Australians are increasingly more inclined to dig deep for charity, despite softening of the economy, according to the NAB’s inaugural Charitable Giving Index.

 

The Index shows that charitable giving in the seven months to July increased by 4.7 per cent, from the previous year, and the average annual donation size per donor increased by 0.7 per cent to $292.

 

NAB and data analytics firm Quantium reviewed donations made by credit card, BPAY and EFTPOS to develop the index and gain a picture on donations and giving across the nation.

 

By postcode, average charity spend per person was highest in Middle Park, Victoria ($334), followed by Vale Park, SA ($276) and Killara, NSW ($248). However residents from Lakes Entrance, Victoria were the most generous overall, giving 0.34% of their income to charity, followed by Vale Park, SA (0.31%) and Middle Park, VIC (0.28%).

 

Alan Oster, NAB Chief Economist said despite Victoria taking the top spot in the giving tables, NSW postcodes feature most prominently in the top 10 suburbs for average giving nationally.

 

“The index also shows that while humanitarian services attracted the largest share of giving in the seven months to July 2012, there was growth in the areas of medical research (13.9%) and cancer (8.3%).”