Key Facts:
· Report shows sector grew in 2025-26
· Rises in number of charities, volunteers, employees and annual revenue
· ACNC registered 3,696 charities, bringing the total to 66,071 – up 3.8%
· 2.1 million searches of the Charity Register
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (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
