SUMMARY/ABSTRACTWhile many studies address corporate philanthropy and corporate community involvement, limited work has been conducted internationally in small to medium businesses and even less has been elucidated about the Australian small business landscape. This article reports findings from qualitative research investigating giving to community causes by 52 small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) across Australia. Three key questions addressed in this article are: (1) why SMEs engage with community (2) how they engage with community and (3) obstacles they perceive in giving. Our findings suggest that SMEs have a preference to avoid cash gifts, prefer to support local causes and would benefit from the development of best practice giving guidelines and templates.

This article considers what drives donors to leave charitable bequests. Building on theories of charitable bequest giving, we consider two types of motivations for leaving a bequest: attitudinal and structural motivations. Using unique Australian data, we show that a strong belief in the efficacy of charitable organisations has a significant positive effect on the likelihood of leaving a bequest, as does past giving behaviour and having no children. As bequests constitute an important income stream for charitable organisations, this research can help fundraisers better target their marketing strategies towards those most likely to plan their estates and motivate these people to make bequests.

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The trend to affluence in Australia is noteworthy. There are more Australian millionaires than ever before and the rate at which Australians are joining this group is one of the fastest in the world, with average assets held now worth US$4.1m, nudging the world's average of US$4.8m (Merrill Lynch and Capgemini 2005). This is positive news for the community sector because the Giving Australia household survey indicates that Australia's affluent are more likely give to community causes than those on lower incomes and are more likely to give more (PMCBP 2005). This trend is reflected in analyses of tax deductions claimed for charitable giving (McGregor-Lowndes and Marsden 2006). This paper presents the findings of qualitative research conducted as part of the Giving Australia project describing why affluent donors give -or don't -to community causes. Findings from eight focus groups and eight in-depth interviews with affluent individuals suggest that giving by the affluent at lower levels may be linked to a sense of identity and responsibility within social groups, as well as the perceived worthiness of both the cause and recipient organisations. In contrast, major donor behaviour appeared to be linked to passion and personal commitment to social change. A range of barriers were also indicated such as a need for privacy and concerns about the capacity of community organisations. Overall, the study's findings add to the understanding of giving behaviour by the affluent in Australia and confirm US findings that motivations for affluent donors are complex (for example, Boris 1987;Prince and File 1994;Schervish 2005;Johnson 2005).