 CAF News
FEDERAL BUDGET 2011: Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission
A new independent statutory agency called the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission will be introduced by July 2012 as part of a $53 million crackdown on charities in this year's Federal budget.
The Government will also start working with the states and territories in order to introduce national regulation and a regulator for the charities and not-for-profits sector in order to increase compliance activity.
In fact, it expects to raise about $41 million as a result of the changes through increased compliance. The changes are designed to deliver what the Government calls a "one-stop-shop" for the support and regulation of the NFP sector.
Firstly, the Government will establish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. This will be responsible for determining the legal status of all groups wanting to be classed as charitable institutions, and thus receive benefits.
An implementation task force will be started to assist with the preparation for the commission, to begin work from July 1, 2011. This will consult with state governments, the public and the not-for-profit sector.
Part of this initiative will see the commission introduce a "report-once use-often" framework, provide education and support, and build a public info portal by 2013. A new commissioner will be named to run all this, reporting directly through the assistant treasurer – this will most likely be the same person who ran the task force.
But while current assistant treasurer Bill Shorten says the changes have been implemented due to NFPs suffering under "overly complex, duplicating regulatory requirements", it is also true some of these changes are designed to increase compliance.
One change will see better targeting of NFP tax concessions, with Shorten saying, "it is important that charities use their tax concessions only to assist disadvantaged people and not for unrelated commercial activities".
NFP entities will now pay income tax on profits from their unrelated commercial activities that are not directed back towards those "altruistic purposes". Additionally, NFPs will not be able to use FBT and GST concessions for those commercial activities. This won't affect small-scale activities, such as school fetes and renting out halls.
Finally, the Government will introduce a statutory definition of a charity in consultation with the states and territories.
"The adoption of a consistent definition of charity and single determination of charitable status will greatly assist the sector," Shorten said. "The current definition of charity is based on over 400 years of common law and is complex."
May 2011
Volunteering in Australia...
A report released May 2011 revealed that 76 per cent of community organisations in Australia need more volunteers, which is starting to impact many organisations’ ability to provide their essential services.
Jointly commissioned by Volunteering Australia and National Australia Bank (NAB), the survey of community organisations also shows that 81 per cent of those surveyed believe the demand for their services is greater now than at any time in the past.
“It is estimated that currently 5.4 million people in Australia volunteer each year, which contributes to 4.3 per cent of Australia’s GDP,” Volunteering Australia CEO, Cary Pedicini said.
While Australia has quite a high number of volunteers, the report showed that the services provided by Australia’s community organisations are in greater demand than ever before and this requires more volunteers.
Sixty-six per cent of community organisations said a shortage of volunteers had a big or very big impact on their ability to deliver services.
NAB Deputy CEO, Michael Ullmer, said there was a need to remove the barriers that prevented people from volunteering.
“Community organisations believe a lack of time is one of the main barriers that is now preventing people from volunteering,” Mr Ullmer said.
“While 35 per cent of community organisations said a lack of resources made it difficult to manage volunteers, NAB understands the importance of corporates taking the time to understand the needs of the community when it comes to volunteering.
“Since 1998, NAB has been supporting its people to give something back to the community by providing all staff with volunteering opportunities with the community organisation of their choice.
Over the last 12 years, NAB has built relationships with over 350 local community organisations. NAB's volunteering program increases value through skills matching, is employee driven and responds directly to requests from the community for assistance with volunteers.
May 2011
CAF Australia now disburses donated funds to more than 1,000 charities - from the historically recognisable institutions such as Red Cross to smaller and more localised groups such as the Lorne (Vic) Surf Life Saving Club.
Recently CAF was approached by The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Association of Australia Inc (SMAA). The CEO and founder, Julie Cini, asked to have the details of their organisation included on the CAF website to assist in their general promotions and fundraising. It’s a free service and the results are at: http://www.cafaustralia.org.au/CAF_display_charity.php?id=620
SMAA was founded in August 2005 by Ross Brownlaw and Julie Cini, following the loss of their 10 month old daughter Montanna to the genetic disease Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
In April 2006, Ross and Julie became pregnant with their second child, but when 13 weeks pregnant, Ross was killed in a car accident as he turned into their home driveway.
Subsequently, Ross and Julie’s second child, Zarlee Rose - born in December 2006 - was also diagnosed with Type 1 SMA. Zarlee finally lost her battle on Christmas Day 2007, just after her first birthday.
CAF is pleased to be able to help direct funds at no cost to the more than 1000 charities currently receiving funds from us.
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