ACNC Charity Chat

Charities and Privacy

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 23:30:00 +0000

In the latest ACNC Charity Chat podcast, Australia’s Privacy Commissioner, Carly Kind and ACNC Commissioner Sue Woodward AM discuss simple steps that charities and not-for-profit organisations can take to protect sensitive data. Ms Kind says effective data management is crucial in maintaining public trust individual charities and the sector. ‘Even the most well-resourced entities are not immune to cyber-attacks,’ she says. Ms Woodward says charities need to be proactive. 'Charities must store information securely,' she says. ‘Everyone should be aware of best practices for handling data.'

Charities and cyber security

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Mon, 6 May 2024 05:13:20 +0000

In this episode of Charity Chat, Jacqui Barr, the Assistant Director-General Technical Threats and Visibility at the Australian Cyber Security Centre, joined us to discuss the importance of cyber security. She outlined the simple measures charities of all sizes could set in place to ensure adequate cyber security and minimise the chances of becoming a target. ACNC Commissioner Sue Woodward also shared her thoughts on why charities need to put cyber security at the top of their agenda.

Charities, Advocacy and the Voice Referendum

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Tue, 2 May 2023 03:17:21 +0000

In this episode of Charity Chat, ACNC Commissioner Sue Woodward AM joined us to discuss all things advocacy. The discussion specifically covers the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum and what charities should be aware of before advocating for or against the referendum.

Insights from the new Commissioner Sue Woodward AM

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 01:12:58 +0000

In this episode the new ACNC Commissioner Sue Woodward AM tells us about her remarkable career and contribution to the charity and not-for-profit sector. She outlines the instrumental role she played in the formation of the ACNC and her vision going forward.

Recognising the importance of volunteers

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Tue, 17 May 2022 03:47:32 +0000

This episode of Charity Chat is in two parts: a discussion with CEO of Volunteering Australia, Mark Pearce, about the important role that volunteers play in our communities and then a discussion with ACNC Commissioner Dr Gary Johns about how the Charity Register can help facilitate connections between volunteers and charities.

Visit Volunteering Australia

Visit the ACNC

The benefits of the enhanced Charity Register

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 05:03:44 +0000

In this episode, ACNC Commissioner Dr Gary Johns, joined us to speak about the improvements to the Charity Register. We spoke about the benefits the enhanced Charity Register will bring to the charity sector and beyond.

Explore the enhanced Charity Register now.

Exploring innovation with Red Cross Australia

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 05:55:51 +0000

In this episode of Charity Chat, Amanda Robinson, Head of Social Innovation at Red Cross Australia, joined us to talk about innovation in the charity sector. We spoke about the work of the Red Cross's Humanitech project, how trying to solve problems can lead to innovation, and the importance of collaborating to innovate and solve problems.

Make sure you visit the Red Cross' Humanitech website for more information on the projects available and how you can get involved.

Visit the ACNC website for more episodes of Charity Chat.

'A tale of growth!': Australian Charities Report and the state of the charity sector

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 06:37:55 +0000

ACNC Commissioner Gary Johns speaks about the latest edition of the Charities Report and what it says about the state of the charity sector. He speaks about the growth of the charity sector, the state of charities before the pandemic hit and how information and data can be better used to help charities and their work.

Read the latest edition of the Australian Charities Report.

Explore the data used for the Charities Report.

Charities finding donors, donors finding charities

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 04:22:26 +0000

acnc.gov.au

Charities dealing with financial difficulties (Part 2)

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 23:38:44 +0000

ACNC resources

Philanthropy Australia

KordaMentha

Charities dealing with financial difficulties (Part 1)

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 23:38:28 +0000

ACNC resources

Philanthropy Australia

KordaMentha

The state of Australia's charities: findings from the latest Charities Report

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Wed, 27 May 2020 00:30:06 +0000

You can explore all the data used for the Charities Report in the interactive dataset available on the ACNC website at acnc.gov.au/charitydata.

