The Australian Charities Report : Key Insights

The latest Australian Charities Report analyses data from 52,627 charities submitted to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) in 2023. With some surprising outcomes.

At a Glance

• Revenue hit a record $222 billion - a 10.7% increase. Significant but still less than half the projected  $542billion for the Finance industry alone.

• Expenses rose 8.4% to $212 billion, with employee costs making up 55% of total spending. Again, sounds like a lot but the sector employs 10.7% of Australia’s workforce.

• Volunteers remain essential, with 52.1% of charities operating with no paid staff and 3.77 million Australians donating their time — that’s a ratio of 2.4 volunteers for every employee.

How Much Are We Giving?

• Donations and bequests rose by less than 0.4% from last year. A very modest increase and hopefully the intergenerational wealth transition starts to filter through this year.

• Nearly 40% of this increase went to just 30 charities. Ironically larger charities rely on donations for just 6% of their revenue, while smaller ones depend on them for around 40% — yet often lack the resources to find donors.

Who’s Getting The Money?

• ·Just 0.5% of charities received 56% of total sector revenue, while over 30% generated only 0.1%. A lot can be gained by supporting emerging charities with fresh ideas  – just not the means to grow.

Want to Deep Dive?

Read the ACNC Charities Report - 11th Edition in its entirety.