• It is estimated that 5 per cent of charitable giving to the bushfire crisis went to environmental organisations, with an additional 14 per cent of giving going to animal and wildlife rescue. 

• The COVID-19 pandemic will likely cause a drop in donations across the charitable sector. A drop of 7.9 per cent is estimated for 2020 and a further 11.9 per cent drop for 2021. 
• There continues to remain a lag in data so that the most recent comprehensive data for the environmental charity sector is from 2018 and demonstrates that $240 million was given in donations and bequests. 
• Environmental charities receive a tiny slice of the revenue received by the wider charitable sector — only 0.5 per cent in 2018. 
• Private ancillary funds (PAFs), a common structured giving vehicle, gave 2.5 per cent of their distributions to environmental causes in 2018. 

• The rate of giving to environmental charities has steadily increased in recent years. It grew by 3.5 per cent between 2017 and 2018. 
• The environment is an important funding priority for an estimated 23.5 per cent of structured givers, yet the percentage of all donations that go to environmental charities is just 2.5 per cent.

PAF distributions by destination 2018/19

The following categories are rounded to 0 per cent are not visible: Defence, fire and emergency services, private ancillary funds, sports and recreation, and the family.

More comprehensive data on the impact of the bushfires and COVID-19 will be available in mid-2021.  

Tackling the environment crisis

In 2017 in response to growing biodiversity and climate crises we launched The Environmental Giving Pledge (the Pledge). The Pledge was an ambitious program to inspire an additional $50 million to be committed to protecting the environment by 2022. Philanthropists from across Australia rose to the challenge and it my great pleasure to report that as of November 2020, over $120 million has been pledged to protect the rivers, forests, oceans and outback of Australia, and to act on climate change. 

This Environmental Giving Trends 2020 update does not yet fully incorporate the significant impact of the Pledge, due to the lag in reporting official donation and income figures. However, we are optimistic that in future years we will see an increase in giving to the environment as a result of the Pledge and the incredible collaboration that is at the heart of the AEGN.