An insight into charities and giving in Australia The not-for-profit sector is vast and diverse covering everything from your local tennis club to some of the biggest universities in Australia. There are organisations existing on the smell of an oily rag and others with hundreds of millions of dollars. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the regulatory authority for charities and not-for-profit organisations within Australia. While there are 43,349 charities registered with the ACNC there are more than 600,000 other not-for-profits without charitable status doing good for the community. We don’t have their data but we know they are out there and chances are you or someone you know is involved with or has benefitted from a community organisation. In fact, over 65% of Australians belong to one or more not-for-profits. The data used in our super infographic reflects what we do know based on ACNC data and the Queensland University of Technology’s Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (ACPNS) research.
$150.4B
43,349
charities registered in 2018
39.2%
in total income
with DGR status
Charity breakdown by size
66%
16%
SMALL
annual revenue of under $250,000
MEDIUM
annual revenue of $250,000$1 million
18% LARGE
annual revenue of $1 million or more
FUNDING THE SECTOR When we think of how charities and other not-for-profit organisations are funded, we generally think of donations. In reality, donations only make up a relatively small percentage of charity revenue. Revenue from Government is the primary source of funding followed by revenue from goods and services. However, the smaller the charity the more likely it is to depend on donations for its income. Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status is an absolute boon for those organisations which hold it. It means that a donor can claim any donations to that organisation as a tax deduction. In an example of one of the many paradoxes of the not-for-profit sector, the bigger the organisation the more likely it is to have DGR status, so even though the big guns depend less on the goodwill of the community, they are more likely to get it because they can offer the donor a useful receipt at tax time. This section includes financial information from Basic Religious Charities that voluntarily reported finances, as well as charities that did not engage in activities in the 2018 reporting year but reported their finances.
Percentage of charities with DGR by size EXTRA SMALL (<$50k)
25%
SMALL ($50k-$250k) MEDIUM ($250k-$1m)
40%
53%
0
LARGE ($1m-$10m)
61%
VERY LARGE ($10m-$100m) EXTRA LARGE (>$100m)
0
10
0
20
30
50
74%
69%
40
50
60
70
80
100 Total Revenue ($150.4b) by charity size
Large $20.5b (13.6%)
Very Large $49.0b (32.6%)
150
Extra Large $76.3b (50.8%)
Medium $3.2b (2.1%)
Extra small
Extra Small $0.2b (0.1%)
Small
Small $1.2b (0.8%)
Medium 0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Revenue sources by charity size ($m) Extra small
Extra Extra small small Extra small Extra small
Extra Extrasmall small
Extra small
Small Small Small Small
Small Small
Small
Small
Medium 0
Medium Medium
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 350
Medium
Medium Medium Medium Medium 0 0 0 0
Large Large
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4000 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 500 3500 500 10001500 1500 20002500 2500 3000 3500 4000
0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Very Verylarge large Extra large Extra large Total Total 00
50000 50,000
100000 100,000
150000 150,000
200000
Government (inc grants) Donations and bequests Goods or services Investments Other revenue
Top earners by ACNC category
40B
charities
$36.76B
40B
$2.86B income
10b 20b 30b 40b 50b 60b 70b 80b
LAW ADVOCACY & POLITICS
40B
3331
ENVIRONMENT
80B
10b 20b 30b 40b 50b 60b 70b 80b
80B
40B
176
80B
40B
1462
charities
Phil Education Culture Health Law Housing Envt Social Education Religion 0 Health Phil Housing Culture Social Law Religion Envt EducatiPhionl
SoEcniavlt
Religion 0
charities
HousLinagw
CulHeatluthre
EducatiPhionl
Religion
Social
$4.6B
2871
charities
income
CULTURE & RECREATION
Housing
Religion
SoEcniavlt
HousLinawg
$13.86B
CulHeatultrhe
EducatPhiionl
Religion
Social
Housing
Health
Education
5956
charities
40B
$1.2B
income
$1.26B
Envt
40B
80B
Phil Education Culture Health Law Housing Envt Social Education 0 Religion Health Phil Housing Culture Social Law Religion Envt Phil
80B
0 10b 20b 30b 40b 50b 60b 70b 80b
80B
income
Health
PHILANTHROPIC, INTERMEDIARIES & VOLUNTEERISM PROMOTION
RELIGION
4677
Education
income
10b 20b 30b 40b 50b 60b 70b 80b
SOCIAL SERVICES
$3.16B
$11.66B
income
10b 20b 30b 40b 50b 60b 70b 80b
income
charities
Religion 0
Phil Education Culture Health Law Housing Envt Social
Religion
$73.66B
Social
Housing
Health
Education
charities
CulHeatluthre 0
charities
40B
3736
HousLinagw
3824
80B
10b 20b 30b 40b 50b 60b 70b 80b
80B
40B
charities
10b 20b 30b 40b 50b 60b 70b 80b
80B
8880
DEVELOPMENT & HOUSING
HEALTH
Phil Education Culture Health Law Housing Envt Social Education Religion 0 Health Phil Housing
EDUCATION & RESEARCH
income
income
Uses 2018 data and excludes charities who have withheld data from ACNC registry.
