"Of Droughts and Flooding Rains" Philanthropy for Health and Medical Research
Australia is blessed with superb philanthropists - just not enough of them, according to an editorial published in the latest issue of Medical Journal of Australia that questions what it will take to break the funding drought in Australia.
Dr Wendy Scaife, from Queensland University of Technology's Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, and her co-author, Dr Myles McGregor-Lowndes, believe it is time to consider where donations to health and medical research stands in Australia.
"We asked: how do we compare with other nations and what is the forecast for the future?" Dr Scaife said.
"The challenge is one of communication and culture change: convince philanthropic trusts, companies individuals that funding medical research is … a task for all Australians to shoulder."
The authors point out that Australian health and medical research non-profit organisations, such as the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation and the Leukaemia Foundation, attract one in seven of all individual donation dollars in Australia.
But "while three in five donating Australians support health and medical research, the average gift is comparatively low":
- $77 per annum for health and medical research; compared with
- $529 pa to religion; and
- $220 pa to arts and culture.
"So the area is popular … but it is a case of many donors but small dollars," she said.
By contrast, the average gift to health causes in the US is US$173, up to US$92,289 in households with incomes over one million dollars.
The record of wealthy Australians (earning $100-500K pa) is particularly unimpressive, with less than 0.5% of their income given to any charitable cause (compared with 3%-11% overseas).
Dr Scaife believes the problem in Australia is that people commonly think medical research is the government's responsibility.
However, "Untrammelled by politics, elections, profit, shareholders, disease numbers, or directives not to fund infrastructure, the philanthropic dollar can more readily finance risky ideas."
Further, donations can help "chart cumulative progress over decades, consider orphan diseases, and trial venturesome backing that generates social profit," she said.
The authors say change to the Australian health and medical research philanthropic landscape is needed, and the climate is right.
"With governments increasingly unlikely to meet the spirally costs of complex medicine for an ever-ageing population, the funding drought needs to be broken. Everyone can - and maybe should - play rainmaker," she said.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
The statements or opinions that are expressed in the MJA reflect the views of the authors and do not represent the official policy of the AMA unless that is so stated.
CONTACT: Dr Wendy Scaife 07 3138 8051 or 0412 559 674
Kylie Butler (AMA) 02 6270 5466 or 0417 652 488