New data shows fewer Australians are claiming tax-deductible donations and our global ranking for generosity is slipping. Changing giving habits, the rise of online fundraisers and an ageing donor base all help explain what the statistics miss.

For Australia’s charity sector, December is the critical frontline month of the year.

Demand for social services reaches its peak, with people who are hungry, homeless, friendless or victims of  family violence all requiring extra assistance.

It’s also a traditional  time for increased donations of money and volunteer time, which both make that vital assistance possible.

But just how charitable are Australians? And how do we rank globally on broader measures of generosity – including how much of our income we give and how much we volunteer compared to other nations?

Many Australian can claim a  tax deduction for gifts and donations through their income tax return.

In 2022-23, the latest figures we have, those gifts added up to more than  A$9.1 billion.

That was above the $4.55 billion the previous year, but the total was boosted by a large donation by Andrew and Nicola Forrest. They gave 220 million shares of Fortescue Ltd, valued at $5 billion, to their own philanthropic body, the Minderoo Foundation. It represented one-fifth of the couple’s shareholding.

But take away that large donation and the underlying trends were less rosy.

The median (or mid-point of all tax-deductible donations) rose just $2 from the previous year, to $150 per taxpayer.

The share of Australians making tax-deductible donations has fallen over the past decade. It’s gone from 35.1 per cent of around 13 million taxpayers in 2013-14, to just 27.8 per cent of 16.1 million taxpayers in 2022-23.

More troubling is that  our analysis found fewer than half of taxpayers with a taxable income of over $1 million claimed a deductible gift – down from more than 60 per cent a decade earlier.

Does that mean Australians are becoming less generous?

There are multiple factors contributing to that fall in tax-deductible donations.

For many people, the ways they’re donating their money and time start at home – and that kind of charity is rarely eligible for a tax deduction.

Baby boomers have traditionally been our  great givers, volunteers and joiners of associations. This has been due to a mix of accumulated wealth, a strong sense of social responsibility from their formative years, established financial stability, and a desire to make an impact, often by supporting traditional charities with financial gifts or bequests.

But that generation is increasingly retired or retiring – and exiting the tax system. When older Australians no longer need to report working income, they have no incentive to declare a gift as a tax deduction on their tax return. So the statistics we have are no longer capturing all of their donations.

Baby boomers are also being called on to be the  “bank of mum and dad”, not just to buy housing but to support kids living at home longer.

Another factor is the rise of online donation portals such as GoFundMe. Australians have donated  more than $1.1 billion via GoFundMe since its launch here a decade ago.

Many are of those GoFundMe-style fundraisers are not eligible for tax deductions, such as supporting individuals after a misfortune, needing to fund medical expenses or even just  cost-of-living support.

So those donations don’t make their way into the taxation statistics either.

Being charitable isn’t just about money.

The  World Giving Report is the latest version of a long-running international survey, previously known as the  World Giving Index. It asks people not just whether they donate money, but how much they give as a share of their income, how much they volunteer and more.

The latest 2025 report ranked Australia 44th out of 101 countries for overall generosity.

On the question of what proportion of income we donate, Australia comes in much lower: 68th out of 101 countries.

Australians donated only 0.73 per cent of our income on average, slightly less than the average of 0.75 per cent for our Oceania region. The majority of our donations went to charity, followed by giving directly to people in need and religious causes.

The most generous region on Earth was Africa, where people gave away an average of 1.54 per cent of their income. That was followed by Asia (1.28 per cent), North America (0.94 per cent) and South America (0.73 per cent). The average in Europe was just 0.64 per cent.

The 2025 report concluded:

People in high-income countries tend to donate less as a percentage of their annual incomes, giving away just 0.7 per cent on average. This is around half the proportion given in low-income countries, where people donate an average of 1.45 per cent of income.

Interestingly, the report also found only one in five (20 per cent of) Australians had volunteered in the past month – less than the global average of 26 per cent. But we put in longer hours, averaging 9.4 hours per person a month.

Evidence shows that both giving and receiving from others is associated with  better mental health.

So no matter how you give, or to whom, this Christmas the greatest gift you can give won’t be wrapped under a tree.

Republished from The Conversation, 11 December 2025