Australians affected by kidney disease’. As kidney disease affects 1.7 million Australians and is a deadly silent killer it is very worthy of this type of donation which would be channelled into early detection and prevention programs nationally.
It’s shame that so many Australian’s will be `disadvantaged’ by the very narrow selection of `important social issues’ selected by EFTPOS.
I’m sure that there’s differences but the following all look like minor variations on a single theme: Disease prevention, Medical research, Mental health and depression, Supporting families and children through health crisis.
Wake up EFTPOS! the environment, animal welfare, discrimination on the basis of sex or sexuality are all very important social issues to millions of Australians. Why not be inclusive, rather than exclusive, if your aim is to promote your brand/service to a wider range of Australians (especially as Mastercard and Visa appear to be more inclusive in their community activities).
Something is better than nothing – Thank you
I too applaud this significant donation. I agree environment is often but missed but I’ve never seen an animal shelter or animal welfare agency come up in these things. I also think it would be ideal to split it between 4 agencies – a $250,000 would still make a difference in all the types of projects listed above. If Helping disadvantaged families and children is the winner, how do they then decide which agency to engage? Is there is a process for national NFPs to present their credentials?
I also wish to support sharing the 1M across several charitable organisations including those from multicultural communities, who have members experiencing barriers which prevent from utilising services and supports on an equitable basis.
Cheers
If a company can give away $1 mill what does it say about its bottom line? a nice marketing exercise ? Perhaps they may consider reducing their charges to all Australians and allow those people the financial benefit so that they may choose how to give to their personal charity or cause. Let’s not emulate other countries whose companies rip off their customers on the one hand and then make themselves appear beneficient by giving back some morsel to charity.
Great initiative
Perhaps split the amount between 1 xlarge NFP and 1x small NFP
When asking for the public vote – the charity with the large databases win as they promote internall.
This means the little guys miss out and some could really use the money as it would make a bigger impact to their work.
It would increase the reach of the initiative also as all the smaller NFPs would rally their supporters and increase the word of mouth.
Help the little guys make a bigger difference…
Why not consider investing in a range of projects that create opportunites for those helped to pay it forward as well to others. I know that the Sammy jo foundation is looking for funds to build a property to assist the families of children with extreme sensitivity to sunlight
Respite homes for young adults with various conditions would also be a great way of making a difference with the funds
There is a great opportunity for EFTPOS to build engagement with their staff through their generous corporate donation. They could do this by encouraging their staff to also donate to the selected cause via a payroll deduction and use the $1million to match or double match the employees’ donations. That way the organisation as a whole can celebrate the impact they achieve on the selected social issue and the selected charity will recieve the combined gifts of EFTPOS and its employees.
Workplace (payroll) giving (particularly when the employer matches the donations of their employees) is a great way for employers to build trust and employee engagment.
Sea Shepherd – for saving our oceans without which the planet can't survive, Greenpeace – in need at the moment as 30 activists have been illegally detained by Russia and imprisoned for two months – for trying to get the word out that the Arctic needs saving……….and IFAW or Orangutan Oddessy – Humans are wiping out rain forests and the 2nd most intelligent land mammal on this planet – for what? PALM OIL!! They need help – one day our grandchildren will be asking why we did it when we knew what we were doing – these organisations need help. If we don't look after the animals, oceans and plants on this planet – the human race will end up in trouble – and there's no one to save us!!! Thank you