Wind up, merge or change legal structure

Winding up a charity is permanent, and means the charity no longer exists and must cease all operations. A charity can be subject to either voluntary or compulsory winding up. A charity may wind up voluntarily if it has achieved its purpose, or is unable to find people to govern the charity or carry out its work. There are also circumstances where a court may order that a charity wind up.

There may be circumstances where you wish to merge your charity with another registered charity that has similar purposes, beneficiaries and activities. Merging is different to winding up a charity. It is also different to charities working together but staying legally separate, or charities reporting to the ACNC as a group.

If your charity's Australian Business Number (ABN) changes, you need to notify the ACNC. If your charity's legal structure changes, you will either need to update the ACNC by completing Form 3B, or revoke the existing charity registration and apply to register the new legal structure as a charity. The process will depend on the original and new legal structure.