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Despite the importance of fundraising to the nonprofit sector there has been surprisingly little research on fundraising as a revenue source in Australia. Research that has been conducted both here and internationally has focused on the cost of fundraising — the proportion of fundraising expenses to total fundraising revenue, and fundraising performance — the absolute or relative amount of money raised by organisations via fundraising. This paper examines why some nonprofit organisations are more dependent on fundraising as a source of revenue than others. The paper applies multivariate techniques to examine the influence that three broad sets of factors: organisational; revenue generation model; and fundraising approach, have on what we term ‘fundraising dependency’ — the percentage of a nonprofit organisations total revenue that is derived from fundraising activities. It finds that fundraising dependency is associated with a range of organisational characteristics (e.g. size, geographical scope of the organisation and tax status); alternative forms of revenue generation (e.g. reliance on government funding and commercial venturing) and fundraising approach (e.g. whether professional fundraising staff are employed, the use of volunteer fundraisers and the number of fundraising practices used). The results support taking a multidimensional approach to understanding fundraising dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the 'new economy', though increasingly used by the media, policy makers and scholars, remains elusive. Two main definitions (the popular and specialised) may be identified; and the dimensions of the ensuing debate clarified in terms of three key questions: Is there is something qualitatively different about recent trends in the economy? What are the main economic consequences said to result from this new economy? What are the main social consequences? Of particular importance for social policy is that most models of the new economy suggest that it has led to an increase in inequality' and social exclusion for those not positioned to take advantage of its supposed benefits. With most discussion focussed on a narrow use of the term — to do with communications technology — greater attention should be given to a broader definition which examines its consequences for the disadvantaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]