What does the Australian charity sector look like? Dr Andrew Young | CEO, Centre for Social Impact, UNSW Kate McFarlane | Senior Education Officer, ACNC 28 January 2016 acnc.gov.au/webinars

What does the Australian charity sector look like? Agenda About the dataset Engaging with the data Exploring the data: General Exploring the data: Focus on finances Questions

About the dataset A unique dataset Based on: 37,798 charities which provided Annual Information Statements (AIS) for 2014 to the ACNC before end July 2015 Plus: ACNC Register Australian Business Register Australian Taxation Office 2013 AIS data Some data limitations: But dataset has unprecedented detail, and quality is improving

About the dataset A unique dataset (cont.) Dimensions “Sector” Main activity Size Beneficiaries Purpose Location Data People (staff, volunteers) Financials Income/expenditure Assets/liabilities Ratios Age Entity type, charity type & DGR status

australiancharities.acnc.gov.au Downloads Explore online (the “datacube”) o All data o A “Sector” News Feedback Engaging with the data The Microsite

Australian Charities Report page “Snapshot” 12-page “Summary” Sub-reports Disability (available) International, Red tape (coming soon) Sector Summaries (12-pages for each sector like Health) will be added in coming weeks See also data.gov.au where you can download the full dataset Engaging with the data Downloads available

Exploring the data: General The “datacube” Full dataset excluding “withheld data” (586 charities) Filters... eg Sector Size by income (six segments) State Main Activity “Beneficiary” – eg People with Disability australiancharities.acnc.gov.au/explore

Exploring the data: General Charities are defined by diversity… “…..community-based education and the provision of credible, current and practical nutrition information…” (health service charity, VIC). “... assists people to obtain essential goods and services, including providing English language translation and interpretation” (economic, social and community development charity, NT). “....assistance to the community during emergencies such as fires, road crash rescue and storm related emergencies” (emergency relief charity, WA). “….. care for lost, unwanted, sick and injured animals” (animal protection charity, QLD) “…spiritual and community support to the congregation as well as reaching out to those in need” (religious charity, VIC) “Giving the pleasure of sailing to disabled children and adults” (sport charity, QLD).

Exploring the data: General Hugely varied sizes Great majority of charities are medium & small (under $1m) Largest 4.3% of reporting charities receive over 80% of income

Most Charities in Religion (30%) and Education (18%) Largest Charities in Health and Education Size of Circle represents Total Income Philanthropic, intermediaries & volunteerism promotion $1.4b; 2,197 Environment $1.0b; 295 Exploring the data: General Ten+ sectors

Every circle a Charity, colour coded by Sector Online – “hover” over to see name, key details Filter by State, Size, Sector and more Size of Circle represents Total Income Exploring the data: General Ten+ sectors (cont.)

Exploring the data: General Example: “XXL” Health Charities Health Charities (>$100m pa) by Main Activity (n = 47; Total Income = $15.2bn)

Exploring the data: General Geography Every circle a Charity, colour represents Sector and size represents Income Zoom and/or filter...

Exploring the data: General Geography (cont.)

Urban - Regional One State – Many – Overseas

Most staff are engaged by larger organisations, but volunteers are distributed across all sizes. Exploring the data: General People

Exploring the data: General Age of charities

Larger Charities are more likely to be Companies or Incorporated Associations, be Public Benevolent Institutions or Charitable Institutions, and are more likely to have DGR status. Smaller Charities are more likely to be Unincorporated Associations; to be Charitable Institutions and NOT to have DGR status. Example Exploring the data: General Charity type and status

2014 the first year for collection of financial data in the Annual Information Statement 27.4k financial reports/37.8k AIS reports It is easy to misunderstand a charity’s financial position by judging it solely on its financial information, or comparing its financial information to another charity, without considering its unique situation. Exploring the data: Focus on finances acnc.gov.au/understandingfinancialinfo Acnc.gov.au/moneymyths

Exploring the data: Focus on finances Sources of income $% total Government grants$42.0 billion40.6 Donations and bequests$6.8 billion6.6 Other income and revenue$54.5 billion52.7 Total$103.4 billion100

Large charities have more government grants, less donations & bequests “Other income” consistent across all sizes at about half Exploring the data: Focus on finances Income sources vary by size

A small number of charities (~130; 0.3%) had over $100m The largest 1% of charities received around 58% of sector income The largest 5% of charities received around 80% of the sector’s income The largest 10% of charities received around 90% of sector income Half of charities had incomes under $146,000 Exploring the data: Focus on finances Income is highly concentrated

Exploring the data: Focus on finances Most charities did not receive income from government 64% reported no income from government Government grants constituted a larger % of total income among charities: Large charities Main activities were in law and legal, social services, aged care, civic and advocacy, mental health Based in NT and TAS

Exploring the data: Focus on finances 2 in 3 charities had income from donations or bequests 1 in 4 charities depended on donations for more than half of their total income Donations were more important to incomes in: Small charities Young charities Charities performing ‘international activities’ and ‘religious activities’

Exploring the data: Focus on finances But most income is not from grants or donations… 53% of sector income in 2014 was ‘Other income’ (Includes sales, user and member fees, interest, dividends, asset sales) Particularly important among grant-making charities, higher education, housing, and recreation & social clubs Less important to international, law and legal, mental health, social services.

Exploring the data: Focus on finances Uses of funds $% Employee expenses$51.8 b54.5 Grants & donations$4.5 b4.7 Other$38.7 b40.7 Total$95.0 b100

Exploring the data: Focus on finances Net income/total income shows consistency across medium–XXL sectors, but very small charities are quite different

Exploring the data: Focus on finances Net income/total income is also very different by Sector

Main messages Valuable data... will be even more valuable over time Opens exciting prospects to build knowledge, ask questions, develop indicators, and promote evidence-based policy and regulation Interaction and engagement – get online! Feedback welcome – Ideas? Questions? We’d love to hear from you. See feedback page on the microsite.

Questions

More information ► australiancharities.acnc.gov.au ► acnc.gov.au/understandingfinancialinfo ► acnc.gov.au/moneymyths ► acnc.gov.au/findacharity ► data.gov.au

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