The final day to submit the 2018 Annual Information Statement for charities that operate and report on a calendar year (1 January to 31 December) is just three days away.
Even if your charity has submitted, I would encourage you to pass the message on to your networks.
We have noticed that some charities have filled out their Annual Information Statement without finalising their submission – so please ensure your Annual Information Statement has been correctly submitted by checking the Charity Register.
The ACNC can impose penalties on charities for late submission of their Annual Information Statement.
I encourage all charities to submit as soon as possible to avoid potential penalties.
If you have not logged in to the new charity portal since October 2018, instructions on how to do so can be found here.
There is also a handy guide about the 2018 Annual Information Statement available here.
Donating to charity before the EOFY
I want to say thank you to everyone who has donated to a registered charity this year.
And to those considering donating before the end of financial year, there is still time.
If you want to donate to charity in the next few days, I would encourage you to search the ACNC Charity Register to ensure you give safely to a registered charity.
The Charity Register is a free, online database the public can search before they donate. The Charity Register provides up-to-date information on the more than 57,000 charities registered in Australia.
If the charity is endorsed as a deductible gift recipient, your donation might also be tax deductible – you can check if a charity has deductible gift recipient status by clicking the ‘is my donation tax deductible?’ button in the top-right corner of a charity’s listing on the ACNC Charity Register.
You can search the Charity Register here.
Object 2 Consultation update
I am pleased to advise that we are continuing our discussion on how best to measure Object 2 of the ACNC Act using the data collected by the ACNC.
In December last year, we published a report that was commissioned to review the relevant meanings of the four attributes mentioned in the second object of the ACNC Act – robust, vibrant, independent and innovative. The review served as a conversation starter and drew on business and not-for-profit academic literature.
Since then, we have consulted a range of stakeholders on proposed ways of understanding and measuring the four attributes.
We plan to publish information that tracks progress on the four attributes as part of the annual Australian Charities Report.
This week, we have published a request for feedback on our proposal to publish the additional information.
You can find out more about the consultation here. Submissions close Friday 19 July.
ACNC to be audited by Australian National Audit Office (ANAO)
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has announced the initiation of a performance audit of the Regulation of charities by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. The ANAO proposes to examine the ACNC’s arrangements for:
- registering charities and maintaining the Charity Register;
- supporting charities to meet their ongoing compliance obligations; and
- reducing the regulatory burden on charities and strengthening the sector.
The ANAO welcomes members of the public contributing information for consideration when conducting performance audits. More information on the ACNC audit can be found on the ANAO website here.
Next webinar
Our next free webinar will be held on 24 July.
The topic for the webinar will be ‘how to start a charity’. The webinar will look the definition of charity, how to decide whether starting a charity is the best option for you, the requirements to register a charity and more.
If starting a charity is something you are considering, I strongly recommend you register and secure your spot today via the ACNC website.
Best wishes,
Catherine Willis