Good governance through change - Free 3D Hands meeting the challenges of COVID-19

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Thu, 21 May 2020 01:33:58 +0000

For more about Free 3D Hands work producing protective equipment during COVID-19: free3dhands.org/face-shields-covid-19/

For more about Free 3D Hands: free3dhands.org/

For governance resources to help your charity: acnc.gov.au/governance

acnc.gov.au

Bushfire donations - money going to the cause

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 02:35:22 +0000

ACNC Commissioner Dr Gary Johns joined us to speak about charities' use of funds in disaster relief. The discussion covers the restrictions on charity spending, public desire to see money distributed immediately, charities spending on administration and the difficulty in comparing charities' administration costs.

acnc.gov.au/admincosts

Bushfire donations - challenges for charities

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 01:04:51 +0000

In this episode of Charity Chat, ACNC Commissioner Dr Gary Johns is back to speak about the importance of charities managing donations properly. We speak about the challenges that charities face in managing large donations and how important it is to have good governance processes in place to be able to manage funds properly and avoid problems.

acnc.gov.au

Bushfire donations - giving safely and avoiding scams

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission) — Thu, 6 Feb 2020 04:18:36 +0000

In this episode of Charity Chat, ACNC Commissioner Dr Gary Johns joined us in the aftermath of recent Australian bushfires to talk about how people can donate safely to charities and avoid scams. We spoke about the best ways to make sure your donation is going to a charity and the importance of checking the Charity Register to avoid scams.

acnc.gov.au/charityregister

Charity tax concessions

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Mon, 7 Oct 2019 22:53:00 +0000

In this episode we are joined by Mark Ferguson from the ATO's Not-for-profit team to learn about the tax concessions available to charities in Australia

Starting a charity

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 01:26:00 +0000

Catherine Willis, Acting Assistant Commissioner of the ACNC, discusses why people start charities and things you should consider if you are planning to start a charity.

How can charities manage conflicts of interest?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Mon, 5 Feb 2018 23:57:00 +0000

In this episode of Charity Chat, Ian Parry, Senior Manager of Compliance at the ACNC, joins us to speak about charities handling conflicts of interest. Ian briefly explains what a conflict of interest is before talking about the importance of being able to identify and manage them appropriately - and provides some tips for doing so.

acnc.gov.au/conflictsofinterest
acnc.gov.au

How charities work with corporate partners

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 04:57:00 +0000

A discussion about how charities and businesses can work together to form mutually beneficial corporate partnerships. We look at the opportunities corporate partnerships provide, as well as tips for charities looking to work with a business to form a partnership.

Corporate partnerships consultant Linda Garnett is our special guest for this episode of the podcast.

The ACNC’s Charities and Corporate Partnerships guidance can be found here: acnc.gov.au/corporatepartnerships

Assessing the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:38:00 +0000

A discussion about the report released by the ACNC and AUSTRAC looking into the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing for charities and not-for-profits. Amongst details of the report's findings, we talk about the nature of the risks faced by charities and what they can do to mitigate them. You can read the full report, Australia’s non-profit organisation sector: money laundering and terrorism financing risk assessment, on the ACNC website at acnc.gov.au/nfprisk

Do Australians trust charities?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 23:58:00 +0000

Acting Commissioner Murray Baird is back to discuss the ACNC's latest research into public trust and confidence in Australia’s charities. We touch on the research methods before discussing the results and what they may mean for the charity sector.

acnc.gov.au/trustandconfidence
acnc.gov.au

How should charities interact with vulnerable people when fundraising?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Wed, 8 Nov 2017 01:35:00 +0000

In this episode of ACNC Charity Chat, Assistant Commissioner David Locke joins us to discuss the types of circumstances that can leave someone vulnerable, how charity fundraisers can recognise vulnerability in potential donors, the ways they should interact with vulnerable people, and the board’s responsibility for a charity’s fundraising activities.

acnc.gov.au/vulnerablepeople

acnc.gov.au

Can charities pay their board members?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 01:28:00 +0000

This episode of ACNC Charity Chat features Assistant Commissioner General Counsel Murray Baird. We chat about board remuneration and discuss what charities should think about if looking to pay their board members.

acnc.gov.au
acnc.gov.au/boardremuneration

Reflections from Susan Pascoe AM

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 04:43:00 +0000

This episode of ACNC Charity Chat features the now former Commissioner, Susan Pascoe AM, giving her thoughts about the establishment of the ACNC, its first few years of work, and some of the challenges facing the charity sector.

acnc.gov.au

Read more at acnc.gov.au/5yearreflection

Can charities get involved in advocacy?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 02:24:00 +0000

We take a look at the issue of engaging in advocacy in this episode of Charity Chat. Assistant Commissioner Murray Baird explains advocacy and talks about where it can become a concern for charities. The discussion outlines the boundaries of charity advocacy, makes the distinction between a charity’s activities and its overarching purpose, and reiterates the need for charities to make sure their activities of advocacy are tied to their charitable purpose.

