philanthropyOz Blog

Recommended Reading

Here in the Philanthropy Australia office we’ve started putting our feelers out into the more informal online publishing done by nonprofits around the globe. The UK and the USA both have a number of philanthropy blogs - both professional and personal (and sometimes both!) - sharing opinions, information, and links to news and research that bloggers think their readers will be interested in.

Looking around, as far as we can tell we’re the first philanthropy blog on the Australian blogging scene. Instead of just sharing the interesting tidbits on philanathropy that we come up with with each other here in the office, we’re going to be posting links to them in this philanthropyOz Blog, and letting you know why we think you should read them.

If you find anything we’ve missed, please feel free to leave a comment here or drop us an email. If you’d like to subscribe to updates, check out our info page on how to do so.

This week we’ve come across the following:

Wealthy charity donor driven away
This article reports that charitable tax considerations may have influenced the decision of New Zealand’s richest woman, Jan Cameron, to move to Tasmania. The article discusses the limitations of the tax law on donations in New Zealand, and Philanthropy New Zealand’s push to reform the system and remove disincentives to donating large amounts of money.

Philanthropy detected in brain scans!
“ALTRUISM, one of the most difficult human behaviours to define, can be detected in brain scans, US researchers claim. They found that activity in a specific area of the brain could predict altruistic behaviour — and people’s own reports of how selfish or giving they are.”

The 59 Smartest NP Organisations Online (USA)
“These charities were chosen for their excellence in online storytelling and collaboration with their donors. We didn’t play favorites to one cause over another, nor did we look at their fundraising goals or number of members. Instead, these organizations are winners because of their web 2.0 smarts and a willingness to engage their constituents far beyond asking them to dig into their pockets.”

Blogs, Discussion and Charity
A response to The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s article in their December edition on philanthropy blogs, posted on TheIncubator, a USA nonprofit blog. (If you’re a Member of Philanthropy Australia and would like a copy of that article, please contact Emily at the Resource Centre.)

Also check out our News page, and if you’re a Member, PRESSing Matters, our weekly Australian media alert service.