OzBargain 2018 Christmas Donations - $31,722 to Charities of Your Choice

Updates

  • 13 Dec 10AM: We now have 50 charities in the poll, and will not take any more suggestions.

  • 18 Dec 10PM: We have 672 unique commenters, and a total of $31,722 will be donated to the following 6 charities (at $5,287 each)

    • beyondblue
    • Cancer Council
    • RSPCA Australia
    • R U OK?
    • Alzheimer's Australia
    • Fred Hollows Foundation


It's that time of the year where we get to do our biannually charity donations, where you, the community members, suggest and vote for the top 5 charities to receive a total of $25,000, donated by OzBargain. Moreover, for every unique commenter in this thread, we will be donating an extra $10!

Similar to last year:

  1. Check whether your favourite charity has already been suggested (they should be alphabetically sorted under Poll Options). If it has, vote it up! Otherwise you can suggest it by posting a top-level comment (i.e. not replying existing comments)

    Suggest a poll option

    If you are suggesting a charity, please provide a link & 1 or 2 sentence telling us what the charity does. It would greatly help other OzBargainers making decisions.

  2. Even if your preferred charity has been suggested, leave a comment and let us know! Remember every unique commenter on this thread will add an extra $10 to the donation.

  3. The poll will run for 7 days. After the poll expires, votes will be revealed and the top 5 charities will be sharing the pool of donation of AUD $25,000 + $10 x number of unique commenters. For example if 500 OzBargainers commented in this thread, we'll donate $30,000 to the chosen charities at $5,000 each.

    I am also putting a cap of maximum 1,000 commenters (just in case), making the cap of the donation at $35,000. If we can reach that level the donation will be shared with top 7 charities from the poll (still at $5,000 each).

Which charity should I suggest?

  • It must be a registered charity eligible for DGR (deductible gift recipient). That would unfortunately make NPOs like Wikipedia & Sea Shepherd ineligible.

  • As we are OzBargain, it would be great if the charity is Australia based or benefits Australians.

  • There are many worthy charities. However as it's for Christmas this year, let's prioritise on charities working on social welfare.

  • I will also close the suggestion feature after we have reached 50 charities.

To get started, I have included top 10 most voted charities from last year's poll. Suggestion & commenting starts today (11 Dec) and will close at 12PM on Tuesday 18 Dec. I will then work out the total amount of donation we will send to the charities, and hopefully get all the donations made by Christmas 2018.

Poll Options expired

Comments

  • +11

    Thank you, this is wonderful.

  • +2

    Great work

  • Add on another $10

  • Suggested Lighthouse Foundation

    Lighthouse Foundation.

    Lighthouse Foundation provides homeless young people from backgrounds of long-term neglect and abuse, with a home, a sense of family, and around-the-clock therapeutic care that is individually tailored, trauma informed and proven to work.

    http://lighthousefoundation.org.au

    Great stuff OzB!

  • +5

    Love that this site gives back

  • +9

    gmgklgmg,mrtkg

    • +1

      Googlewhack!

  • +10
  • +1

    Awesome, great work again Scotty.

  • +1

    Keep up good work Scotty & the team

  • Suggested Refugee & Advice Casework Service (RACS)

    https://www.racs.org.au/

    Refugee Advice and Casework Service is one of Australia’s leading refugee legal centres providing free, specialist legal assistance to people seeking asylum and refugees seeking to reunite with their families.

    We are an independent community legal centre (CLC). For over 30 years, RACS has been protecting and advocating for human rights for people seeking asylum, who have made it to Australia.

    • -6

      Nope. The UN defines a refugee as someone with a well founded fear of persecution who seeks protection in the nearest space place. Flying around the world, staying in hotels and paying people smugglers are economic privileges of the world's richest "refugees". There are far more needy that this feel-good "charity" uses to promote itself.

      • +3

        Prove it. All United Nations definitions I can find support your first claim (refugees flee their country due to fear of persecution- it doesn't necessarily mean impoverished, by the way), but I can find nothing to support your claim about seeking protection in the 'nearest space place'.

