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COMMUNITY SECTOR
The Business Careers Handbook 2020
Community sector
Overview The Australian community sector – sometimes referred to as the not-for-profit sector, third sector or social sector – encompasses a variety of organisations that are neither commercial nor governmental. These organisations pursue a range of charitable purposes through service delivery, grant making and other activities, which advance health, justice, education, social welfare and religion. In Australia, the community sector is highly fragmented. Indeed, there are almost 55,000 registered charities according to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). These can range from global charities such as the Red Cross, Oxfam, ChildFund or Amnesty International to Australia-specific organisations such as Starlight Children’s Foundation and The Smith Family, to much smaller and less well known organisations.
usually very competitive organisations to get into and typically prefer experienced hires instead of graduates. Other community organisations do not typically have the scale – or funds – to run official graduate programs. However, this doesn’t mean they are not interested in hiring graduates. If you are interested in a specific organisation, it is worth reaching out to them directly and asking about job availability. Another way to gain experience in the community sector is by volunteering and getting to know the people involved in an organisation, so you are ‘front of mind’ when they are looking to hire. Often entry into the community sector is via word of mouth, although jobs can be advertised through more official means. Again, this is more likely in larger community organisations than smaller ones.
All of these organisations essentially have the requirements of a typical business. While they may have a core service, such as community outreach, they still need the usual support functions such as marketing, accounting, operations and supply chain. As such, the community sector is always looking for talented individuals with business skills.
Alternatively, if you would like to contribute to the community sector without necessarily committing to it, you might research organisations that have a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. There may also be some professional services or advisory firms that run official pro-bono programs or at least have pro-bono clients.
Entering the community sector Given the breadth of the community sector and the issues with which the community sector deals, the first step to finding an entry point is figuring out which social challenges you’re most passionate about.
There are also some pockets of more commercial organisations with a social purpose focus. For example, Social Ventures Australia (SVA) is a management consulting firm, which focuses on solving social challenges. SVA is known for hiring experienced consultants from top-tier organisations such as McKinsey, who want to use their skills for good.
For example, if you are interested in international development and aid, you may gravitate towards working for an organisation such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or World Bank. If you are passionate about addressing homelessness, disadvantaged youth or violence against women, you may find it more fulfilling to work for an advocacy group. The competitiveness on entering the community sector very much depends on the type of organisation. International development organisations such as the IMF or World Bank are considered highly prestigious organisations with high impact. As such, these are www.gradaustralia.com.au
While not prevalent yet, we are also seeing the rise of investment funds, often known as ‘green funds’, which focus on investing in companies that are deemed socially responsible. This may be another nontraditional way of becoming involved in the community sector. What’s involved Your day-to-day work at a community organisation will very much depend on your specialisation. For example, if you are a marketer, you will focus on promoting your organisation and developing and managing
