Some good news in ACNC’s Charities Report shows importance of sector to the economy

Philanthropy Australia’s Knowledge Lead Rebecca Moriarty digs into the findings of 2025’s latest research on the charities sector, highlighting that revenue reached a record high of $222 billion – a rise of 10.7%.

On 4 June, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) published their 11^th Annual Charities report providing a charity data set that confirms the importance of the sector to the Australian economy and how the sector continues to grow year on year.

“Our data confirms the charity sector should not, and cannot, be ignored or underestimated. It is a powerhouse of good, bringing benefits to many people, and is an active economic contributor and driver,” said ACNC Commissioner Sue Woodward.

This edition is based on the 52,627 Annual Information Statements submitted by charities to the ACNC for the 2023 reporting period. The number of registered charities continues to grow – with about 1,100 more annual returns included in this analysis.

Large increase in donations and bequests due to one foundation

The topline figure for donations and bequests jumped by $5 billion from $13.9b to $18.9 billion between 2022 and 2023, but this significant rise was due to the largest donation a single charity ever reported to the ACNC of $4.9 billion to the Minderoo Foundation group. Aside from that single donation, there was little increase. Donations rose by less than 0.4% (only $54 million) compared to the previous year. Approximately 40% of the donations and bequests went to just 30 charities.

Sector expenses and revenue trends

Overall, total revenue for the sector increased by $21b (10.7%) to $222b in 2023 compared to 2022, while expenses increased at a lower rate of $16.5b (8.4%) to $212b. This positive change follows from a challenging 2022 where the percentage increase in expenses outpaced revenue. Looking at the broader year-on-year trends between 2018 and 2023, there appeared to be a cyclical trend between revenue and expenses.

The charity sector comes in all sizes

The report re-iterated the fact that the Australian charity sector contains organisations of many sizes – from tiny groups to large organisations. There are material differences in how revenue and expenses were distributed among charities of different sizes.

More than 60% of charities have an annual turnover of less than $500,000. While extra-large organisations represent just 0.5% of Australian charities, they account for 56% of the sector’s total revenue. Extra-small and extra-large charities reported the highest increases (21.4% and 10.9%, respectively) in total expenses.

Between 2018 and 2023, there was an increase in the proportion of small charities (>$50k and <$500k) from 21% to 29.9%, and a decrease in the proportion of large charities (>$3m and <$10m) from 13.4% to 5.4%.

Some reporting lines have been moved from this report to others including charity revocations (now in annual report) and analysis by subtype (available on Charity Data Explorer). Some analysis is only from the Annual Information Statements (such as physical address) rather than data from all registered charities, and special focus areas (10^th edition focused on 10 years of data, philanthropy focus area in the 9^th edition, etc will be shared elsewhere). There is new analysis on key management personnel that is based on a new question added to the questionnaire.

Unique opportunity for philanthropy to be increasing its giving

There is an urgent need for the sector to respond to the issues of our times.

Looking back, this report shows us three years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, where 9% of charities did not conduct activities cited COVID-19 as the reason they were not operating. On a positive note, this was down from 25% in 2022 and 43% in 2021. The report says: “Even in times of global uncertainty, generosity remains universal and philanthropy is called to action and valued across cultures and societies.” Globally, there are many favourable environments for philanthropy according to the Global Philanthropy Environment Index, despite recent challenges.

Looking around us now and ahead, there are new challenges with high stakes. Our not-for-profit and philanthropic sector has a unique opportunity to respond in how we give. While large-scale philanthropy such as the Minderoo Foundation Group highlighted in this ACNC report and the recent spend-down pledge by the Gates Foundation, giving of all sizes will have positive impact. Analysis of interest in giving options by Philanthropy Australia has found that there is a strong interest in giving while alive, such as through a giving account (like a sub-fund). Findings from our Telescope sector survey earlier in the year showed us that people want more collaboration across the sector and beyond, and peer learning and sharing opportunities.

“Charities provide such a broad range of services that they touch almost every part of the economy – education, health, environment, social services and the arts to name a few… Charities continue to be a key driver of the economy,” said Sue Woodward.