The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission's (ACNC) 2025–26 Annual Report has been tabled in Parliament, detailing significant achievements and sector growth.
The report shows the sector grew in 2025–26, with increases in the number of charities, volunteers, employees and annual revenue. The ACNC registered 3,696 charities, bringing the total to 66,071 – up 3.8% from the previous year.
Commissioner Sue Woodward AM said that’s a significant achievement. “Given this growth, it is a testament to the hard work of ACNC staff that we met or exceeded all but two of our performance targets,” Ms Woodward said.
“Indeed, the number of registered charities has grown materially since the ACNC’s establishment in 2012. If we look at the rise in the ten-year period from 30 June 2015 to 30 June 2025, registered charities rose from 54,468 to 63,667 – a net increase of about 17%,” she said.
There were 2.1 million searches of the ACNC Charity Register in 2025-26. “The Register has once again emerged as a major vehicle to demonstrate charity sector accountability and underpin public trust.”
There was improved on-time reporting for the 2025 Annual Information Statement, with a rate of 76%, a rise from 73% the previous year and higher than the 75% target. The overall reporting rate for 2025 was 87%.
“More charities registered and more reported on time – that’s core to transparency. And 94% of our Annual Information Statement survey respondents found questions easy to understand, which exceeded our target by 4 percentage points.”
The ACNC website was a valuable source of guidance, with 3.4 million views. There was strong demand for free resources and templates. Among the most popular were updated constitution templates for charitable companies limited by guarantee, which were downloaded 11,499 times.
The Advice team exceeded targets by 8 percentage points, responding to more than 12,000 written enquiries, and answering more than 20,000 phone calls, with an average wait time of under two minutes.
Engagement with the sector and the community was a strong focus. The Adviser and Sector forums were combined to become the Charity Forum, and hundreds attended the annual ACNC ‘Governing for Good’ forum in July, in person and online. Sector speaking engagements included the National Volunteering Australia conference in Adelaide.
Two major media campaigns reached millions, promoting ACNC data and urging the public to check the Charity Register to ensure a charity is registered before donating. An interview with SBS Explainer was particularly successful in reaching diverse communities – published in English and broadcast across more than 30 language programs.
The ACNC revoked the registrations of 1,298 charities – 122 due to ACNC action, including 27 following an investigation. The remaining 1,176 were revoked voluntarily, at the request of the charity.
The ACNC used a range of enforcement powers during the period. These included giving a warning, accepting an enforceable undertaking, suspending a Responsible Person and appointing two acting Responsible People. There were 514 formal reviews of the entitlement to registration of charities that held deductible gift recipient endorsement, and 250 reviews of charities’ financial reports and Annual Information Statements
In December, the ACNC welcomed new legislative provisions that allow the Commissioner to disclose information about investigations in limited circumstances, with many factors to be balanced, including if disclosure would prevent harm to the public and consideration about the effect on the charity. More de-identified registration decision summaries were published – a useful resource for understanding ACNC considerations when granting registration.
Key engagement with government and other regulators included participation and collaboration with Home Affairs in relation to Australia’s upcoming Financial Action Task Force mutual evaluation and the Home Affairs Expert Advisory Group on cyber security. The Commissioner joined the Department of Finance’s Regulator Leadership Cohort, which brings together the leaders of Commonwealth regulators to strengthen collaboration and support regulatory reform. The ACNC also continued to work cooperatively with the Australian Taxation Office and other regulators, including the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Our comprehensive analysis of charity data in the 12th edition of the Australian Charities Report showed charities employed 11% of Australia’s workforce. While charities generated $239 billion in revenue, a strong 7.5% increase that outpaced growth in the wider economy, their expenses jumped by 8.6% to $231 billion during the same period.
“Yet again, our data provided longitudinal evidence that the sector is a major economic force – a contribution in addition to its vital social role as the connective tissue for communities across Australia and abroad,” Ms Woodward said.
Read more in the ACNC 2025–26 Annual Report.