For more on advocacy: acnc.gov.au/advocacy

And for advocacy during elections: acnc.gov.au/politicaladvocacy

acnc.gov.au

Are charities getting the most out of their boards?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 03:51:00 +0000

We discuss the importance of a charity investing in the board's education and training to be most effective. Commissioner Susan Pascoe talks about the benefits of spending time and money on the capacity of a board, she touches on some of the ways charities can do this, and dispels the misguided perception that charities cannot use funds for this sort of thing.

acnc.gov.au

Charities using fundraising agencies

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 03:17:00 +0000

Assistant Commissioner David Locke joins us to talk about charities' use of fundraising agencies. We discuss the legitimacy of charities using fundraising agencies, responsibilities for fundraising, and the importance of charities being fair and respectful when conducting fundraising activities.

ACNC guidance on using fundraising agencies: acnc.gov.au/fundraisingagencies.

acnc.gov.au

Charities and administration costs

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 02:15:00 +0000

In this episode Assistant Commissioner Murray Baird is back to discuss charity administration costs. We talk about defining administration costs, the need to spend on administration, difficulties measuring and comparing administration costs and how the ACNC sees spending on administration.

ACNC guidance on administration costs: acnc.gov.au/admincosts

acnc.gov.au

How does the ACNC deal with concerns about charities?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Tue, 1 Aug 2017 05:53:00 +0000

In this episode, Prue Monument, Director of ACNC Compliance, explains the ACNC's approach to regulating charities. We discuss the things that the ACNC can and can't look into, the powers that the ACNC has when investigating charities, and the importance of education and guidance when looking at issues in charities.

ACNC Compliance Reports: acnc.gov.au/compliancereport

www.acnc.gov.au

Are there too many charities?

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 02:20:00 +0000

Commissioner Susan Pascoe is back in this episode to discuss the issue of the number of charities in Australia. We talk about the great diversity of organisations that make up the charity sector and the wide range of activities covered by Australia’s charities.

www.acnc.gov.au

The charity sector

communications@acnc.gov.au (ACNC) — Tue, 4 Jul 2017 05:34:00 +0000

Commissioner Susan Pascoe AM joins us to discuss the charity sector in Australia. We talk about the size and significance of the charity sector, the types of organisations it is made up of, and the generosity of the Australian public.

acnc.gov.au

Australian Charities Report - australiancharities.acnc.gov.au

Charity Register data - data.gov.au

What is a charity?

communications@acnc.gov.au (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission) — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 05:52:00 +0000

A discussion with Assistant Commissioner Murray Baird about the origins of charity, what it takes to be a charity today, and the difference between charities and not-for-profits.

acnc.gov.au

Transcript

Matt: Hello and welcome to Charity Chat – the ACNC’s podcast. In this episode, we’ll talk about the origins of charity, what it takes to be a charity today and the difference between a charity and a not-for-profit.

My name is Matt Crichton and I’m from the Education team here at the ACNC and joining me today to talk about these issues is the Assistant Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission – Murray Baird. Hello Murray.

Murray: Hello Matt.

Matt: Murray, I think a lot of people would have an idea of the concept of charity and generally know what it means to be a charity in the community. Can you give us an overview of your idea of the concept of charity, its origins, and what it means to be a charity today?

Murray: Yeah. Well it may come as a surprise to many in the community that the charity is much wider than we would normally expect. I think most people think of charities as organisations that help the community or assist people in need. But the idea of charity, go back about 400 years, is much wider than that. Originally, Queen Elizabeth I had to work out where people put money into charitable funds and whether it was being properly used. So she gave some ideas in an Act of Parliament as to what we meant by charity. And these were over time distilled into four categories. The first category was the popular meaning – that was caring for people in need who were ill or disadvantaged.

Matt: Right, what most people would associate with charity?