Largest Charities by Revenue 2018 In terms of which individual charities have the highest revenue, those focussed on education are definitely the most cashed-up.
Charities that received the highest donations and bequests 2018 The list of charities which received the highest donations and bequests tells a different story with people more likely to donate towards health-related or social causes.
TYPES OF NOT-FOR-PROFITS While much of the data we have is for charities only, not-for-profits come in many other shapes and forms. To help us understand what is out there we turn 1. Christian Overseas Provident Tutelage Society $619M to CLASSIE, a landmark Our Community Innovation Lab initiative that enables 2. Minderoo systematic classificationFoundation of social sector initiatives and$402M entities: a social sector 3. World Vision Australia $285M taxonomy for Australia and New Zealand. 4. Australian Red Cross Society
$96M
Click to Trust learn more about CLASSIE 5. L.D.S.here Charitable Fund $94M 6. Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia Ltd
$87M
7. Compassion Australia
$84M
8. University of Sydney
$80.9M
9. The Smith Family
$77.5M
Australia Unincorporated 10. LDS Charities Incorporated 11. Judith Neilson Foundation Association Association
$70M Cooperative
$68M A type of entity (incorporated
Not recognised as a 12. The Fred Hollows Incorporated under the Foundation separate legal entity 13. to University the state or territory legislation of Melbourne members associated14. with it. Energy in which they operate. An Origin Foundation Ltd It is a group of people who incorporated association is a 15. The Cancer Council NSW agree to act together as an legal entity separate from its 16. Salvation Army - Eastern organisation and form an individual members. 17. The University of Queensland association.
under the Cooperatives Act $65.8M
19. by Oxfam Australia Company Limited Indigenous 20. Peter Maccallum Cancer Foundation Guarantee Corporation, “Limited by guarantee” Association or means that the liability of Cooperative
$48.5M Organisation
in its home state) which $60M
exists for the benefit of its members.
$57M $56M $53M $51M
18. National Heart Foundation of Australia
$50M $47.3M established through
specific legislation
the company’s members is limited to the amount the members undertake to contribute to the property of the company if it is wound up. The rules of the not-forprofit company will set this amount at zero.
Not-for-profit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations can apply to be registered with the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC)
An executive agency, or statutory agency, established as a statutory authority providing them with some degree of independence from the government without being an NGO
Trust
Philanthropic Trust
Public Ancillary Fund
An obligation imposed on a person or other entity (the trustee) to hold property for the benefit of beneficiaries or for a particular purpose.
A trust is a philanthropic trust if it is established for a charitable purpose.
A legal trust which has been endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office as conforming to its Ancillary Fund Guidelines. The public must be able to contribute to the fund.
Private Ancillary Fund A legal trust which has been endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office as conforming to its Ancillary Fund Guidelines.
More info at CLASSIE:
https://www.ourcommunity.com.au/classie
Classification of Social Sector Initiatives and Entities
Agriculture, fisheries & forestry
Animal welfare
Arts and culture
Community development
Economic development
Education
Environment
Health
Human rights
Human services
Information and communications
International relations
Public affairs
Public safety
Religion
Science
Social sciences
Sport and recreation
Unknown or not classified
0
WORKING IN THE SECTOR We are a big sector employing a huge number of Australians, but we also attract an even huger number of volunteers who devote their time and skills to help the hundreds of thousands of not-for-profits in the community. Remember that the figures below ONLY reflect the charities registered with the ACNC.
With the exception of the extra large charities, all charities reported more volunteers than paid staff.
50%
3,608,410
1,272,636 employees
of all charities operate without any paid staff
volunteers
Employee and volunteer breakdown by charity size 0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000 Extra small
Extra small
Extra small
Extra small
Extra small
Extra small Small
Small
Small
Small
Small Small
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Large
Medium 0 0
Large
Large
Very large
Very large
Very large
Extra large Unknown
Extra large
Extra large
Total Total
Total
Total
Very large
Extra large
500 6010 7020 8030 40 50 600 7010 80 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0 0
1m 050000
0
2m 100000 50000 0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 35
100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000
0
Large
Medium
0
100k
3m 150000 100000 50000
200K
300K
4m 200000 100000 150000
400K
500K
5m 200000 150000
600K
6m 200000
1000000 2000000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6000000
0 0
1000000 1000000
2000000 2000000
3000000 3000000
4000000 4000000
5000000 5000000
6000000 6000000
Total number of volunteers Total number of staff
Number of volunteers for each staff member by charity size
EXTRA SMALL
34.8 volunteers for each staff member
0.4
EXTRA LARGE
1.3
SMALL
23.3
VERY LARGE
LARGE
volunteers for each staff member
6.1
MEDIUM
11.7
volunteers for each staff member
Represents one staff member
WHO GIVES? We have looked at what’s out there in the not-for-profit world and which organisations are the biggest and the richest and who works for the sector, but it’s time to turn our eyes to who gives to the sector. Who is more likely to put their hand in their pocket? Where do they live? What do they do? Source: 2016-17 QUT report
which was a
Australians deducted over
$3.5B
25%
The average donation was
$769.99
as tax deductible donations (2017-17)
increase from 2015/16
Total tax-deductible donations by state of residence $1.3b $1b $750m $500m $250m $0 NSW
VIC
WA
QLD
ACT
SA
TAS
NT
Top 3 states by tax-deductible donations The top three states accounted for 80% of total tax deductible donations made to DGRs in 2016-17.
