With the end of the financial year about to come to a close, many nonprofit and charity organisations around Australia may hope to see a spike in donations.
A lot of people leave giving to charity until the last minute, hoping to donate money before the financial year wraps up, for taxation purposes.
In 2010-11, Oxfam Australia noticed an upward trend in public donations during the month of June, and is hoping to reap the same benefits in 2012.
"We know from previous experience that many people tend to leave their end of financial year donations until the very last minute, and we're urging Australians to dig deep again this year to help those less fortunate than themselves," Oxfam Australia executive director Andrew Hewett said in a statement earlier this week (June 25).
However, despite Oxfam having noticed a trend, an Australian entrepreneur and philanthropist Dick Smith said that wealthy Aussie's are not very generous in comparison with their American counterparts.
"The figures show in the United States, the wealthy give away about 15 per cent of their income. In Australia it's less than one per cent," Mr Smith told Ross and John on the 3AW Newstalk radio show.
With a few days to go until the end of the financial year, maybe Australia's rich will dig a little deeper.
