Part One
2.3 Voluntary Organisations in New Zealand
specific sections for how to manage government–voluntary organisation collaborations.
A number of subsequent projects stemmed from the Integrated Service Delivery work stream – Funding for Outcomes being a major one (Ministry of Social Development, 2004). The aim of the project is to accelerate the process of implementing an integrated approach to government contracting with voluntary organisations. Funding advisors have been contracted to work on behalf of voluntary organisations to ‘join-up’ their contracts with government. Having one contract, with one set of reporting requirements, it is hoped will reduce the organisations’
compliance costs of contracting with government and allow voluntary organisations to provide ‘wrap-around’, or holistic services, to their clients. As of April 2004, the advisors had been appointed, organisations involved in the trial identified, and the evaluation plan developed.
2.2.7 Summary: Policy Context
A wide range of projects are underway to try to improve the Government’s relationship with the voluntary sector. As in other jurisdictions, the policy documents talk about collaboration and partnership. Commentators in other jurisdictions (refer section 1.4 for summary of the debate) have questioned the actual ability of governments to have ‘partners’. Most of the initiatives outlined here are either still being implemented or have recently been established, so have not yet evaluated. Their contribution to improving the government–voluntary sector relationship remains uncertain.
specific issues (Robinson and Hanley, 2002). After reviewing the available information, Suggate (1995: 1) concluded:
There is much information which is not known, including: the economic contribution of the sector, the number of organisations of different types; how many paid/unpaid people are involved; how many people benefit from services;
the infrastructural capacity of the sector; what training needs are unfulfilled; and what ratio of funding comes from government, philanthropic and corporate services.
Nearly ten years on, the information gaps she identified are generally still empty and the Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party (2001: 55) extended the list of gaps to include:
the informal components of iwi and community organisations; ‘in kind’
contributions; the full range of iwi/Maori organisations; the full range of Pacific peoples’ organisations; the community organisations of other minority ethnic groups.
2.3.1 The Number and Type of Voluntary Organisations
The only source of estimating the number of voluntary organisations in New Zealand is the Registry of Incorporated Societies and Charitable Trusts. To claim tax benefits, organisations must be registered with the Ministry of Economic Development.
As of the end of 2000, there were 21,444 registered incorporated societies and 11,582 registered charitable trusts. Every year around 3,000 organisations are newly incorporated.
However, these figures only cover voluntary organisations that have registered as charities or incorporated societies. Many organisations that fulfil the definition of voluntary organisation outlined in the first chapter do not seek to be tax-exempt so will not seek registration. Others will not maintain their registered status. Some iwi/Maori organisations that could be classified as voluntary organisations are also
not included in the figures as they are registered under specific legislation (Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party, 2001).
Nor is information recorded concerning the size, structure and functions of the organisations. They vary in size, composition and function from small, volunteer run community groups to large national organisations with corporate structures and thousands of staff (Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party, 2001).
2.3.2 Funding of Voluntary Organisations
Voluntary organisations are generally reliant on government funding. Based on estimates of the sources of funds available to the voluntary sector, Robinson and Hanley (2002) conclude that 56 percent ($920,595,000) of funds available to voluntary organisations came from central government, 17 percent from personal donations, 9 percent from philanthropic trusts, and 8 percent from the proceeds of gambling machines. Compared with the results of a similar exercise in 1996 (refer Robinson, 1996), the percentage and amount of central government funding of voluntary organisations has increased. Robinson and Hanley conclude that this is because voluntary organisations, especially in the area of health, are delivering more services on contract. They also conclude that there is insufficient data available relating to the funding of voluntary organisations. In particular, they argue that the information available from central government is of limited use, as government figures did not differentiate between for-profit and voluntary organisation providers.
2.3.3 Economic Contribution
An important gap in knowledge of the sector is understanding the role of voluntary organisations in New Zealand’s economy (Suggate, 1995; Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party, 2001). The New Zealand Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations (NZFVWO), an umbrella group of social service providers, has attempted to fill this gap and make visible the importance of the voluntary sector.
They commissioned an analysis of the estimated value of ten voluntary organisations to the New Zealand economy (NZFVWO, 2004).
They found that if the ten organisations they studied operated as businesses or government agencies, and if they paid their staff, they would be in the top five percent of New Zealand enterprises.
Quantifying the value of volunteer hours showed that the time spent by volunteers in the ten organisations is comparable to the total time worked by paid employees in the dairy industry - 7.63 million volunteer hours each year or the equivalent of 4,063 full-time workers (NZFVWO, 2004).
Other sources of data confirm the volume of volunteering that occurs in New Zealand. Questions in national censuses regarding unpaid work, and a Time Use Survey in 1998–9, provide a picture of the volunteer component of voluntary organisations (Wilson, 2001). The 2001 Census reported that 16.2 percent of the working-age population undertook voluntary work in the four weeks preceding census night and that volunteering is an important part of many peoples’ daily lives.
Maori and Pacific peoples, in particular, do much volunteer work (Statistics New Zealand, 2001).
Methodologies to measure the contribution of the voluntary sector to New Zealand’s economy are still being developed. Statistics New Zealand, the Government body charged with collecting official statistics, has concluded that the amount of unpaid work (which includes volunteering) needs to be measured because, in its words:
New Zealanders aged 15 years and over spend, on average, more time in unpaid work than they do in paid employment. Yet, despite its potential contribution to the productive activity of the New Zealand economy, unpaid work is excluded from conventional economic statistics, such as the national accounts and employment measures (Statistics New Zealand, 1999: 1).
The Department is currently developing mechanisms to facilitate such measurement.