Flagship – VCOSS https://vcoss.org.au Fri, 15 Sep 2023 04:58:30 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://vcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cropped-Favicon-2-32x32.png Flagship – VCOSS https://vcoss.org.au 32 32 Voices of Victoria https://vcoss.org.au/health-and-wellbeing/2023/05/voices-of-victoria/ Sat, 13 May 2023 22:35:00 +0000 https://vcoss.org.au/?p=49355

Voices of Victoria

One important element of VCOSS’s wellbeing agenda is listening what Victorian communities want and need.

It’s particularly vital that we hear from lesser-heard voices: people who don’t often have a say in the policy-making process, whose needs are therefore less likely to be met.

VCOSS’s listening tours are central to this mission.

The tours have a simple agenda: to engage people in a setting where they feel comfortable and empowered to talk about issues that affect them, and then to listen.

A photo from a listening tour session: about 10 people in chairs listening to a young woman, who is speaking with her hands held out in front of her. A sign on the wall reads 'Jika Jika Community Centre'.
Listening Tour session held at Jika Jika Community Centre, Northcote

In the 2022 Listening Tour we wanted to learn about people’s lived experiences coming out of the “COVID years”, and their aspirations for the future. We were conscious not to be prescriptive, not to steer people to the issues we thought they should care about.

What emerged from this community-led approach is a textured understanding of Victorians’ fears and hopes as they emerged from the worst of the COVID pandemic.

The process also provided valuable insights into the kinds of assistance people most want and need, to help them lead a good life now and into the future.

The Voices of Victoria report details the feedback we received from 12 diverse communities across the state.

We analysed the contributions of the more than 200 people consulted face-to-face and online and grouped their views thematically according to geographic location, cohort and age.

What did we hear?

Participants expressed feelings of disconnection, loneliness and isolation.

People were frustrated with the difficulties and barriers in accessing government services.

Concerns about the ‘digital divide’, about access to decent food and about the rising costs of living also featured heavily.

These challenges were compounded, people told us, by an overwhelming sense of exhaustion after the hard years of 2020 and 2021. A phrase volunteered more than once was, “I’m over it”.

But this report doesn’t just enumerate challenges; it also proposes solutions.

We have combined the insights of community members with the expertise of VCOSS policy analysts to develop four recommendations for change.

The Voices of Victoria Listening Tour is the subject of a case study in Australia’s leading health policy journal, Public Health Research & Practice. Read the article here.

What are we doing next?

A 2023 Listening Tour recently concluded, building on what we learned in 2022 and finding out how communities are faring as we move into the ‘social recovery’ stage of the pandemic.

We visited more communities across the state, and we’ll be taking what we heard directly to government and business leaders and building up the research base for a Victorian wellbeing agenda.

VCOSS is the peak body for Victoria’s social and community sector, and the state’s premier social advocacy body.

We work towards a Victoria free from poverty and disadvantage, where every person and community experiences genuine wellbeing. Read more.

VCOSS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country, and we pay respect to Elders and Ancestors. Our business is conducted on sovereign, unceded Aboriginal land. The VCOSS offices are located on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung land in central Naarm.

]]> More Than Charity https://vcoss.org.au/community-sector/2016/08/morethancharity/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 21:30:30 +0000 http://vcoss.test/news/morethancharity/ Victoria’s community sector charities work to support and connect people, strengthen communities and advocate for a fair and just society. More than charity, they also make a significant economic contribution to the state, forming an $11 billion industry that employs more than 135,000 people. In regional centres, community sector charities often act as the key employer.

These findings turn on its head any perception that the community sector is a cost to society. Rather it is a key asset.

The sector is made up of a vast range of organisations, both in terms of their size, and the services they provide. They also generate income from a wide range of sources. These organisations face a myriad of reporting requirements, which in many cases are becoming ever more complex, time-consuming and costly.

This report details the economic contribution of Victoria’s community sector charities, analysing the data these organisations have provided to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) in 2014 Annual Information Statements. It also details the reporting burden being borne by organisations. In the future many of these reporting obligation issues could be addressed through state and Commonwealth governments working together with the community sector to streamline reporting and accountability mechanisms.

 

Key findings

  • Victoria’s community sector charities form an $11 billion industry.
  • Victoria’s community sector charities draw on a diverse range of funding sources, with just over half their income (54%) derived from sources other than government funding, including donations, bequests and other revenue generation activities.
  • Just over half (52%) of Victoria’s community sector charities receive income from government grants and the vast majority (86%) generate income from other revenue sources (including service fees and charges).
  • Employee expenses make up the majority (54%) of community sector charities’ expenses.
  • The majority of community sector charities operate balanced budgets (68%). A further 21% operate surplus budgets.
  • Victoria’s community sector charities employ 134,958 workers across the state.
  • Almost a quarter (22%) of community sector workers are employed casually, and therefore face an insecure employment situation.
  • Victoria’s community sector charities make a strong economic contribution in regional areas, and provide significant employment in these areas.
  • ACNC and case study data show Victorian community sector charities face a range of reporting and compliance challenges including:
    • Spending on average 291 paid staff hours and 47 unpaid hours a year reporting to either Commonwealth or state government agencies.
    • Large organisations on average spending 523 paid staff hours and 80 unpaid hours on reporting obligations.
    • Social services and other health service delivery subsectors spending the most time and bearing the greatest cost meeting reporting obligations, spending far more time and money meeting reporting obligations than, for example, the aged care subsector, despite having far lower annual incomes than the aged care subsector.
    • Spending an estimated $23 million across the sector to fulfil reporting obligations.
    • Multiple and duplicated reporting and auditing requirements.
    • Inconsistent auditing requirements of the same standards from different funding bodies.
    • Being required to provide information to funding bodies that is irrelevant to service quality improvement and delivery.
    • Financial reporting requirements that do not equate to the level of funding or the risk associated.
    • Inconsistency in funding acquittals and reporting formats.
    • Inconsistency in definitions between funding streams.
    • Frequent changes in reporting requirements.
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