The Nonprofit Sector in Australia

 

To download a copy of the Nonprofit Sector fact sheet, click here.

 

Size

• There are as many as 700,000 nonprofit organisations in Australia, most of which are small and entirely dependent on the voluntary commitment of members
• Approximately 380,000 nonprofit organisations are incorporated in some form or another (meaning that they have a legal identity independent from their members)
• About 38,000 nonprofit organisations employ staff
• There are approximately 20,000 organisations with Deductible Gift Recipient status in Australia. Most of these are nonprofit organisations
  

 

Economic Contribution

In 2006/07, Australia’s 41 000 economically significant nonprofit organizations:

• Employed 890,000 people, 8.6% of Australians in employment
• Had an income of $76 billion
• Contributed $34 billion, or 3.4%, to GDP
• Made an economic contribution equivalent to that of the government administration and defence industry and one and a half times the size of the economic contribution of the agriculture industry.

 

Sources of Income

In 2006/07 the nonprofit sector’s main sources of income were as follows:

• 39% - sale of goods and services
• 34% - government grants and contracts
• 14% - fundraising and membership fees

 

Overseas Comparisons

In terms of its contribution to employment, Australia’s nonprofit sector:

• Is of a similar size to that of the United States and the United Kingdom
• Is larger than that in the Canada, New Zealand and most other European countries
• Is smaller than the nonprofit sector in the Netherlands and Ireland

 

Nonprofit Factsheet 4th Ed. (Adobe PDF File)