Key Insights from the Latest Annual Charities Report
Australian charities make a huge impact on the community and the wider economy. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) has released the 10th edition of the Australian Charities Report (Report), analysing the activity of 51,536 charities over the 2022 reporting period.
This article provides an overview of key data from the Report and additional comments made in relation to the data by the ACNC.
New registrations & sub-types
There were 2622 new charities registered between 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.
The most common purposes continue to be religion (20.8%), human services (15.9%) and education (15.4%).
Advancing security, public policy, reconciliation and human rights remain the least common registered subtypes.
Focus on extra small charities
Extra small charities refer to those with annul revenue of $50,000 or less.
Extra small charities represent approximately 31% of the sector, however they generate just 0.1% of the sector’s income.
With the cost of operating and delivering services increasing, concerns that extra small charities are not seeing enough of an increase in revenue to keep up with demands.
Revenue
Total revenue increased by $11 billion (5.6%) to a record $200 billion.
The biggest source of charity revenue is the government (51% of revenue).
However, despite cost-of-living stress, Australians are still donating with revenue from donations and bequests also increasing in 2022, reaching $13.9 billion (an increase of $584 million from 2021).
Expenses
In 2022, the charity sector’s total expenses increased by $22 billion (12.6%) to $195.8 billion. The increase of 12.6% was twice the rate of inflation.
Employees were the largest expense costing $108 billion (55.2% of total expenses).
Only extra small charities reported a decrease (4.5%) in total expenses. Extra large charities reported a 15% increase in total expenses.
Assets and Liabilities
The charity sector’s reported total assets of $457 billion (increase of $35 billion).
In 2022, total liabilities increased by 11.5% (or $16.3 billion) to $158 billion.
Net assets totalled $299 billion, an increase of just under $18 billion (6.6%).
Charities Volunteers and Employees
In 2022, charities reported drawing on the efforts of nearly 3.5 million volunteers. This is an increase of 320,000. However, volunteer numbers remain below the 2018 peak of 3.77 million.
More than half (51%) of all operating charities reported having no paid staff.
Charities remain a major employer, reporting 1.47 million paid charity employees in 2022 (10.5% of Australia’s workforce).
For more information, you can access the full report on the ACNC website. If you would like assistance or advice relating to your charity, please contact:
Paul Gray
Principal
T 03 5225 5231 | M 0414 195 886
E pgray@ha.legal
Hugo Le Clerc
Associate
T 03 5225 5213
E hleclerc@ha.legal
Maddi Batchelor
Graduate Lawyer
T: 03 5225 5214
E: mbatchelor@ha.legal
