Are there too many charities?

There are over 60,000 charities registered by the government’s Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) - a confusing name given it only regulates the charitable institutions that it registers - and an estimated 600,000 not-for-profit organisations.

Contrary to public perception, the number of registered charities has remained relatively stable for the last decade with revoked charities often exceeding newly registered charities.  Nearly a third of registered charities have an income of less than $50,000 and nearly half are volunteer-run and have no paid employees.

For those thinking we have too many charities, we have one charity per 439 people in Australia, compared to 447 for Canada, 395 for the UK, 257 for the USA, and 183 for New Zealand.  My view is that the number of charities is healthy and represents both the unmet need and the compassionate society that we are fortunate to live in. 

The issue is not too many charities, but the competition and the lack of cooperation and collaboration between them, which creates duplication, gaps and fragmentation of services, as well as reinventing the wheel, leading to sub-optimal outcomes and one reason why our social issues are not improving.