Not For Profit Organizations Of Australia

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

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ABSRACT

Third Sector organizations are playing a viral role in making the society healthy and prosperous. The Not for Profit Organizations are providing benefits and are continuously working for the wellbeing of social, culture and economic welfare of the society.

The history of the not for profit organization is very remarkable. The aim and goal of these Third Sector Organizations is not to generate profit and revenues for the individuals’ interest. But these organizations provide the helps and assistance to the vulnerable individuals and society.

These organizations are working in almost every other industry. They provide help and assistance in the establishment of schools and medical centers. Moreover, the religious work is also done and assisted by these not for profit organizations.

Table of Contents

SUMMARY 4

INTRODUCTION 5

CONCLUSION 16

Bibliography Error: Reference source not found

SUMMARY

The importance of Third Sector Organizations cannot be ignored or avoided. These organizations are working very hardly on the welfare and well being of the individuals and society. The third sector organizations are different from the other businesses and organizations on two points. First of all, they are not the profit generating organizations. Secondly they are not government organizations.

From schools to medical care, sports, religion institutes, housing and education etc, all the industries are being targeted by the Third Sector Organizations or the Not for Profit Organizations.

The profit that are earned are invested again in the operations and activities to produce goods and services for the betterment and benefits of the society and each individual.

Enhancing the relations and connections with the Government can be beneficial for the Not for Profit Organizations. The problem of raising funds is very common in these organizations and this problem can be solved easily with the help and assistance of Government. It has been noticed that the Government of Australia has been providing the support to the Not for Profit Organizations, in the form of Tax Concession.

The Culture of Australia and the norms and values of the people living in Australia supports the cause of Not for Profit organizations. Many people join such organizations for their personal satisfactions.

INTRODUCTION

The Third Sector of Australia includes the organizations that have two main qualities. First, they are the non profit organizations. Secondly, they are non government as well. The organizations’ existence depends on the volunteer work and giving activities.

The organizations of third sector include different industries’ organizations. The organizations that are included in Third Sector belongs to the industries of community Services, health services, education, housing, sports, culture, finance and rural etc.

Third sector organizations are getting popular in many countries. The organizations differ in size and in the activities they conduct. Each organization has some different aim and goal to achieve. There are organizations which are working for religious work; it includes aiding and financing churches and volunteering helping the people to understand the religious teaching. Moreover, other organizations are working for educational purposes. Their aim is to make the education accessible for all the individuals, as education is very important in today’s world. Private schools are being established and funded so that they may run easily. Other than this, organizations are also working for medical care. That is, many hospitals are being established. Overall, Third Sector Organizations are working for the welfare of people and to bring harmony in the country.

Third Sector organizations are called and addressed in different terms in different countries. They are also known as non government, voluntary, non profit, club society organizations etc

In order to make the society civilized and educated, Third Sector Organizations are playing a vital role. But, due to the lack of research, Third Sector Organizations are under-valued.

The Australian Third Sector organizations are also labeled as not for profit sector, or non profit sector etc. The estimated number of entities in not-for-profit sector is 600,000. These 600,000 entities are contribution around $43 billion to the Australian economy. (NFP Sector, 2011) The non profit organizations employ around 890,000 people. Out og them 8.6 % Australians are included. (Lyons, 2009)

Among these 600,000 organizations, 177,109 are non-profit organizations. 41,008 are economically significant organizations. 21.4% organizations are working for Religious activities. (The Australian Not-For-Profit Sector)

Not for Profit Organizations feel that they are poorly understood by the General public and by the Government. The Not for Profit Organizations feel much pressure to improve resource allocation and to be efficient and effective.

HISTORY

Almost around 200 years ago, since the Europeans had first settled in the Australian continent, Australia consisted six self governing colonies of Great Britain. Almost less than 100 years back, those six self governing colonies of Great Britain federated to form a single nation. The population of Australia had always consisted a great number of migrants. During the nineteenth century, the people brought with them many of the aspirations and the quarrels of "home". These ideas and aspirations had a direct impact on the development of the non profit sector ion Australia. (Lyon, 1998)

The history of Non profit or Third Sector Organizations of Australia is very significant. This paper reveals the facts that why in the past few years, Non Profit Organizations or Third Sector Organizations have been formed and flourished in almost every other industry. The questions like "What were the reasons to establish the Third Sector Organizations" would be answered in this paper.

The Australian Third Sector organizations have a strong and very significant history of helping the vulnerable and helpless people. The organizations that are included in Third Sector, helped the people a lot and provided them with the social services until the Second World War.

