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Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra’s charities rake in $3.8 billion (yes with a ‘b’)

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ACT charities received more than $3.8 billion in income in 2014, according to a new report from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).

The report found that the ACT’s charities employ over 28 000 people, and around 49 000 Territorians volunteer.

These findings were published in the Australian Charities Report 2014 produced by the ACNC.

The report details independent analysis undertaken by academics at the Centre for Social Impact and the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

The findings were derived from the 2014 Annual Information Statements registered charities submitted to the ACNC, which for the first time included financial information.

As such, the report constitutes a census of charities in Australia.

ACNC Commissioner Susan Pascoe AM said the report was evidence of the immense contribution of ACT’s charities.

“ACT charities are not only economically significant, but also contribute greatly to the community,” Susan said.

“ACT’s charities represent approximately 4% of the combined income of the Australian charity sector and employ approximately 3% of the charity workforce.

“Being the nation’s capital and the centre of politics, compared to other states and territories, there is a higher proportion of charities that work in the area of law, advocacy and politics.

“These types of charities make up about 4% of the ACT’s charities. Compared to New South Wales, for example, charities that work in the area of law, advocacy and politics only represent about 1%.

“Like other states, religious charities are the most common, but there are almost as many education and research charities in the ACT. This includes the Australian National University which is the largest charity in the ACT by income.”

Ms Pascoe encouraged people to explore the data at australiancharities.acnc.gov.au.

“It’s easy to filter the information to get a breakdown according to different variables like state, size, location and main activity,” Ms Pascoe said.

“You can look at those charities that work in a particular area like education and research, or even charities of a particular size.”

The ACNC is pleased to provide this information to the community to assist their understanding of the work of charities in Australia and in the ACT, and to help them make informed decisions regarding donating or volunteering.

For those wanting information on individual charities they can go to the Charity Register at acnc.gov.au/findacharity.

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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