“Overall, it looks like non profits, while crucial to New Zealand economy and society, are more precarious than they have been, for at least a decade and possibly longer.”

Garth Nowland-Foreman, Director of LEAD, Centre for Not for Profit Leadership.

The title might not be that snazzy, but the content of Statistics New Zealand’s Non-profit institutions satellite account 2013 [NPISA]  makes for a fascinating read!

The NPISA measures and analyses the contribution of non-profit institutions to New Zealand’s economy, as represented by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and includes data on the number of volunteers and hours worked.

The 2013 data updates the 2004 satellite account first published by Statistics New Zealand in 2007.

Key points:

• 114,000 non profit organisations (up 18% since 2004)
• Non-profit organisations contributed $5,962 million to New Zealand’s GDP in 2013 (up 2.5% since 2004). This was 2.7% of the total GDP, up from 2.5%.
• Employment is up 30% (Non profit organisations employ almost 137,000 staff)
• Only 10% of non profits organisations employ staff. 90% rely on volunteers.
• There are 1.2 million volunteers but they provide less time

For a breakdown of what this data tells us about the current environment for non-profits click onto a recent Community Research  webinar:

Counting What Matters: the size and significance of the New Zealand not-for-profit section, hosted by Jan Hinde. 

Here, Ian  Mcleod, Statistics New Zealand, provides a clear overview of the content of the Satellite Account, and 

Garth Nowland Foreman, LEAD, and NZCCSS Council Member, critiques the data and what it says about the pressures on the not for profit sector in 2013.

Let’s hope we don’t wait another 9 years for the next Satellite Account to gain insight into what is clearly a significant contributor to New Zealand’s social and economic activity.