The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has released data revealing that the charity sector generated $190 billion in revenue and employed 10.5 per cent of the workforce in the 2021 reporting period.
Commissioner, Sue Woodward said the ninth edition of the Australian Charities Report revealed that charity revenue, assets and donations grew in the period.
“This is a project close to my heart as I believe data makes an important contribution to understanding the depth and breadth of the sector, and provides insights that can help guide policy development,” Ms Woodward said.
“The ninth edition of the report provides a comprehensive insight into the sector, including State-by-State comparisons.”
She said it was obvious that the sector was a major employer.
“There were 1.42 million employees in the 2021 reporting period, and revenue growth was strong, up by nearly $14 billion on the previous period,” Ms Woodward said.
“Donations increased by $676 million to $13.4 billion, and charities reported more than $422 billion in assets, an increase of nearly $31 billion.”
However, the report confirmed the widely-observed decline in volunteering, with numbers dropping to 3.2 million, down from 3.4 million previously.
“The picture is more sobering when we look at the decline over a longer time frame. There was a loss of around 596,000 volunteers between the 2018 and 2021 reporting periods,” Ms Woodward said.
“This decline is of concern as we know volunteers are vital across the sector, and overall, 50 per cent of charities operate with no paid staff.”
