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Australian charities – COVID-19 casualties or partners in recovery?

Will Australian charities be COVID-19 casualties or partners in recovery? A financial health check has been launched this morning by SVA and CSI.

The report models the potential impact of COVID-19 on the financial health of 16,000 charities in Australia who employ people, to better understand the effects and identify systemic solutions.   This new modelling has found that without transitional support more than 200,000 jobs could be lost among Australian charities as support like JobKeeper, and lease and loan deferrals come to an end in October.

Charities employ one in ten of Australia’s workforce. They provide vital services including education, health care, sports and recreation, aged care, religion, arts and culture, animal protection, and environmental protection. Without Australia’s charities, quality of life would be much lower on many dimensions. But as the report details, this impending ‘October cliff’ could disrupt the provision of services that are vital to the fabric and functioning of Australia’s society and economy.   For this reason, the report calls for governments to ensure the resilience and viability of the charity sector through a range of supports, including a gradual transition of JobKeeper, the creation of a one-off Charities Transformation Fund to help organisations transition to the ‘new normal’, and retaining JobSeeker at a higher level.

To view the Social Ventures Australia and Centre for Social Impact report in full, click here

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