In Australia, two or more than two people are independent and free to form any business and to make any organization unless the purpose of that organization is not illegal. If the purpose of this organization is something else other than to make a profit, then, there is no need to register this organization with any government authority. (Lyons, 2009)

Mainly out of these organizations, the organization that helped the people and tried their best to eliminate misery, poverty and helplessness from the society, were linked to the religious sector. (Background to the Not-For-Profit Sectors)

The Not for Profit sector Organizations of Australia work for the benefits of the society and not for the people that are linked to the organizations. Generating profit or revenue is not their sole purpose. The profit that is earned is put back again in the operations and activities of the organization to help the society and establish welfare in the community.

The government is not the part of the Non Profit organizations. But the Not for Profit Organization does includes the government linked bodies for example, schools, churches, universities etc

The Australian Bureau of Statistics define the Not for Profit Organization in such way that these are the organizations that produces goods and provides the services to the people and their aim is not to produce the profit or to become a source of income but they are doing so for the betterment and benefits of individuals. (Overview: Not-For-Profit Sector in Australia)

The history of Australian Not for Profit Organizations is remarkable. This tells the people that there are other things that are more important and gives much more satisfaction than earning money and generating income. The not for Profit organizations help and aid the people and society.

The history of Australian Not for Profit Organization influences the new comers to establish such organization like non profit organization for the welfare and benefits of the individuals and society. It is very mandatory because volunteering helping the vulnerable people and society would ultimately create benefits for the country.

Doing something for the wellbeing and prosperity of the people and the society without the greed of getting some reward increases the morale of the individuals. Therefore, it is very important and necessary that the history of third sector of Australian organizations should be taught in schools and colleges so that the students may start thinking for the society rather than thinking for themselves or for their families only.

The new comers organizations who enter in the not for profit sector, they don’t really care for what position they are standing at as far as they are helping and providing assistance to promote an issue about which they are much motivated and obsessive. Their aim is to do something for the whole society and not to generate the profits. They differ from others because other organizations’ aim is to increase the revenue so that they may secure a good financial position. More over, the profit based organizations are only concerned to make a tag and a good image in the society. All the time they are thinking how to compete with their rivals and opponents.

The role of the third sector organizations is to full fill the unmet needs of the people and society. Moreover the Third Sector Organizations or Not for profit organization work to bring leadership in the country and community. Technical Assistance is also provided and policies are also formulated by the non profit organizations.

The political issues are being faced by the not for Profit organizations of Australia. According to the Professor Mark Lyon, Non profit organizations are contributing a lot in the society and they play a vital role in the regeneration of social capital. The non profit organizationshelps and shape a democratic political system. He addressed the not for profit organizations as the "Elementary schools of democracy . (2007)

The political issues faced by the Not For Profit Organizations are that the Government wants to make the economy flourishing and prosperous. The governmental goals and the goals of the Not for Profit Organizations differ. The Third Sector Organization work for the betterment of the people while the Government may support the organizations that are profit based. The Government wants to introduce the best quality goods that can be exported to other countries to increase the GDP.

The not for profit organizations face the problem of high cost of raising finance. Since these organizations do not earn revenue or make very little profit because their purpose is not to generate profit but to help the individuals and society, therefore, the problem of raising funds is often faced by these organizations. (Ralph)

Relying on external funding that is, relying on Government funds may have the influence of the reliability with which the organization can hire and retain its employees. Australian not for profit organizations are playing an important role in combating with the social problems and enhancing and improving the social, economic, cultural and environmental well being of the society and community.

The government of Australia is committed to find the best solutions for the problems of the social segregation by making sure that the organizations that fall under not for profit sector or third sector; they work with the private and governmental sectors with full cooperation to be effective and efficient.

In Australia, the government funding for the not for profit organizations fall into three main categories. They are

Citizen Entitlement

Social Safety Net

Beneficial Activities

The citizen entitlement includes funding the organizations that are linked to the education and health care industries

The social safety net includes providing the basic necessities for life to the people who face the problem of unemployment. More over, the disable people and the people who have got the retirement, also fall in this category to be assisted and financed by the government funds.

The activities that are thought to be beneficial for the society and for the people of the community, they are also being funded by the government. For examples the sports clubs, the national cultural institutions and environmental organizations.

The problem of funding can be solved if the terms and relationships between the Third Sector Organization and the Government may become good. The not for profit based organization may easily get the funds and can easily continue their operations and activities if the proper funds are being allocated to them by the Government. In a research it was found out that the Government does support the Third Sector organization by giving them concession of Tax.

According to some researches it was found out that the Australian Government allocated $100,000 to the small organizations. The government of Australia granted $100,000 to different 25 not for profit organizations so that they may utilize these funds in the time of some natural disasters. (Alvarez)

This shows that building good terms and relations with the Government is very important. Working with the Government makes the things easier and simple for the Third Sector Organizations. The government may aid the organizations and can easily raise the funds for the Not for Profit Organizations.

