Australians are generally stereotyped as pretty generous people.
But is it OK to ask for change when donating to a charity?
Here’s a scenario.
Recently I was out and about with some friends. There was a man sitting on the footpath collecting for the Salvos. I wanted to throw in a few bucks – but I only had a $50 note.
“Can you spot me $5?” I said to my friend. “I want to give it to the Salvos.”
But he only had $50 notes himself.
Then my friend said: “Ask him for some change.”
“I can’t do that,” I protested.
“Or can I?”
I felt too awkward to ask and not flush enough to throw in a whole yellow note, so we walked on.
But I tested this a few weeks later but on a smaller scale. I walked up to a collector, made small talk, and then said: “Hey, I only have this $5 note but I only want to donate $2. Can you give me change of $3?”
The guy taking the cash for the charity said: “Are you serious?”
I said I was. (For science!)
“Come on, man,” he pleaded, “it’s for charity.”
“Exactly right, it’s for a charity – now give me back my $5,” and I walked away.
The charity missed out on my $2 (for science) but now I’m wondering if that’s on me, or the guy who guilted me for wanting to break a note.
Now, throwing in a fiver is a bit different to a note worth ten times that – perhaps he wouldn’t have been quite so incredulous if I’d asked for $45 back from a fifty.
But he doesn’t know what I need that other $3 for, right? Just because you have the money in your hand, doesn’t mean you can afford to chuck it all in the bucket.
So next time you’re wondering to give or not to give, it’s worth asking politely to break a note – because surely something’s better than nothing, right?