Politically, we have a power outage

Community Council for Australia is about to release the results of one of the biggest surveys we’ve ever conducted about charities in Australia.

Working with Piazza Research, CCA asked more than 4,600 Australians about their relationship with charities and how their views on charities might influence their votes in the upcoming election.

The results will not be surprising to those of us in the sector. They tell a good news story, but they also highlight a major disconnect between community attitudes and national policy making.

The survey results will be released in full on Monday. I want to highlight just four of the findings.

1. The vast majority of Australians have some form of relationship with charities

Nine in 10 survey respondents had donated to, volunteered for, worked for or accessed the services and support of charities. Many had multiple connections with their local charities. This figure is quite remarkable. It highlights that charities are a very significant part of life in Australia.

2. Most respondents see charities as important

In fact, 93 per cent of survey respondents said charities were either important or very important to them, while 98 per cent said charities were important or very important to their community and our future.

3. There is strong support for greater support of charities

On key issues – such as tax deductibility for giving to charities – the survey respondents expressed strong support for measures to encourage greater support for charities. More than 90 per cent of respondents thought donations to registered charities should be tax deductible.

4. Voters are more likely to vote for candidates who are positively engaged with charities

In terms of the upcoming election, voters viewed very favourably any ongoing or supportive engagement political candidates had with local charities. A majority of undecided voters indicated they were more likely to vote for candidates who were positively engaged with charities.

Several survey responses to questions about government and charities endorsed the perception that Australia would be a better place if governments worked better with charities.

The message from the survey is very clear: voters support charities and measures that will improve their effectiveness.

This finding is consistent with other findings about charities and their importance in our communities. Politicians and political parties generally already know and accept that charities enjoy high levels of public trust and confidence. This is why most aspiring local political candidates are told to get involved in local charities as part of building their political career.

Given this level of voter support, the question arises: why aren’t charities a more powerful political force?

I think there are three main reasons for the minimal tangible advancement in many areas of sector reform and the lack of targeted sector investment to improve productivity.

The first is that we are not good advocates for ourselves.

We may be good advocates for our causes and our purpose, but unlike most powerful vested interests – think the Pharmacy Guild or the Minerals Council – our sector doesn’t push self-interest ahead of public interest or public benefit. Charities and community groups invariably put purpose and the communities they serve ahead of self-serving grabs at additional resources and concessions for their own organisations.

The second reason is that we don’t fund sector-wide advocacy. CCA as a peak body has a tiny budget, and very limited financial support and organisational capacity, especially when compared to the heavy hitters mentioned above who play the political game with tens and often hundreds of millions of dollars of advocacy funding.

The third reason is that there is no structural vehicle to advance sector-wide reform within government or more broadly. There is no Department of Charities, no Charities Ombudsman, not one senior federal government official outside our regulator (the ACNC) who has any role in monitoring or supporting increased productivity from our sector. Industry groups such as tourism, agriculture, and mining have hundreds or thousands of public servants working to support improved outcomes for their industry.

The key finding of the Piazza research is that charities enjoy a very strong level of support in communities across Australia, which suggests charities could be more electorally significant than many other groups.

The challenge for us as a sector is to translate community support into real political power to drive improved services and effectiveness in delivering on our purpose.

David Crosbie has been CEO of the Community Council for Australia for the past decade and has spent more than a quarter of a century leading significant not-for-profit organisations, including the Mental Health Council of Australia, the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, and Odyssey House Victoria.