Fix Fundraising breakthrough
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Progress is being made across all Australian jurisdictions towards a greater alignment of regulatory frameworks (licensing and reporting). The Charitable Fundraising National Working Group consists of officials with responsibility for the regulation of charitable fundraising in each jurisdiction, as well as the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
Since March 2019 when the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century inquiry report recommended that the Australian Government commit to working with States and Territories to develop a consistent national regulatory framework for charitable fundraising, the Working Group has been examining possible approaches to reduce unnecessary burdens arising from the regulation across multiple jurisdictions.
Their discussion paper says a charity already registered with the ACNC could be deemed to hold a fundraising authority in each participating state or territory. Great news!
A more streamlined approach has been implemented in most States where charities registered with the ACNC will no longer be required to apply for fundraising registration, provide an annual statement or renew their registration.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA has finally joined the Eastern States with changes to WA’s Charitable Collections Act means Charity licences do not have an expiry date now, so they don’t have to be renewed every three years as was required previously. And Queensland has passed legislation allowing the exemption of ACNC-registered entities from local reporting requirements, expected to be introduced during 2021-22.
ACNC Commissioner the Hon Dr Gary Johns said “We support harmonisation as it helps charities operate more effectively and makes it easier for them to comply with regulations. This new change is very welcome, and we continue to work towards minimising reporting duplication”.
Unfortunately, harmonisation of regulation still leaves the opportunity for States to add and amend their outdated regulations and place new or more burdens or “additional conditions” on charities. In addition the disparate and inconsistent audit and reporting requirements of the states and territories could still be applied on top of ACNC reporting obligations.
While the harmonisation of the regulatory framework (registration/licensing and reporting) addresses many red tape and compliance issues, the #fixfundraising campaign aims to make sure that that we have modern, fit-for-purpose fundraising laws using the well understood and effective National Consumer Law.
Also, there is no mention of fundraising for non-charities. Obviously, this cannot be policed by the ACNC – the beneficiaries are not charities. But fundraising for people, groups and projects is now a multi-million dollar industry with confusing regulations or no regulations or worse unevenly applied regulations.
Fixing charity licensing and reporting is fantastic but most often it’s not the charity that is fundraising it is a person that is fundraising. If the authorities would turn their mind to key questions they may begin to find the answer...
What does "charitable fundraisers" actually mean?
1. People raising money for charity
- A person that fundraisers for charity on mycause or other platform is deemed to be fundraising under the license of the charity. However, the charity has little or no control over the activity.
- A person that fundraises for a charity offline must apply to the charity to be under the charity’s State-based license
2. Charities raising money for themselves
- A charity fundraising online or offline whether it is an online appeal, a Peer 2 Peer event, a gala or other is covered by their own license, registration now mostly "harmonised" with data sharing with the ACNC. The reporting requirements still vary by State.
3. People raising money to help other individuals in need.
- A person fundraising for a person is arguably not licensed but it depends on which State and which platform. It’s a mess and a free for all particularly as the overseas giants GoFundMe and Facebook are not regulated as they are not located in Australia.
As I submitted to the Senate committee, the regulations are regulating charities assuming charities are always the fundraiser. This is not the case. When it comes to crowdfunding or online Peer to Peer fundraising, people are the fundraiser, charities or other people are the beneficiaries.
The #FixFundraising coalition and its supporters concerned with their charity stakeholders call on federal, state, and territory governments to implement a nationally-consistent, contemporary and fit-for-purpose charitable fundraising regime. This would also benefit personal cause fundraising by:
- Passing amendments to the Australian Consumer Law to ensure its application to fundraising activities for and on behalf of charities (and other not-for-profit organisations) is clear and broad
- Repealing the existing fragmented State and ACT fundraising laws
- Working with Australian Consumer Law regulators, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, self-regulatory bodies and sector intermediaries to draft and consult publicly on a core mandatory code to be enforced under the Australian Consumer Law multi-regulatory framework
Sue Woodward from Justice Connect said we needed this cross-border co-operation to become a commitment to create “a road map for actually fixing the major part of the problem”.
“The greatest red tape burden and confusion is with the other parts of the regulation, as most jurisdictions have already aligned licensing with the ACNC, or indicated an intention to head in that direction,” she said.
The deadline to file submissions in response to the Fundraising National Working Group discussion paper is 18 September 2020.
*Sources
https://justiceconnect.org.au/were-on-the-way-to-finally-fixfundraising/
https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/consultation-tool/charitable-fundraising-cross-border-recognition
https://www.acnc.gov.au/media/news