The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission has released the 12th edition of its Australian Charities Report, drawing on 53,641 Annual Information Statements for the 2024 reporting period. It is the most complete picture we get of the charity sector each year, and this edition tells a story that matters well beyond the sector itself.
The headline: growth, but the sums no longer add up
Charities generated a record $239 billion in revenue, up 7.5 per cent and well ahead of the wider economy’s 1.4 per cent growth. But expenses rose faster, up 8.6 per cent to $231 billion, and net income across the sector fell. The ACNC attributes the squeeze to a difficult combination: more people turning to charities as cost of living pressures bite, while charities’ own costs, including wages, insurance and utilities, keep climbing.
For not-for-profit boards and leaders, that pattern will feel familiar. Demand is up, costs are up, and the margin for error is shrinking. It makes every funding application, every donor communication and every piece of stakeholder engagement count for more.
The finding that should stop small organisations in their tracks
The report’s size analysis is where the real story sits. Sixty per cent of all charities are small or extra small, with annual revenue under $500,000. Together, this majority of the sector generated just 1.4 per cent of total sector revenue, received 8.6 per cent of donations and bequests, and held less than 5 per cent of sector assets. At the other end, extra large charities, just 0.6 per cent of the sector, captured 57 per cent of revenue and around half of all assets.
Now look at where the money comes from. Government is the sector’s largest funding source at $118 billion, almost half of all revenue, and it grew by more than $10 billion this year. But that growth did not reach everyone. Small charities were the only size group whose government revenue went backwards, falling 6 per cent, and only 29 per cent of them received any government funding at all. Among extra small charities, the figure drops to 14 per cent.
In plain terms: the government funding pool is large and growing, but small organisations are winning less of it. Whether that reflects grant programs favouring scale, or smaller organisations lacking the time and capability to compete for funding, the practical conclusion is the same. A professional, strategic approach to grants and tenders is no longer optional for small not-for-profits. It is the difference between sharing in a growing pool and being locked out of it.
Donations held up better than the headlines suggest
Donations and bequests reached $14.8 billion. On paper that is a fall from $18.9 billion the year before, but the previous figure was inflated by a single record $4.9 billion donation to one charity. Strip that out and giving actually rose, from $14 billion to $14.8 billion, the second-highest total on record.
That resilience is encouraging, but the distribution is not even. Small and extra small charities rely far more heavily on donations than larger ones, with donations making up 39 per cent of extra small charities’ revenue, so the quality of their donor communications, their storytelling and their public trust directly determines their survival. Larger charities can absorb a flat giving year; smaller ones cannot.
A sector running on goodwill
Charities reported a record 3.9 million volunteers, 2.5 for every paid employee, and 53 per cent of charities operate with no paid staff at all. At the same time, the sector employed 1.6 million people, 11 per cent of the entire Australian workforce, more than manufacturing, construction or retail.
Two implications follow. For not-for-profits, volunteer recruitment and retention is a communications challenge as much as an operational one, and the organisations that tell their story well will win the goodwill. For businesses, the sector is not a soft adjunct to the economy; it is a major employer, service provider and potential partner, and community partnerships built with it carry real weight with customers and staff.
What to do with this
For not-for-profits: treat grant-seeking as a strategic priority, not an ad hoc scramble. The data shows the funding is there and the competition is intensifying. Invest in a funding pipeline, strong evidence of outcomes, and the writing capability to present both. And keep donor and volunteer communications honest, specific and grounded in real impact, because trust is your most valuable asset.
For businesses: the ageing of the sector’s beneficiaries is worth noting, with adults aged 65 and over entering the top three beneficiary groups for the first time, mirroring Australia’s demographics. If your business serves, employs or partners with community organisations, this is where demand is heading. Well-chosen community partnerships also offer credibility that advertising cannot buy.
The sector’s own regulator describes charities as the connective tissue of Australian communities. This year’s data shows that tissue is under strain, and that the organisations that communicate their value clearly to funders, donors, volunteers and partners will be the ones that come through it the strongest.
Source: Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (2026). Australian Charities Report, 12th Edition. The full report and all previous editions are available at acnc.gov.au/tools/reports/australian-charities-report-12th-edition.