NFP Sector Set to Help Nation Grow - Report

The Not for Profit sector has been tipped to play a vital role in maximising Australia’s future growth opportunities by finance firm Deloitte.

The Deloitte report, Positioning for Prosperity? Catching the next wave, identified the 25 sectoral hotspots that had the biggest potential to lift Australia’s growth trajectory over the next 20 years. As part of the “Deloitte Growth 25” (DG25), many of the future growth pockets were related to the Not for Profit sector.

“Not for Profit organisations operate across many sectors in our community,” said Chris Campbell, Partner and Not for Profit Sector Leader at Deloitte.  

“For Australia to take advantage of the future growth opportunities, the Not for Profit sector will need to play a significant role in their own right and in combination with government and corporate enterprises.”

Areas that were tipped as future growth pockets included: Aged Care; Retirement Living; Community Care; Education; and Health.

“Many of my Not for Profit clients and others are embracing change, in order to be more competitive and to look for future opportunities that might not previously have been considered,” Gaile Pearce, Deloitte Private Partner, said.  

“Many are already reviewing their strategies in increasingly innovative ways in preparation for the opportunities that will arise over the next five to ten years.

“In order to move closer to prosperity and achieving their mission, Not For Profits will need to consider the primary levers in their organisation such as their service offerings, resources, opportunity (market needs) and what competitive or structural advantages they may have.

“Those ready to embrace change and understand where the next growth waves could be coming from are likely to be better positioned for future prosperity.”

Deloitte said the Deloitte Growth 25 provided some interesting and potentially significant opportunities for many in the Not for Profit sector who have a desire for increased financial sustainability, who seek to grow their capacity to act and who continue to strive to meet the ever increasing needs of the community often with limited resources.

Pearce said there was a number of increasing trends across the Not for Profit sector, including organisations seeking alternative revenue streams in order to achieve increased financial sustainability.

She said the willingness of the sector to embrace information and communications technologies, and digital solutions to engage their members and compete for donations was also on the increase.

Other trends that Deloitte had observed in recent years across the Not for Profit sector include:

• increased government outsourcing to a sector who in many areas can provide a better quality service than their government counterparts, therefore further increasing the economic importance of the Not for Profit sector;

• shifts towards ‘customer centred funding models’ which are forcing many Not for Profit providers to completely review their business model, compelling them to become more competitive and more agile;

• an inflow of commercially trained professionals and Board members who seek to establish best practice processes, risk frameworks and governance structures to fully support the operations of the organisation;  and

• an increasing role of private foundations and corporations forming alliances with Not for Profit organisations.

Positioning for Prosperity? Catching the next wave is the third edition of Deloitte’s Building the Lucky Country series.