The 2010 FASES (Finding Australia's social enterprise sector) report Barraket, Collyer, O'Connor and Anderson 2010 provided insight to Australia's Social Enterprise Sector.
The following is an excerpt from the report:
How many social enterprises operate in Australia?
Based on our research and previous findings of the Giving Australia project (Department of Families and Community Services, 2005), we estimate that there are up to 20 000 Australian social enterprises. The Giving Australia project (Department of Family and Community Services, 2005) found that 29% of not-for-profit organisations have some kind of business venture. Current data suggests that Australia has 59 000 economically significant not-for-profit organisations (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). Our estimate takes into account that some not for profit organisations have multiple business ventures and that not all social enterprises are incorporated as not-for-profits.