        • +1

          I assume that was supposed to read "nearest safe place". To me that makes sense - once you are in a safe place, what are you still fleeing from?

      • +6

        Talk about strawman. Do tell me how every refugee fits your pre-existing, biased conception you hold. You call a “charity” you clearly know nothing about “feel good” - the assumptions you’re making show me you’re one of those people who are okay letting their political worldview create a mental safe space, then thinking critically.

  • Some very worthy charities on the list.

  • +2
    Suggested Salvation Army

    Salvation Army helping people doing it tough over Christmas.

  • Suggested Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation

    Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation is directed towards both children and adults so they can think about those who are waiting for a life saving operation and a suitable match for an organ or tissue.

    Think about giving this gift to others so they can live a better life and in some cases, just to live.

    http://www.zaidee.org/

  • Shane Warne Foundation, but only on a full house.

  • +7
    Suggested Be Uplifted (Breast Cancer Charity)

    I say it every year . Be uplifted. It's a breast cancer charity. the 2 women who run it assist women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. at one stage they were operating on a shoe string out of a scout hall room so that all donations actually went towards women (and their families) who are battling breast cancer. beuplifted.org.au

    rather than support a charity where 75+% off donations go to administration, this grass roots organisation pumps such a high percentage to those they purport to assist.

    they assisted my family and I'll continue to promote them every time Ozbargain offers to assist charities.

    edit -this is not to detract from all the other charities that do fantastic work but this is the charity that I support and respect.

    MOD: Link to website.

    • +2

      I will go with this option as well then, as I had 2 lumps removed recently, tho i m lucky both benign. Hope this comment adds another $10 too. Also glad OzBargain is giving back with all the savings from the bargains :)

    • Breast cancer charities are number one on my list too.

      It's something that has affected my very close family and anything that helps assist research or looking after those who are battling it is a good thing.

  • Suggested Barnardos Gifts For Kids

    Barnardos Gifts For Kids

    Barnardos organises gifts for foster children and other vulnerable children who might not otherwise get any present to open on Christmas day. You can also support them by giving an unwrapped present to your local collection place or Barnardos office.

  • +10, Merry Christmas guys :)

  • +11

    I suggest the Fred Hollows Foundation

    Hope Ozbargain can lend a hand to such a worthy cause.

    • Having been a recipient of Fred's work when I was a kid I wholeheartedly agree.

    • This is a great one

    • yep!

    • sounds good to me. so many charities, it's hard to know what they all actually do. this is an easy one though.

    • Here's for the extra $10!

  • Merry Christmas all!

  • Merry Christmas :-)

  • +8
    Suggested Fred Hollows Foundation

    Fred Hollows gets my vote too. It only costs them $25 to restore someones sight. Sad that there are people living in such poverty that $25 is out of their reach for such a major impact on their life.

    • +1

      This is my vote as well. Could you imagine not being able to support your family because you couldn't see but a simple procedure would be able to fix it but it's just too expensive for you? Out of all the charities on this list, this is the best bang for your buck. Charities like cancer research are a big hole for donations. How much will $10,000 dollars actually achieve? One month salary for a researcher? Pfft.

  • Suggested TEAR Australia

    I have no connection apart from donating. TEAR Australia do much good work in third world locations - often Asia and some in Africa. The thing I like is they seed fund people with education, health, food production, and starting low cost small home businese's. Their "back office" cost's are low.

    Things you can give :- chooks,goats, vegie garden and education & healthcare packages.

    https://www.tear.org.au/

  • Have a tenner!

  • Love how ozbargain gives back to the community. All are worthy charities so thank you.

  • Merry Christmas :)

  • +6
    Suggested Royal Flying Doctor Service

    The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is one of the largest and most comprehensive aeromedical organisations in the world. It provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia.

