Not-for-profit revolution

Australia's not-for-profit sector is in the midst of a revolution concerning its role in the community, according to Elizabeth Cham, chief executive of Sydney-based Philanthropy Australia.

But uncertainty still exists as to the prospects of long-term sustainability, mainly due to obstacles at senior government levels, she says.

Mrs Cham was in Perth recently to meet local representatives from the business and not-for-profit communities at a roundtable boardroom luncheon organised by philanthropy facilitator the Western Australian Community Foundation.

The event was hosted at the city office of executive recruitment agency, Gerard Daniels.

Mrs Cham has been national director of Philanthropy Australia, the peak body for Australian grant-makers, for more than a decade. Philanthropy Australia’s members include prominent private and corporate philanthropists, who collectively give more than $1 billion to the Australian community each year.

She is currently a member of the Prime Minister’s Roundtable on Business and Community Partner-ships, adviser and founding member of the International Meeting of Associations Serving Grant-makers, and a key driving force behind the National Non-profit Roundtable.

Mrs Cham said social marketing by the corporate sector was affecting a degree of sustainability in community partnerships, which was changing the way philanthropy was viewed in Australian society as word-of-mouth spread knowledge of benevolence.

“The not-for-profit sector is in the grips of a revolution, really,” she said.

However, Mrs Cham said the sector didn’t use its knowledge resources as well as it could.

Particularly, NFPs could do more to gain access to top levels of Australian government by using their highly valued partnerships with the corporate sector, which enjoys a stronger voice with figures such as the prime minister, she said.

The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the NFP sector’s main sources of income shows that about 30 per cent of income is derived from government grants and contracts.

“Corporates have the ability to knock on the door of governments and bring NGOs [non-government organi-sations] with them,” Mrs Cham said.

Philanthropy needed to build a “club”, similar to that of the business community, she added.

Despite booming economic conditions, WACF chief executive Kathryn Sydney-Smith said there was conflicting evidence as to whether charitable donations picked up or dropped off in times of economic prosperity.

Also at the Perth roundtable were key figures in charge of chequebooks at several major resource companies, including Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, and Newmont Australia.

A level of “opaqueness” existed across the spectrum of welfare providers, said Christine Charles, group executive of environment and social responsibility at Newmont.

She said more attention was needed to source the right people with the ability to speak to government, academia and NGOs to advance philanthropy.

Lotterywest chief executive Jan Stewart said the “tragedy of short-term funding” was a symptom of three year election cycles.

But by far the most common sentiment expressed at the forum was the need to future proof the sector to ensure sustainability in 20 years.

A Federal Government report into national giving is expected to be delivered within the next two weeks.