Burnet Institute

It’s that time of year when charities across Australia ask you and I for a donation. It’s the last hoorah of the calendar year. If you think Australian charities are aggressive this time of the year, you should live in the US and experience not just the season of giving, but also end of tax year all at once.

I have received many Christmas appeals this year from Australian charitable organisations. I wrote about the first to arrive, from Salvation Army, back in October when we were still wishing for warmer weather. Some appeals arrived as late as last week. One envelope, which I thought was going to be the final appeal of the season. turned out to not be a Christmas. Instead, it turned out to simply be a Christmas card and note of thanks from the Burnet Institute.

The simple message caught me by surprise. I am not used to charitable organisations sending simply a thank you. Amongst all the pieces of mail and eDMs I have received from Australian charitable organisations throughout the years of conducting a mystery shopping study of the Australian, New Zealand, and Asian non-profit sector, I could count on one hand the number of times a charity simply wrote to say thank you.

The thank you from Burnet Institute will go a long way – with this donor and others. Merry Christmas. And, thank you.