Here's Why Giving is Good for You and the PM

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull probably feels quite good about donating his salary to charity because giving is good for us, says Australia’s peak body for philanthropy.

News broke this week that Turnbull donates his $528,000 salary to charity.

But it may surprise some people to know that politicians do not represent the most giving occupation.

That honour belongs to the nation’s police who for the sixth consecutive year had by occupation the highest percentage of donating taxpayers, according to a regular survey released this month.

Philanthropy Australia CEO Sarah Davies said the PM was leading by example with his donation.

“Though philanthropy is not just about the dollars – it’s about being deliberate and intentional in how we go about being part of positive change for our community,” she said.

Davies said good philanthropy was not about how much money was donated but about being an active citizen, participating and giving what you can, in the ways that you enjoy, to help others, create positive change and be part of building better futures.

“As well as being good for the community, giving is good for us – there is plenty of evidence that ‘pro-social behaviours’ such as giving and volunteering have positive benefits for our physical, emotional and mental health,” Davies said.

The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at QUT this month published An Examination of Tax-Deductible Donations Made By Individual Australian Taxpayers in 2015–16

Among many other things it studied the percentage of donating taxpayers to total taxpayers within each occupation code in 2015–16.

Police is the leading occupation for donations

“For the sixth year in a row, the occupation with the highest percentage of donating taxpayers was police, in which 73 per cent of taxpayers made a tax-deductible donation,” the report said.

The occupation with the next highest percentage of donating taxpayers was school principals with 64 per cent, followed by policy and planning managers (60 per cent), and judicial and other legal professionals (58 per cent).

This results were consistent with previous years.

“Traditionally, this list is dominated by professions that involve senior management positions that require a high degree of demonstrated leadership, often of ‘close’ teams such as police, health, education, legal and banking and finance,” the report said.

“There has been little shift in this list since 2010–11 with police, school principals and policy and planning managers being in the top four for eight years now.”

Chief executives and managing directors also regularly claimed the highest amount in total and for average gift.