Community sector strengthening
Sector development and sustainability
VCOSS is committed to supporting the development of the community sector and advocating to Government for funding and development strategies that will strengthen the sector.
Download the community sector sustainability chapter in the VCOSS 2010-11 State Budget Submission.
Victorian Government’s Action Plan: Strengthening Community Organisations
Office for the Community Sector Workforce Issues Forums
In 2008, the Victorian Government announced a plan of 25 actions to strengthen community organisations, the Victorian Government’s Action Plan: Strengthening Community Organisations. The three year plan will be enacted through the Office for the Community Sector in the Department of Planning and Community Development.
Two background papers that informed SCOP propose a workforce capability framework and examine the economic and social contribution of the nonprofit sector
Strengthening
Workforce
Capability -
A capability framework for the Victorian
Community Sector
The Economic and Social Contribution of
the Not–for–Profit Sector
VCOSS Submissions to the SCOP and tate Services Authority Review processes:
Submission to Stronger Community Organisations Project
VCOSS Submission to State Services Authority Non-Profit Regulatory Review
The Contribution of the Not for Profit Sector – Productivity Commission Research Study
The Federal Treasurer has asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a research study into the contribution of the not for profit sector. The Government is seeking an improved understanding of the contribution of not for profit organisations as a means of informing policy and identifying better ways of working with the sector.
The study's focus is on:
- improving the measurement of the sector's contributions
- removing obstacles to maximising its contributions to society.
In undertaking the study, the Commission is to:
- assess current and alternative measures of the contribution of the not for profit sector and how these can be used to better shape government policy and programs so as to optimise the sectors contribution to society
- identify unnecessary impediments to the efficient and effective operation of not for profit organisations and measures to enhance their operation
- consider ways in which the delivery and outcomes from government funded services by not for profit organisations could be improved
- examine recent changes in the relationships between government, business and community organisations and whether there is scope to enhance these relationships so as to improve outcomes delivered by the not for profit sector
- examine the impact of the taxation system on the ability of not for profit organisations to raise funds and the extent to which the tax treatment of the sector affects competitive neutrality.
The report makes a number of draft recommendations according to the following themes:
- Building a better knowledge base;
- Smarter regulation of the NFP sector;
- Realising funding opportunities for the sector;
- Facilitating social innovation and sector development;
- Sustaining the NFP workforce;
- Improving the effectiveness of direct government funding;
- Removing impediments to better value government funded services; and
- Building stronger, more effective relationships in the future.
Some key draft recommendations include:
- A new national one stop shop, a national Registrar, to consolidate commonwealth regulatory oversight;
- A statutory definition of charitable purpose;
- Harmonisation of fundraising legislation and reporting requirements;
- Expand DGR status to all charitable institutions and charitable funds as endorsed by the proposed national Registrar;
- Government funded services delivered through NPFs to be fully funded, and accounting for all costs including wages at market rates;
- Compliance requirements proportionate to the scale of the programs funded; and
- Establish an Officer for NFP Sector Engagement within Prime Minister and Cabinet.
VCOSS has responded to both the Issues paper and Draft report. Submissions can be located here.
Community Sector Futures Task Group
‘Shaping the Future of the Victorian Community Sector: Scenarios and Issues for Consideration’, prepared by Jo Barraket for the Community Sector Futures Task Group in July 2007.
The paper presents three alternative scenarios for the future of the sector – a worst case, a middle path and an ideal scenario - and challenges us to consider our ability to influence the future of the sector
- Will the sector exist in its current form?
- How can the sector secure its ideal future? Through partnerships, or independence?
- Do we need a Third Sector Council?
Follow the link below to Occasional Paper No. 1.
Occasional Paper No. 2 'Why we do what we do: The democratic role of the sector in society' prepared by Joan Staples, Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Law at UNSW. The paper contends that a sustainable future for the sector is dependent on a clear understanding of the democratic role and value of the sector; that if this understanding is clearly held by the public (or community) and by governments, it provides the critical basis for negotiation on equal terms of the operational and systemic changes that are necessary for a strong and healthy sector.
Follow the link below to Occasional Paper No. 2
Download Occasional Paper No 2: 'Why we do what we do: The democratic role of the sector in society'
Peaks and Statewide Networks Forum
VCOSS hosts a bi-monthly forum of statewide and peak bodies to engage with cross-sectoral policy issues, and to coordinate collaborative advocacy on shared concerns and sector involvement with the DHS Human Services Partnership processes.