Reports & Research

Challenges for the For-Purpose sector in 2025-26

The Australian for-purpose and not-for-profit (NFP) sector, a cornerstone of the nation’s social infrastructure, faces an unprecedented convergence of workforce challenges as it navigates the 2025-2026 period. This era is defined by a "productivity malais," where the growth of the population and the workforce is outpacing investment in business capital, housing, and infrastructure.

Digital Gaps in the For-Purpose sector in 2026

Longitudinal research covering the decade from 2015 to 2025, combined with emerging data from the first half of 2026, reveals a sector that has largely moved beyond the foundational challenges of the cloud migration era and is now grappling with the complex implications of artificial intelligence (AI), sophisticated data analytics, and a rapidly escalating cybersecurity threat landscape.

LGBT Participation in Community Groups in 2026

As the nation moves toward the 2026 Census, the first to include mandatory questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, the not-for-profit (NFP) and community sectors are grappling with a complex landscape. The dual reality of 2026 is one where nearly 10% of young Australians identify as LGBTQ+, yet the broader community and professional environments report rising levels of discrimination and exclusion.

Neurodiverse participation in community groups

To understand the scale of the challenge facing community organizations, one must first examine the demographic surge in neurodivergent identifications. By 2022, the number of Australians identified with a disability reached 5.5 million, or 21.4% of the population, a substantial increase from 17.7% in 2018. And this is just the beginning of the challenges faced by neurodiverse people entering community organisations.