Charities employ 12.55% of QLD workforce

We're back again to help promote innovation for the community sector. They do a lot of good work, and they are often 'rewarded' by government with annual cuts to their funding (called efficiency dividends).

You can help.

• Volunteer your time to help with ICT and other means to improve efficiency.
• Donate money
• Start a social enterprise
• Have social enterprise pricing for your product
• Help with digital literacy training
• Lobby your local member to help the community sector more.

Here are a few facts for you from a the Summary of a  QUT paper called 'The State of Queensland Charities', written by Prof Myles McGregor-Lowndes and Marie Crittall from the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (ACPNS).

How Big are Charities Operating in Queensland?

• Most (65.4%) of the Queensland operating charities are considered small charities with annual revenue less than $250,000. The Australian average across all charities is 68.3%.
• Medium sized charities (annual revenue between $250,000 and $999,999) make up 15.9% of Queensland operating charities. The Australian average across all charities is 15.1%.
• The remaining 18.6% of charities are considered large charities with annual revenue of more than $1,000,000. The Australian average across all charities is 16.6%.
• Queensland has a greater percentage of large charities than the other states and territories. Of the 2,019 large charities which operate in Queensland, over half (1,102) are from Queensland resident charities. The remaining large charities mainly reside in NSW (20.7%), VIC (13.5%) and ACT (3.6%). 

How Many Full- and Part-time Staff are Employed by Queensland Charities?

• 8,200 operating charities reported employing 156,429 full-time staff which is equivalent to 6.64% of the Queensland workforce.
• 10% of Queensland operating charities employ 92.2% of all full-time charity staff in Queensland - 8,581 operating charities reported employing 143,323 part-time staff, which is 13.77% of the Queensland workforce.
• 10% of Queensland charities employ 89.3% of part-time staff employed by all charities in Queensland.
• 12.55% of the total Queensland workforce were employed by charities operating in Queensland. - The average number of full-time staff was 20. However this was skewed by several charities with a large number of full-time staff. The median number of full-time staff was 1 with the most common response being 0.
• The average number of part-time staff (17) was again affected by several charities with a large number of staff. The median number of part-time staff was 1 and no part-time staff was the most common response.
• For charities resident in Queensland, the average number of full-time staff was 15.59 and the average number of part-time staff was 15.15.

How Many Volunteers are Engaged by Queensland Charities?

• 9,560 operating charities reported engaging 1,110,816 volunteers.
• 10% of charities engage 84.2% of volunteers.
• The average number of volunteers was 117. However, this was skewed once again: the median number was 12, and 0 was the most common response.5 For all Australian charities, the mean number of volunteers was 65 (the median was 11 volunteers).