We profile three different not-for-profit employment service providers, examining the work they are doing and what legal structures help them achieve their objectives
13th September, 2021
There are many and varied employment service providers in Australia. Some focus on youth employment and training, some on career transition, some on parents returning to the workforce, and that is just a sample – there are many different needs to be met.
There are also many different Government support programs which influence what services are provided and who provides them. Form follows funding.
Employment services have social impact – for individuals, for families and for communities – and therefore have attracted social enterprises. The social enterprises compete with large and medium for-profit firms. It is an area where the pros and cons of different business models and legal structures can be seen in sharp relief.
This article profiles three not-for-profit employment service providers and how they have chosen to set themselves up from a legal perspective.
Campbell Page
Campbell Page is a not-for-profit organisation based in Batemans Bay, New South Wales, that provides an extensive range of employment and other community services.
It supports local, state and federal governments with community and employment services. These include the Commonwealth’s Disability Employment Services and jobactive programs.
The company also runs homelessness and youth services in New South Wales’ Eurobodalla area – its heartland, harking back to its origins in 1985 at the corner of Campbell and Page streets in Moruya. It is in essence a community-focussed organisation.
From a legal perspective it is structured as a public company limited by guarantee and has been granted deductible gift recipient (
DGR) status as a public benevolent institution (
PBI). This gives it certain tax exemptions and benefits and enables it to seek philanthropic funding.
In practice, the bulk of its income comes from government grants and income investments. Its PBI status gives it certain fringe benefits tax benefits which enhance what it can offer as an employer.
With an annual turnover of about $36 million, and having held its DGR status for over 20 years, Campbell Page qualifies as a large and well-established charity, structured to serve and engage with its local community.
Xceptional
Xceptional is all about inclusive employment for neurodiverse people. It assesses, places and supports neurodiverse people in jobs and trains employers on inclusion.
Xceptional was initially founded as a technology service company that offered employment for autistic people who could provide exceptionally good software testing services for companies. But the founders quickly realised, while running their assessment program, that there was huge potential for both businesses and job seekers, and so launched their unique and accessible recruitment and placement services.
From a legal perspective Xceptional is structured as a proprietary company limited by shares. A company of this kind is quick and easy to set up and allows the usual range of equity funding for a private company.
It does not have the same access to philanthropic funding as a company with DGR status like Campbell Page (nor its tax exemptions and benefits).
However, as a company with a clear social purpose it can attract investors that are looking for social impact – both debt and equity – and are willing to structure the terms of the funding accordingly.
Jigsaw Australia
Jigsaw is a social enterprise that trains and transitions people with disability into award wage employment.
It is different from a Disability Employment Service. It has a holistic approach, starting from the very basics of work readiness training all the way through to supported transition to mainstream employment.
It embeds a comprehensive, skills-based training program within a real workplace – its own commercial document and data management business.
It aims to ensure that its trainees gain transferable skills relevant to every workplace and paid professional experience on the way.
Jigsaw is an example of a social enterprise that is scaling up. It was incubated through
Fighting Chance, a social enterprise that designs, builds and scales social enterprises which are game changers for Australians with disability and their family. It became a separate entity from Fighting Chance in 2019, establishing itself as a public company limited by guarantee.
Like Campbell Page it is a PBI with DGR status and enjoys similar tax exemptions and benefits, and scope for philanthropic funding. Its FY20 financial results show diversified funding streams, about half coming from service and business revenue, about 30% from Government and a bit less than 20% from grants.
While it specialises in employment for people with disability, it has a broader focus than Xceptional and is active in building a national network. Like Xceptional as a company with a clear social purpose it can attract investors that are looking for social impact, alongside other funding sources.
Three brief examples of social enterprises and legal structures in action. “
Choosing the Right Legal Structure” on the
Centre for Social Finance Law website gives more information on structuring options.