    • +5

      They saved my 6yo brothers life 18 years ago, we had an accident at the farm and he was lifted to Melbourne. He wouldn't have survived if it weren't for them

      • +4

        I'm forever in debt to the RFDS also. I contracted meningococcal meningitis in Kalgoorlie, fell into a coma upon arriving at the local hospital and was flown immediately to Perth. I woke up in Royal Perth Hospital a week later with gangrenous fingers and toes and I had trouble with my speech for a year later but I was alive, all thanks to them.

  • Great initiative!

  • Great work team :)

  • For the $10
    Great work Scotty and team.

  • +2

    Happy Festivus !

  • This is awesome. Merry Christmas!

  • Nice!! Keep
    Up the good work.

  • Top work Ozbargain!

  • Good work

  • Suggested Leprosy Mission Australia

    Leprosy Mission Australia provides financial support to heal those affected by the disease.

    We bought some Jeremy Boot cards as a gift just the other day. Reading the timeline will help you understand how this organization has helped to change lives over the last 150 years.

  • Bravo! That s beautifull! Can i suggest you to choose 25 charities and gift each of them $1000 ?! Every donation count and even $1 can make a difference!

    • +4

      Good suggestion but that's more work administratively, so I prefer fewer charities but higher amount.

      • +1

        Totally understand. Paperwork can be such a headache nowadays. My other suggestion would have been to offer free uniforns and shoes to kids in a public school. But that one would have been not tax deductible! Merry christmas !

        • +1

          0zB shirts - teaching them young.

  • +$10, Merry Christmas :)

  • good work

  • +1

    TAKE10

  • +1

    Share the dignity provides sanitary products for women in need (homeless, domestic violence victims, etc).

    https://www.sharethedignity.com.au

  • i am a unique commenter!

  • +3
    Suggested White Ribbon Australia

    I’d like to suggest a charity that focuses on a problem that claims more victims than terror attacks, yet it doesn’t get that much publicity.

    White Ribbon Australia operates in collaboration with, and alongside, many other organisations working to end men’s violence against women. Our focus and strength is in mobilising men and communities to end men’s violence against women.

    https://www.whiteribbon.org.au

    On average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner.

    Bryant, W. & Bricknall, S. (2017). Homicide in Australia 2012-2014: National Homicide Monitoring Program report. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2ozctxh.

    Brilliant work OzBargain!

    • Why am I downvoted?

      • Perhaps because their cause is "Men's violence against women" instead of just "violence against women" or better yet, just targeting domestic violence as a whole issue not just female victims

      • -3

        Ozbargainers don’t like facts, apparently.
        I bet they don’t complain about men’s charities not including women or trans people. Poor lil babies just wanna feel included and not like their gender perpetrates violence towards women at a much higher rate than vice versa.

    • Wow that is eye-opening. And blunt.
      Truth hurts, and I think that is why you are getting downvotes.

      I support the charity and upvoted you but did you really have to make it so you can't not read it? Some people prefer to stay in their bubble. That's a problem but as I said, truth can be too much too handle sometimes.

  • -5

    Awesome scotty. Do you issue tax deductible receipts for my $10 donation?

    • +10

      We are the ones doing the donation, and sorry can't give you tax invoice for your comment, as ATO wouldn't even want to take 10% of it for GST.

  • +11

    While a lot of fantastic causes and reputable organizations have been suggested, a lot these donations end up going to funding salaries, promotion of that organization and raising awareness.

    I would like to suggest that the money is instead donated directly to homeless shelters staffed fully or primarily by volunteers so we can be sure that this generous donation from OzBargain ends up benefiting the intended beneficiaries in a more immediate fashion.

    $25,000 may not be enough to cure cancer but it can help a lot of people, many with mental health issues, have a good Christmas.

    I would like to propose that instead of nominating large mainstream charities that we instead nominate homeless shelters in each capital city.

    With larger homeless populations, a homeless centre in Sydney & Melbourne should receive $5,000 each and the remaining amount split between homeless centres in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart & Darwin.