3. 1. 2.
2. VIC
1. NSW
3. WA
$1.24 billion in tax-deductible donations
$1.01 billion in tax-deductible donations
$572.76 million in tax-deductible donations
1,452,522 donors
1,270,687 donors
433,568 donors
35.72% of national
29.1% of national
15.16% of national
The average donation in NSW is
The average donation in VIC is
The average donation in WA is
$856.35
$797.95
$1189.82
0.46%
0.50%
0.56%
total donated
total donated
which is
total donated
which is
which is
of taxable income
of taxable income
of taxable income
In terms of the Percentage of Donating Taxpayers to Total Taxpayers by State of Residence 40.37% of total taxpayers in the Australian Capital Territory made and claimed tax-deductible donations to DGRs in 2016–17, once again, the highest of all states and territories.
The more one earns the more one claims as a tax-deductable donation.
Donating taxpayers with a taxable income
This represents 2.1 % of their taxable income compared to national average of 0.43%
over $1 million
claim an average tax-deductible donation of
This group represents 16.73% of all tax deductible donations.
$86,341.93
Tax-deductible donations data by sex
2.25 million
2.28 million
31.44%
33.38%
or
95 3.4 0
or
of Australian MALE taxpayers
58 9.0
6
of Australian FEMALE taxpayers
claimed tax-deductible donations.
claimed tax-deductible donations. 10
00
953.40
80
0
589.06
The average tax-deductible donation claimed by 600
800
The average tax-deductible donation claimed by
1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
400
60
200
953.40
Australian male taxpayers
40
0
Australian female taxpayers
$953.40 or
0
200
$589.06
20
0
589.06 400
600
800
or
1000
0.43%
20
40
60
80
100
0.41%
0
0
0
0
3.4
of their taxable income
58
9.0
6
95
of their taxable income
80
0
10 00
Tax-deductible donations by occupation
40 0
60
0
TOP 3 donors by occupation 2.
20 0
3.
0
1.
The highest average gift deductions were claimed by Chief Executives and Managing Directors
followed by Authors, Books or Script Editors
and Internal medicine specialists
$5,603.24
$4,034.09
$7,781.56
↑
↑
Authors, Books or Script Editors also had the highest deductible donation to taxable income ratio:
Chief Executives and Managing Directors also had the highest amount claimed as tax deductions in total:
The occupation with the highest percentage of donating taxpayers:
3.92%
$395,380,600
followed by
...and had the third highest deductible donation to taxable income ratio:
Police with
73.86%
claiming a tax-deductible donation
Religious Leaders:
1.44%
1.91%
A very cool database of all deductible gifts claimed between 2006-2017, fully searchable by occupation, can be found here: https://research.qut.edu.au/australian-centre-for-philanthropy-andnonprofit-studies/resources/giving-statistics/
GIVING AROUND THE WORLD Australians like to think of ourselves as a generous lot, but how do we compare to the rest of the world? (Source: 2019 World Giving Index)
% 1 8
Australia ranks eighth in the world
with
68
%
68%
of people participating in donating money
Australia pales in giving comparison to top ranking Myanmar (Burma)
and a GDP of $US76 billion compared to Australia’s GDP of $1.37 trillion
Myanmar (Burma) has a giving rate of
8 1
81%
Australia GDP Myanmar (Burma) GDP
68% 81%
Top 10 countries by participation in donating money (by % of people) 2.
8 %
UNITED KINGDOM 71%
6
7.
10.
IRELAND 69%
CANADA 63%
5.
NETHERLANDS 71%
1.
3.
MYANMAR 81%
MALTA 71%
4.
6.
THAILAND 71%
INDONESIA 69%
8.
AUSTRALIA 68%
9.
NEW ZEALAND 65%
The world’s highest scoring countries over 10 years By % of people who have: helped a stranger donated money to a charity volunteered at an organisation
58%
57%
56%
54%
51%
UK
SRI LANKA
USA
NEW ZEALAND
IRELAND
72%
64%
62%
60%
55%
61%
65%
69%
71%
50%
42%
41%
38%
30%
46%
49%
64%
64%
53%
42%
81%
68%
63%
71%
69%
43%
37%
37%
36%
40%
58%
56%
55%
53%
50%
MYANMAR
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
NETHERLANDS
This infographic is brought to you by:
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