The Charity Aid Foundation (CAF) produces the comprehensive annual World Giving Index showing their analysis of donations of money, volunteer time and assistance to strangers around the world. Almost 150 000 people in 142 countries were surveyed. Aside from obtaining demographic and social attitudes, interviewees are asked about their actions in the previous month via these questions:

• Have you donated money to a charity?
• Have you helped a stranger or someone you did not know who needed help?
• Have you volunteered your time to an organisation?

These responses are calculated per country, considering the populations in each and result in an index score and a global ranking. The higher the score, the more people are engaged in giving in some form. And, conversely, the lower the score, the fewer citizens donate, help strangers or volunteer. The survey showed that 72% of the world’s population – 4.2 billion adults – assist in some manner. 

What is most heartening (and surprising to many) is that the wealthiest Western countries don’t top the list. Based on all three criteria, Indonesians are ahead – for the sixth year in succession. 

Citizens of Myanmar donated the most money per capita, with Indonesians second and the British third.

Jamaicans top the list for helping strangers. Liberians were second and Libyans third.

Liberians gave the most volunteer time, followed by Indonesians and Tajikistanis.

People generally do want to help good causes, but many don’t know where to begin, which organisations can be trusted ... and which ones work in a sector that interests them.

South Africans don’t feature in any of the top ten tables, but neither do they appear on the list of the bottom three. The country ranked 57th overall with 71% of adults reporting that they helped strangers; 30% gave of their time and 24% donated money to NPOs, faith-based entities, schools, clubs or tertiary institutions. Lowest on the Index were Yemen, Croatia and Poland. www.cafonline.org 

People generally do want to help good causes, but many don’t know where to begin, which organisations can be trusted (despite the over 300,000 registered non-profits in South Africa) and which ones work in a sector that interests them.

Crowdfunding, for instance, offers everyone the opportunity to give, irrespective of the amount. Regular and committed giving to one or a few organisations is not for everyone. The ongoing bombardment of fundraising emails and social media appeals can be overwhelming and, with online fraud rife, people can’t be blamed for mistrusting requests from NPOs and institutions that they don’t know. Crowdfunding, on a credible platform such as BackaBuddy, offers the peace of mind of knowing that the organisation has undergone due diligence, what the money will be spent on, that small gifts are welcome and make a difference collectively and that they are not locked into regular giving. www.backabuddy.org 

Challenge events (such as participating in a running or cycling race, climbing a mountain, attempting to break a world record or pretty much anything innovative or creative, particularly if it attracts media coverage) for an organisation verified by platforms such as GivenGain www.givengain.com also offer opportunities for one-off involvement of supporters. 

NPO fundraisers are tasked with constantly raising money from as many (collective) sources as possible. Income must keep up with inflation and the rate of growth and expansion of organisations as well as donor attrition. Corporate, trust and foreign mission donors often have policies that prevent repeat giving. (Some insist on beneficiary organisations sitting out a year or two to curb dependency on their funding.) Many companies change the focus of their CSI giving. Foreign donor trusts and foundations move away from funding South African NPOs after a while as crises arise elsewhere. Individual donors too cease giving and/or support different organisations. Not what fundraisers want to hear – but reality, all the same. 

Encouraging giving differently and attracting new supporters via crowdfunding and challenge events, with donors and participants sharing their support and endeavours with their networks (and hopefully their networks’ networks) and thereby harnessing the power, immediacy and global reach of social media, all help in the constant quest to grow the donor and friend base of non-profits.