The charity size thresholds changed for the 2022 reporting period onwards.
A charity's ongoing obligations to the ACNC - for example, its reporting requirements - are determined by its size.
The ACNC bases a charity's size on its total revenue for the reporting period.
However, a large bequest, or similar one-off event, may mean that your charity's size changes for just one reporting period.
If your charity's size changes, but you think it is likely to return to its previous size in the next reporting period, you can apply to have its former size recognised for a single reporting period.
Doing so means your charity will not have to meet the reporting obligations of a larger charity during the reporting period where increased total revenue pushed it into a larger charity size category.
The opportunity for charities to apply to keep their size is meant to cover situations where there is a temporary increase in the charity's total revenue. Because of this, charities cannot apply to keep their charity size in consecutive years.
How to apply to keep charity size
Charities applying to keep their charity size must complete and submit a copy of Form 4D: Apply to keep charity size before they complete their Annual Information Statement.
In Form 4D, you need to provide your charity's:
- name and Australian Business Number (ABN)
- total revenue for the
- previous reporting period
- current reporting period
- next reporting period (or the best estimate of total revenue, if the reporting period hasn't ended).
The form will also ask you to describe the unusual event that has led to an increase to your charity's total revenue.
After the ACNC has received your form and considered the request, we will contact your charity to inform you of our decision.
Charities who have applied to keep their charity size must not submit their Annual Information Statement until they receive confirmation of the ACNC's decision.
Hove Help Centre has been classified as a small charity by the ACNC for a number of years because its total annual revenue has been within the small charity size range.
Last year, the centre had an annual revenue of $240,000, making it a small charity in that reporting period.
However, during the current reporting period the centre received a $500,000 bequest. This one-off bequest increased Hove Help Centre's annual total revenue to $740,000, which meant the centre would be classified as a medium charity for the current reporting period.
The charity's financial manager expressed concern that the charity would have to prepare and submit to the ACNC either reviewed or audited financial reports, which is a requirement for medium charities. The financial manager thought this might place a greater administrative burden on the charity due to its limited resources.
Since Hove Help Centre was a small charity in the previous reporting period, and expects to return to being a small charity in the next reporting period, the financial manager applied to the ACNC to have the charity recognised as a small charity in the current reporting period.
The ACNC approved the application for Hove Help Centre to keep its small charity size. Because of this, the centre can continue to report and notify the ACNC of changes as a small charity for the current reporting period.
For future reporting periods, Hove Help Centre will go back to its original annual revenue of less than $500,000, and will remain a small charity.
If Hove Help Centre's annual revenue is more than $500,000 in its next reporting period, it cannot apply to keep its small charity size for a second year in a row.
