Changing relationships: how government funding models impact relationships between organisations

Abstract

While there is a history of government funding non-profits in Australia, the relationships between government as funder/purchaser and non-profits as providers has experienced over fifteen years of 'marketisation'. Within a growing discourse of partnership, a new funding model has emerged that positions the Federal government as funder, a lead non-profit as purchaser, and other non-profits and state and local governments as providers. In this study, existing models of market-based and partnership-based funding relationships are used to develop a frame of analysis with which to explore the experience of relationships within this new funding mode. The experiences of purchasers and providers are compared across three sites - a rural town, a regional area and a metropolitan area - to explore the impact of government funding bodies on relationships between organisations. The sites have concurrently experienced aspects of market-and partnership-based relationships, which have varied across the stages of a contracting process.