Children Top Beneficiaries of Aussie Charity

Children are most likely to directly benefit from Australian charities, according to data collected by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).

Data from charities that have already submitted their 2013 Annual Information Statements to the ACNC show that children are the most nominated beneficiaries of charities, followed by the general community, youth, women and aged persons.

ACNC Commissioner, Susan Pascoe AM  said the aggregate data has great potential to shine a light on the pursuits and accomplishments of the charitable sector.

“Data gathered from charities Annual Information Statements is being used to build upon the ACNC Register – the first credible database on charities in Australia.

“This data will be available to the proposed National Centre for Excellence in the future, for the purposes of advocacy, research and development.

The ACNC says it has analysed the first set of data to provide insights for charities and the broader community on the nature and work of charities.

“For the first time, we are beginning to get a holistic picture of the activities and beneficiaries of the charitable sector,” Pascoe said.

Another finding of the early data shows that about one third of charities focus on delivering one type of charitable activity, with the remaining two thirds of charities undertaking multiple charitable activities.

Religious activities are the most commonly nominated activity undertaken by charities that have submitted to date, followed by education and economic, social and community development.

Education can encompass a wide range of activities – including targeted or specialist non-school educative programs (the most nominated type) as well as primary and secondary education (nominated by 734 charities) and higher education (nominated by 458).  

A further 947 charities indicated that they undertake research. Activities related to culture and the arts were nominated by 1249 charities.

Of all the charities that have submitted their AIS, 16 per cent have indicated that they fall into the large ACNC tier (annual revenue over $1 million), 16 per cent are medium (annual revenue between $250,000 and $1 million) and 68 per cent are small (annual revenue below $250,000).

The ACNC says at the end of January, around 13,000 charities had submitted their Annual Information Statement, which includes questions about the charity’s work and activities. This represents approximately 20 per cent of the total population of charities in Australia.

National data

Most common charitable activities  

1. Religious activities

2. Education (not primary, secondary or tertiary education)

3. Economic, social, community

4. Social services

5. Other activity

6. Emergency relief

7. Aged care

8. Culture or the arts

9. Employment or training

10. Other recreation or social club

Most common beneficiaries of charities

1. Children

2. General community in Australia

3. Youth

4. Women

5. Aged persons

6. Men

7. People with disabilities

8. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people

9. Ethnic groups

10. People affected by chronic illness