Watchdog won’t reveal why fundraising groups are stripped of charity status or penalised
Fundraising groups are being stripped of charity status but the public is not allowed to know why because of “overly restrictive” secrecy laws. Last year, 90 charity groups which control a total of $12 billion in assets were investigated with 16 deregistered.
NSW
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Fundraising groups are being stripped of charity status but the public is not allowed to know why because of “overly restrictive” secrecy laws.
The Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission last year investigated 90 charity groups which control a total of $12 billion in assets, revoking the registration of 16 and issuing 18 penalty notices.
But the watchdog was unable to publicly reveal why charities were dropped from the register due to “secrecy provisions” in the ACNC Act.
A review of the charity authority commissioned by the federal government in 2017 recommended the ACNC Commissioner be given discretion to disclose information “when it is necessary to protect public trust and confidence”.
More than seven months later, the government has not responded to the review.
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More than 1800 complaints about charities were raised with the ACNC in 2018, of which about a quarter related to concerns about “private benefit”. Almost half of the investigations conducted in 2018 were against NSW charities.
Revocation of registration is the most serious compliance action as it removes the organisation’s entitlement to Commonwealth charity tax concessions. NSW group Pathways to Leadership, which had its charity status revoked, reported an income of $149,017 and spent 68.44 per cent of this on “expenses from employees” according to financial documents. ACNC confirmed it had taken action but was unable to reveal why.
NSW charity Pockets Australia also had its registration revoked. It reported $8209 in income last financial year but spent $22,865, leaving a significant debt according to its own financial statements.
And NSW-based group Global Crisis Aid, which according to its charity registration documents was designed to send food aid to families in Lebanon, raised $1000 in 2018 but reported spending no money. Its charity status was revoked in December.
ACNC is unable to report the details of the cases and commissioner Dr Gary Johns said the secrecy laws could destroy public confidence in the system. “We can’t explain to the public why we intervened and what we did about it,” he said, adding other charities could also benefit from “learning from the mistakes”.
Assistant Treasury and Finance Minister Zed Seselja said the government was “committed to ensuring trust and transparency” in the charities sector and had “consulted extensively with industry and is carefully considering the recommendations”.