Murray: Yeah that’s right. But it does go further because the second category is advancement of education. So education is seen as good for the community and if it’s done on a not-for-profit basis, schools and universities also fall within the concept of charity.

Matt: OK and I think that one is probably one that doesn’t quite fit the regular conception of charity for many people. It’s one that probably sits off to the side a little bit.

Murray: Yeah, but I suppose if you think about it, a community is much better off if there is access to education and before the government was fully involved in education, clearly people who stepped up and offered it on a not-for-profit basis, were regarded as doing good works.

Matt: Yeah, right.

Murray: The third one is the idea of advancement of religion. So it was presumed that if you were involved in religion, you were giving people hope and security and moral improvements and that was good for the wider community. So advancement of religion came in and that covers all religious expressions.

And then there was a grab bag of things that we thought were good for the community and we recognised all to be charitable. And over the years, the big ones that emerged there, were that the safety and security of the community; the progress of the community and encouragement of, interestingly enough, agriculture and business; we have protection of the environment, and arts and culture were said to be good for the community. So they were just put in a fourth category of other things beneficial to the community.

Matt: Right, so there was recognition that there were plenty of other things that benefitted the community but just didn’t fit into those other three categories of charity that were available at the time?

Murray: That’s exactly right, yep.

Matt: And you mentioned that these categories came about over centuries, has there been any further sharpening of the concepts of charity or even a codification of these charitable purposes since?

Murray: Yeah I think that’s a good way of looking at what happened in 2013 when the Australian government, for Commonwealth purposes, set out in the Charities Act, 12 charitable purposes. And the traditional ones are there under Advancing Health and Advancing Social and Public Welfare – there’s Advancing Education and there’s Advancing Religion. But what it does in setting out 12 charitable purposes is tease out that fourth category that I talked about earlier. And so we also find on that list Advancing Culture; Reconciliation; Mutual Respect; Tolerance; Human Rights; Safety and Security; Animal Welfare; the Environment and Advocacy for charitable purposes. And they even put a grab bag in called Other Purposes that are similar to those ones set out.

Matt: Right, so even miscellaneous remains?

Murray: Yeah, miscellaneous is still in there.

Matt: OK and if we consider the charitable purpose or purposes as just one aspect of operations that an organisation must have if it’s to be considered a charity and registered with the ACNC as a charity, what are the other criteria that an organisation must meet?

Murray: Yeah, there are three hoops you have to jump through. The first is you’ve got to be not-for-profit and that doesn’t mean you can’t make a profit – in fact we encourage charities to be sustainable - to have a bit of surplus at the end of the year. What it means is your purpose is not to give private profit to individuals.

Matt: OK.

Murray: You can pay staff – that’s reasonable. You can of course give benefits to the people who are the objects of your charity, but you can’t set out with a purpose of creating wealth for people.

Matt: Right, so you can’t be distributing any surplus that the organisation may come across to any members or anything like that?

Murray: No paying dividends.

Matt: Of course not. And the third hoop, Murray?

Murray: Yeah. When I mentioned three hoops – not-for-profit – it’s got to come within that list of 12 charitable purposes. And it also should be able to show public benefit. Public benefit can be looked at a number of ways. One, is it’s the opposite of private benefit – so it’s not there for individuals to gain wealth.

Matt: Yep.

Murray: But also, it has to show that there’s something good happening in the wider community, and it’s got to be more than just a small group or a family group. It’s got to be public benefit. So public benefit has got lots of flavour to it, but it really means that when we look at it, we say “Yeah, that’s good for the community.” And it’s also the opposite of detriment to the community.

Matt: Of course.

Murray: So if a charity has a track record of doing really bad stuff, we might say “Well, that’s not for the public benefit. That’s for the public detriment. We’re not going to allow it in.”

They’re the three things. It’s got to be not-for-profit; got to have a charitable purpose; got to be for the public benefit.

Matt: And are there any things that would strike a line through an organisation that wants to be registered as a charity? Are there any restrictions on what they can and can’t do?

Murray: Yeah, there are a couple of things called “disqualifying purposes”. And those disqualifying purposes is to have a purpose of doing things that are illegal, and that makes sense. We don’t particularly want organisations to set up for illegality. And the other is not to cross the boundary into the political arena. Now, there’s a lot of debate about where that boundary is, but the Charities Act helps us by saying it’s the support or opposing of a political candidate or a political party. So that then makes you a political instrument instead of a charitable organisation.