The Culture of Australia and the people of Australia are much supportive to the Not for Profit Organizations of Australia. Majority of the population of Australia are the migrants or descendants of migrants who have come to Australia from almost 200 different countries. The people of Australia have shared values and they respect them a lot. They are united with each other and take care of each other. Their values and norms are very much remarkable. The people have Australia have the right to express their selves and their culture freely and independently.

The people of Australia enjoy healthy life styles and share great terms and relations with each other. This makes it easy for the Not for Profit organizations to make people motivated and adopt the thinking of helping and assisting others.

The people of Australia believes in equality, justice and work for peacefulness. This is the reason that why in such a short period of few years there is a huge number of Not For Profit Organizations introduced in Australia. (People, Culture and Life Style - About Australia )

The people of Australia believe that helping each other gives you satisfaction and happiness. Therefore, a lot of number of people work for the betterment of society and willingly joins the not for profit organizations. According to the research done it was concluded that people helps others and do volunteer work for their satisfaction and gratification.

Historically, Australia is a country that falls into the Liberal Category. Funding the human services has been the responsibility of the household in Australia. These services are being purchased by the Households from the Not for Profit organizations or the Third Sector Organizations.

The Culture of any organization has a great significance on the performance of the people to reach and achieve the goals. The culture of the organization is all about the norms and values it possesses.

The Culture of the organization consists of the rules, traditions and customs. The Culture of the organization is all about the way to do the things. The Culture of the organization shares the feelings, beliefs, aims and expectations. Even though culture is invisible yet it can be strongly felt.

The responsibility of Internal Control lies with the Board of Director and the higher management of the organization. The main responsibility of these higher authorities to make sure that the organization is working in achieving its goals and targets. The role of the board of Director is to question and monitor the activities of the organization specially the activities that are related to the financial health and over all viability of the Not for Profit Organizations.

The whole staff of the not for Profit Organizations have the responsibility to ensure that the activities are properly operating and functioning. Effective control and monitoring the activities require the proper planning. Planning should be done and goals should be mentioned. Then the actual work done and activities are compared to the planned ones to see if they are meeting the requirements and targets or not.

In Not for Profit Organizations, the financial resources are often limited. Therefore, everything needs to be monitored with full attention and concentration.

Establishing the Internal Control requires two main areas. They are:

Control Environment

Risk Assessment

The main aim of establishing the Control Environment is to set a tone from the board of Directors and managers to the stake holders and all the staff. An effective control environment is the one in which the people who are linked to the organization, are well aware of their tasks and responsibility. The purpose of introducing the Control Environment is to make sure that each and everything is crystal clear to the whole organization’s staff. There should not be any ambiguity. Control environment is set by creating the sound and comprehensive policies and procedures.

The areas that are covered in the policies and procedures are human resource, administration, financial, reporting, system etc.

From hiring the people, training, job description everything should be carefully planned and written down. Job responsibilities should be divided among the main and important positions. It should be clear to the staff to whom they are supposed to report. The systems should be installed and maintained properly. There should be the back up of the data, so it can easily be recovered in any misfortune of disaster.

Other than this, the risk management helps the organization to monitor and determine the possible future risks and threats that may exist and attack the organization.

When the objectives of the organization are identified and are planned, the risk should be assessed and determined. The risk of low financial resources is the biggest threat for almost every other Not for Profit Organization. (Internal Controls for Not-For-Profit Organisations)

CONCLUSION

The not for profit organizations are playing a vital role in the welfare of the society and community. The efforts that are being made by the Third Sector Organizations are remarkable. Moreover, working for others’ benefits and betterment is something really significant. The culture of Australia and the people living in Australia believes in doing something and helping the needy persons.

The purpose of the organizations that fall under the category of Not for Profit (NFP) sector in Australia, is not to generate profit or income. But the purpose of these organizations is to bring happiness, peace and harmony in the lives of the people and society.

The Contribution of not for profit organizations in the Annual GDP is remarkable. The contribution of such organizations in GDP has increased from 3.3 to 4.1 percent. This shows that the not for profit organizations are growing incredibly.

More than 4.5 million people work in the Not for profit organizations. This shows that the poepl of Australia are amazing and marvelous.

The not for profit organizations are providing their services in almost every other industry. Establishing schools and colleges to make education available and accessible for every single individual is also very important. It is helping in making the country worth living.

As it was mentioned that the not for profit organizations are non government. They do not include Government and governmental authorities to indulge and involve in their activities. This thing should be reconsidered. Involving government would somehow make the things easier and simple for the third sector organizations. The problem of fund raising is very noticeable. The lack of financial resources often cause problems and often delays the organizations to achieve their goals. Having good and fair association and connection with the Government may reduce and eliminate the problems of the Not for Government Organizations.