Letter to the Editor -The Australian
Charity pocketed $1.8m in donations
“Charity pocketed $1.8m in donations” (10 June 2017) stated that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission failed to act on a concern about the AFG Charities Trust in 2012.
The ACNC was only established on 3 December 2012, and according to our records, we did not receive a concern about the AFG Charities Trust until 2015.
Once this was received, we opened an investigation which led to the charity being revoked in August 2016.
The revocation was backdated to 1 July 2013, the last date at which the organisation was deemed to be eligible for charity status.
Following our decision, the organisation was no longer able to access Commonwealth charity tax concessions.
The ACNC takes all concerns about registered charities seriously, and we will act when there is evidence to do so. In the last 12 months, we have revoked the charity status of 28 organisations following compliance investigations.
Often the compliance action we take is not made public due to secrecy provisions in the ACNC Act. However, where we revoke charity status following a compliance investigation, we publish a record of this on our website at acnc.gov.au/compliancedecisions.
Each month, the ACNC receives 100 concerns about charities. I encourage members of the public to raise their concerns by visiting our website at acnc.gov.au/charityconcern.
David Locke
Assistant Commissioner, Charity Services
ACNC