    I can't add this as an option but I hope it is worthy of consideration.

    • +17

      I agree that there are a lot of inefficiency and wastage in charities, especially in some cases when your donation goes into funding their further fund-raising effort (so they can get more money) instead of going into the cause.

      You could suggest & link to some homeless shelters though. Some charities also have aids for homelessness — Salvo & Vinnies for example.

      The best way obviously is to actually get involved. However the reason we donate money is because we are time-poor ourselves, so giving money for someone else to do the work seems to be the 2nd best option.

    • +4

      a lot these donations end up going to funding salaries, promotion of that organization and raising awareness

      A couple of counter-points:

      • If $1 spent in such a manner results in future donations of $2, then surely the charity has a moral imperative to do so
      • Some "social welfare" (to quote Scotty's theme for the year) issues require community awareness to solve ("R U OK? day" is a great example of this)
      • The people doing work for the charity need to eat too

      I get where you're coming from of course. See Effective Altruism Australia if you want the best bang for your charity buck (in terms of lives saved per dollar)

      • +4

        I collected money for an MS charity for one day. One third of the collected funds went to me, another 40% or so went on salaries for the staff, cars, overheads, marketing, etc, and what was left (about 25%) went to the actual cause being collected for. This is what people are against.

        Oh, and chuggers in shopping centres. One approached me on the weekend and asked 'Are you a good person?' I bit my tongue and said 'no thanks' to his charity solicitation. I really wanted to tell the guy to fornicate off with his sly and manipulative sales tactics.

        • +3

          Yeah fair enough, those third-party contractor 'chuggers' are horrible. I once actually liked the cause of one, and said I'd be happy to give them $20 or whatever I had on hand at the time. They only wanted a subscription for monthly donations! So yeah, I don't like them either.

          Buuuut… would the charity have gotten the 25% without you? Does that justify their existence? I dunno.

  • Very humbling, thank you for helping me feel good at Xmas

  • Tldr?

    Haha good work guys

  • DONATE10

  • Love this community and what it does

  • Great job as always!

  • C

  • Shit, I claimed a $50 wikipedia donation last year. Didn't know we can't do that :(

  • thanks scotty

  • Great work Scotty and team. Merry Christmas everyone.

  • Fantastic support for the community.

  • Superb! Glad to be a part of this wonderful community. Merry Christmas to everyone

  • +1

    Great work as always. My suggestion:
    https://deafchildrenaustralia.org.au/donate/

  • +6
    Suggested HeartKids

    I'm a 15 year old who is currently in hospital for heart failure. HeartKids has been so helpful to me and other families we've met on our 6 month journey. https://www.heartkids.org.au

    • Great organisation. I'm a volunteer for them.

  • Well done Scotty and team Ozbargain, very generous.

  • Great work OzBargain. Merry Christmas +10

  • Thanks again Scotty! Great initiative

  • Great initiative :D

  • Thanks for doing this!

  • Great Work!

  • Merry Christmas +10

  • Merry Christams, Great Work

  • +1
    Suggested Black Dog Institute

    Good on ya Scotty, I've chosen my suggestion to fit your theme of social welfare, and will make another donation out of my own pocket instead to the one I was gonna suggest -
    Australian Conservation Foundation

  • Suggested Starlight Foundation

    hello

  • +10 :)

  • Starlight Children's Foundation
    I used to work for these guys and what they do for sick kids and their families is fantastic.

  • Thank you scotty and the OzBargain team.

  • +2
    Suggested St Vincent DePaul Society

    Vinneys do so much work out in communities yet dont have the marketing machines of other charities to raise donations. They are very deserving.

  • Animal Welfare League NSW
    www.awlnsw.com.au

    Animal Welfare League NSW (AWL) is a registered charity that has been caring for surrendered, neglected and abandoned animals for over 60 years.
    AWL is authorised to investigate allegations of animal cruelty under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Login or Join to leave a comment