PilchConnect Contributes $4.3 Million to Victorian NFPs
10 October 2011 at 1:29 pm
Specialist legal service PilchConnect – which provides free legal assistance to Not for Profit organisations – had an economic impact of $4.3 million in the past financial year, according to a new report.
Deloitte Access Economic’s report on the economic contribution of the PilchConnect program – which costs $600,000 a year and is staffed by a small team of lawyers – revealed the program had an economic impact of $4.3 million in the 2010-2011 financial year.
However the report reveals that the contribution of the program to the Not for Profit sector extends beyond its direct economic impacts, and includes ‘spillover impacts’ such as operational improvements to the NFP sector which flow through to end clients and the wider community.
Approximately 3,500 additional client services will be provided over the next three years as a result of efficiency gains in NFP organisations assisted by PilchConnect in 2010-11, according to the report.
Professor Ian Harper, Director of Deloite Access Economics, says the report highlights the important functions played by PilchConnect in supporting Victoria’s Not for Profit sector.
The $4.3 million figure involves a direct contribution from program delivery of around $1 million, comprising about $300,000 from in-house functions (for example, the provision of training and telephone advice) and approximately $670,000 arising from brokering private sector legal advice provided on a pro bono basis.
According to the Australian Financial Review, the research commissioned by PilchConnect is the first attempt to put a dollar value on the free legal service by measuring the worth of the legal advice offered and savings from the reduced strain on health care and social services.
PilchConnect is also involved in broader policy and law reform advocacy – aimed at improving the regulatory framework of the NFP sector – however this wasn’t taken into account when determining the program’s economic contribution.
*Image Credit: Some rights reserved by m.gifford
