Picture of community sector takes shape

A major milestone for the Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector was marked recently with the launch of Defining the Non-Profit Sector: New Zealand, published by Johns Hopkins University.

How to define the non-profit sector in New Zealand has long been a vexed issue, one which has not been comprehensively tackled until now. The definitions paper provides an historical description of the origins of the sector, looks at the legal context, and illustrates the sector’s diversity to help build a better picture for New Zealand.

It was written by a team of Massey University researchers, with guidance from the Committee for the Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector, the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS) and Johns Hopkins University. It has been published as part of an international comparative study of the non-profit sector.

“The New Zealand Study is a joint initiative between government, the community and voluntary sector and the philanthropic sector,” OCVS Director Brenda Ratcliff says.

“Like good wine it will take time, but will be worth the effort,” she says.

The study will raise the visibility of the non-profit sector – helping to show its value in economic terms through Statistics New Zealand’s work pulling together data from a range of sources.

Alongside this, Massey University is providing contextual information on the historical, legal and policy environment.

The project concludes in 2008 with a national report that will compare New Zealand statistics with data from other countries.

For a copy of Defining the Non-Profit Sector: New Zealand, email ocvs@msd.govt.nz or download it online from www.ocvs.govt.nz/publications.