Inquiry into Philanthropy: Response to the Terms of Reference

This submission to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Philanthropy responds to the information requests in its call for submissions, in the context of the Australian Government’s goal of doubling philanthropic giving by 2030. Research Australia shows how hard it is to measure philanthropy for health and medical research (HMR): of an estimated $8.4 billion in HMR expenditure, 49% occurs in higher education, yet ABS data separate only $416 million of university R&D funding as donations, bequests and foundations. Drawing on its public opinion polling, it reports that 62% of people made no donation to HMR in 2022, with small donations declining; that personal experience of illness is the main motivation; that 54% of donors in 2013 claimed a tax deduction; and that nearly half would be more likely to give if government matched donations. It maintains that philanthropy does not compete with government funding, given NHMRC success rates below 20%, and cites examples of philanthropy complementing government, including MS Australia Incubator Grants, the Australian Cancer Research Foundation’s $10 million grant to ProCan, which attracted $41 million in government funding, and the Global Angelman Syndrome Registry. Recommendations include a Productivity Commission model dataset on philanthropy; a more strategic government approach to co-funding HMR with charities, including through charities with grant-making expertise; skilled migration for fundraising professionals; government support for charities’ IT; harmonised state fundraising regulation; and more government–charity partnerships such as Cancer Australia’s Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme, with a pilot to test matching as a nudge.