A new JBWere report puts a dollar figure on New Zealand’s non-profit sector. Here are the numbers, trends, and action points every trustee should know.
A major new report from JBWere and the University of Waikato, The Economic Value of the Sector: Measuring Aotearoa New Zealand’s For-Purpose Ecosystem (2026), shows that New Zealand’s charities, churches, marae-based groups, and community organisations collectively form one of the country’s largest fields of economic activity.
The last comprehensive official measure was Stats NZ’s 2018 Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account. Since then the sector has weathered COVID-19, funding shifts, and a “triple crisis” of rising need, higher costs, and squeezed giving. This report, led by Professor Frank Scrimgeour with Dr William McInerney of JBWere Philanthropic Services, provides an updated 2026 estimate using a broader, activity-based definition that also captures social enterprises, iwi and hapū organisations, and other purpose-led entities. Because the scope is wider, the figures aren’t directly comparable to 2018 — but they give the clearest current picture available.
The numbers
- 119,400 for-purpose organisations, including over 29,000 registered charities
- $40.5 billion in sector revenue and $36.5 billion in expenditure — a surplus of roughly $4 billion
- 231,000 paid employees — about 8% of the workforce, or 1 in 13 workers
- Over 930,000 volunteers contributing 165 million hours a year, equivalent to about 79,000 full-time workers
- $19.1 billion direct contribution to GDP (4.2%), rising to $25.8 billion (5.7% of GDP) once volunteer labour is included
Sensitivity analysis places direct GDP contribution between $13.6 billion and $24.6 billion. Even at the cautious end, the authors note, the sector operates “at the scale of a major industry.”
Growth versus concentration
Comparing 2026 with the 2013 Stats NZ baseline (allowing for methodology changes), sector revenue is up around 205%, expenditure up 204%, paid employment up 69%, and GDP contribution up 208% (166% including volunteering). Yet the number of organisations rose only 4.7% — suggesting a growing share of activity is concentrated in larger, better-resourced organisations, with real implications for smaller, community-based groups’ sustainability.
Volunteering shows a similar pattern: total hours held broadly steady (up 5.1%), but the number of volunteers fell around 24%. A shrinking pool of people is delivering a stable — even growing — number of hours. The report suggests this may partly reflect a shift toward informal helping outside organised volunteering, but it flags a real risk for organisations that depend on a small, ageing volunteer base. [Emphasis added]
International/Industry Comparison
International non-profit GDP contributions range from 0.8% in the UK (excluding volunteering) to 2.6% in France, 4.8% in Australia, 5.7% in the US, and 8.4% in Canada (which includes government hospitals). New Zealand’s 2018 data looked comparatively low, but the new 2026 estimate — 5.7% including volunteering — brings it much closer to the US, though methodology differences still limit direct comparison.
Against New Zealand’s own industries, the sector’s 5.7% (with volunteering) sits on par with financial and insurance services (5.7%) and just ahead of agriculture, forestry and fishing (5.1%). Excluding volunteering, its 4.2% sits alongside transport, postal and warehousing (4.2%), just below retail trade (4.7%). The report notes this is illustrative of scale rather than a strict industry-for-industry comparison, since for-purpose activity overlaps with categories like education and social assistance.
Three layers of value
The report is candid in pointing out that GDP and revenue capture only part of the picture, setting out three layers:
- the measured economy (organisations, revenue, employment, GDP);
- the partly measured contribution (volunteer labour and other non-market outputs, folded into the $25.8 billion figure); and
- lived value — social cohesion, trust, belonging, cultural continuity, and environmental stewardship, much of which sits outside any dollar figure.
A te ao Māori perspective runs through all three layers rather than sitting apart from them. Concepts like whanaungatanga (relationships and belonging), manaakitanga (care and generosity), and kaitiakitanga (stewardship across generations) show up in the measured economy through iwi and hapū enterprise, in the partly measured economy through generosity and volunteering, and in lived value through whānau and community wellbeing. The report also points to Social Return on Investment (SROI) studies — such as Sport New Zealand’s finding of $2.12 in social value per $1 spent on recreational activity — as one way of engaging with these harder-to-monetise dimensions without reducing everything to a dollar figure.
Why this matters for your organisation
- Boards: Discuss where your organisation sits within this wider picture. The concentration trend is a prompt to review your funding pipeline, partnerships, and long-term sustainability plan, particularly if you’re a smaller or volunteer-reliant group.
- Funders and grant applications: Citing sector-wide scale (nearly 120,000 organisations, $40.5 billion in revenue, 1 in 13 workers) helps position your request within a large, credible economic system rather than as an isolated ask.
- Volunteer planning: The falling volunteer headcount alongside stable hours is an early warning sign. If your delivery model relies on a small core of long-serving volunteers, review your recruitment and succession planning now, before that pressure becomes a crisis.
In closing
These are modelled estimates, not official government statistics, and the report’s sensitivity ranges show real uncertainty. If citing these numbers in a funding submission or board paper, link to the original report and note that the broader 2026 definition isn’t directly comparable to earlier Stats NZ figures.
New Zealand’s for-purpose sector is a field of activity on the scale of major industries, built on over a million paid and volunteer workers. This week, consider whether your board has discussed where you sit within that picture — and whether your funding applications or newsletter better reflect the scale and value of the sector you’re part of.
This article summarises, and acknowledges, independent research by JBWere and the University of Waikato. It is general information, not financial, legal, or governance advice specific to any organisation.