・In 1995/96, non-profit organisations in Australia spent between $27 billion and $43 billion in operating expenditure, depending on definition used; (between 6.2 percent and 9.8 percent of gross domestic product)
・Even by the core definition, the non-profit sector is as large as the combined state governments of Victoria and New South Wales (Australia's two most populous states).
・Australia's non-profit sector employed between 564,000 and 668,000 people. This was between 11.0 percent and 13 percent of private sector employees, and 6.8 percent and 8.1 percent of the workforce.
・Australians volunteered 374 million hours for non-profit organisations in 1994/95.
・Australia gave $2.8 billion to non-profit organisations in 1997.
・It is also interesting to note that Australians lost at gambling almost four times the sum that they donated to charities, churches, schools and other non-profit organisations.
In a more recent survey, Professor Lyons identified 700,000 non-profit organisations in Australia, compared to 11,000 identified by the Industry Commission. The huge disparity in the figures is largely attributable to different definitions of the sector under scrutiny.
According to the Lyons research, even if it was broad and perhaps a little too inclusive, the not for profit sector in Australia is bigger than the mining sector. Yet the way the two sectors are organised and dealt with by government couldn't be more different. The mining sector has its own professional lobby groups, councils, and a recognised role in the national economy. The not for profit sector, on the other hand, is seen as disparate, divided, and has no single industry forum to represent it or advocate on its behalf. Its contribution to the national economy is largely unrecognised, often taken for granted.
The not for profit sector must understand that research is an important start to policy development. The sector cannot be taken seriously, or consulted, or involved at the highest level of policy development, until we understand ourselves who we are, how big we are, and how integral we are to the economy and society we operate within. In Australia, at least, we are at such an early stage in the research, we have yet to gain broad agreement about the definition of the sector.
Civil Society―The Olympics―The Public Face of Australian Volunteerism
To understand the extent of the volunteer spirit in Australia, we cannot ignore the phenomenon of the Olympic Volunteers. It was one of the most noteworthy and commented upon aspect of this major international event. What made 46,000 people take two weeks holiday to devote themselves and their time for no monetary reward? To provide a context which you may not be aware of, these volunteers stepped forward months before the Olympic Games, in an atmosphere of scepticism about the capacity, competence and honesty of the Olympic bureaucracy. Ours was a nation that widely enjoyed a television comedy series which mercilessly parodied the Sydney Organising Committee. Yet despite that mistrust, and even cynicism, people were committed to the project, and to making it work through their own personal efforts.