Matt: OK, right.

Murray: That’s not to say you can’t be involved in the marketplace of ideas and express opinions as a charity on issues that will come up in the political process. But it’s when you actually say to people “Vote for this candidate. Vote for this party.” That’s what we’re on about. We’re on about the furtherance of this party or the opposition to that party, that really gets you into a different area.

Matt: And how about an individual then? Could I register myself as a charity?

Murray: You’ll recall that we talked of a public benefit – what we say is that an individual can’t be a charity. You have to at least have a group of people who come together for that charitable purpose.

Matt: Right, OK.

Murray: So we call it a “body of persons”. You could incorporate; become an association or a company – you don’t have to… as long as you’re an identifiable crowd and you could prove that you have a charitable purpose and you’re not-for-profit and for the public benefit, you can become a charity. Often, a constitution is the document in which you will express that purpose.

Matt: Right, OK.

And just touching on this concept of not-for-profit briefly, because we have talked about it in the context of how an organisation can become a charity, that I think there may be some confusion still in the public consciousness about the terms “charity” and “not-for-profit”. These terms don’t mean exactly the same thing but then again they’re not mutually exclusive, are they?

Murray: I think if you think of one large circle of not-for-profit organisations – that will include sporting clubs which are not charitable; that will include membership and social clubs that are not for the public benefit generally. They’re for the benefit for the people who joined them.

Matt: Right.

Murray: It might be in a Bridge club – that’s not-for-profit but it’s not charitable.

Matt: OK.

Murray: So it is said that there’s probably about 600,000 not-for-profit organisations in Australia, but there’s only about 55,000 registered charities. So charities are simply a subset of not-for-profits.

Matt: OK.

Murray: So you can be not-for-profit and not a charity, but you can’t be a charity without being not-for-profit.

Matt: OK, so we should think about charities as being – they’re not-for-profits that have a charitable purpose?

Murray: Exactly and are for the public benefit.

Matt: Yeah, of course.

What about the organisations, and there would be a few out there in the community, that have a mixture of purposes? So they are not-for-profit; they do have a charitable purpose, but then they also have other purposes that aren’t considered charitable according to those 12 categories that we spoke about just before?

Murray: Yep. We talk about having to have solely charitable purposes. Now, that needs a bit of unpacking because you can have purposes in support of your solely charitable purposes. So there can be other purposes, but they must be what we call “ancillary”. But if they’re an independent purpose, beside a charitable purpose and the other purpose is not charitable, that pollutes the idea of a charity.

Matt: OK, so that would prevent them from being able to register as a charity, because a charity needs to have solely charitable purposes?

Murray: Yeah, solely charitable but you can have some ancillary purposes or supportive purposes.

Matt: OK, well that may be a useful way to think of the phrase “ancillary purposes” actually. They are the supportive purposes – the ones that are there to support the charitable purposes of the charity?

Murray: Yeah that’s right. I think that if you had a charitable purpose and an independent non-charitable purpose, you might think of creating two separate organisations.

Matt: OK.

Murray: One which could register, and the other which could run in parallel as long as it wasn’t some form of device to be able to get around the system. But it would be possible to have cooperation between two organisations.

Matt: Well that’s just about all we have time for. Thank you very much for your time today, Murray. I think you’ve done a great job explaining the concept of charity, where it’s come from and also where it sits today, particularly that point about the difference between a charity and a not-for-profit.

Murray: It’s interesting that we’re called the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. I think when we were first envisaged, we were starting with charities and perhaps we would move to not-for-profits as well, but there’s nothing on the horizon for that as far as I know at the moment.

Matt: Yes, well maybe at some point, sometime down the line.

Thanks again, Murray. We really appreciate you taking the time today to explain all things charity and not-for-profits to us.

Murray: Thanks very much, Matt.

Matt: Be sure to check out other episodes of ACNC Charity Chat and other resources including guides, facts sheets and webinars on our website at acnc.gov.au. And if you enjoyed this podcast and would like to hear more, subscribe on iTunes or wherever you happen to access it. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time.