INTHEBLACK November 2021 - Magazine - Page 59
BURNING
QUESTIONS
THE MASSIVE OUTPOURING OF DONATIONS TO HELP FIREFIGHTERS AND
COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY THE 2019-2020 BUSHFIRES IN RURAL NEW
SOUTH WALES WENT FAR BEYOND SUPPORTING VICTIMS. IT BROUGHT
TO LIGHT KEY QUESTIONS AROUND CHARITABLE GIVING AND HOW
ORGANISATIONS SHOULD PLAN LONG-TERM CHARITABLE INITIATIVES.
STORY MEGAN BREEN
I
t is an almost unbelievable position for any
charitable organisation to be in: asking people to
stop donating to their cause. Yet, as bushfires raged
along the east coast of Australia in late 2019 and
early 2020, this is exactly where the New South
Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) found itself.
A global social media appeal, led by popular
Australian comedian Celeste Barber, to raise money to
help firefighters and communities affected by the fires
had proven to be a runaway success.
The generosity was astounding by any measure.
Barber’s goal was to raise A$30,000, but the final figure
reached a whopping A$51 million. As the total grew,
Barber told the well-meaning donors that their money
would be spread across a range of organisations.
“It’s going to the RFS, and it will be distributed out,”
Barber posted on social media. “I’m going to make
sure that Victoria gets some, that South Australia gets
some, also families of people who have died in these
fires, the wildlife.”
However, like all charitable organisations, the New
South Wales RFS is bound by the deeds of its trust on
how it can spend and distribute monies it receives. In
this case, as subsequently ruled by the Supreme Court
of New South Wales, the money could only be spent
on equipment, training and administrative costs. It
could not be distributed to firefighting services in other
states, nor to organisations protecting wildlife and the
environment, which was the apparent intent of the
donations through Barber’s appeal.
The lesson here is that, while people can be extremely
generous in times of crisis, pouring money into one
charity or one cause may not be the most effective
way to provide support. How can organisations and
individuals ensure that their philanthropic efforts
make the difference they hope for – and what role
do organisations have in effecting that change?
READ THE FINE PRINT
Andrew Macdonald, chair of the New South Wales RFS
and Brigades Donations Trust, says the organisation
sought clarification on how it could share the money
donated through Barber’s appeal, once it realised the
donors had made an assumption of how it would be spent.
“We have never before been in a situation where we
had to ask for the fundraising to be redirected,” says
Macdonald. “It was apparent that people might have
donated thinking that we could assist some wildlife
or environmental organisations, or perhaps even other
like-minded or similar charities within the state or even
outside New South Wales.
“We ended up getting an interpretation from the
Supreme Court to clarify our questions. We said, ‘We
think we understand our limitations, but is it possible to
support some other organisations?’ The court ruled that
we couldn’t share the money that way,” says Macdonald.
intheblack.com November 2021 59