Public Benevolent Institutions
The public benevolent institution (PBI) is a deductible gift recipient which is entitled to tax concessions because of its purposes in providing relief to people in need of benevolent relief.
Most PBI’s have been in operation for many years and have grown from small organisations with a few generous individuals helping a needy few to large commercial operations with staff providing services but grappling with the need to remain sustainable whilst pursuing the altruistic purpose.
Some organisations are not updated about the recent changes to the law affecting PBI’s and might need to review their purpose, activity or governance or governance documents. The recent DGR Review may impact on your PBI, do you understand what is proposed?
Some PBIs have members who are not interested in its operation or governance. These members may have joined to use the service or to support its cause. Some PBI’s struggle to get a quorum at an AGM and struggle for board members.
Some PBI’s have had the same committed individuals on their board for over 10 years or find that other board practices do not align with best corporate governance in the more sophisticated and complicated environment.
- If your organisation is an incorporated association which trades interstate and has a disengaged membership – is this legal structure the optimum structure for your organisation?
- If your organisation funds other PBI’s or contracts with other PBIs to provide a benevolent service – could it be a PBI too?
- Is your board as effective as it could be – does it have rules which require the directors to self-evaluate and for there to be a healthy turnover after fixed terms and independence in the process of recruitment and selection, is there an induction process?
- Has your organisation expanded its services to include activity which is not relieving the need of persons – is it at risk of non – compliance with the ACNC’s view of what is a PBI ?
- Does the board need some assistance to resolve issues created by the tensions or dynamics of human relationships?
- How long is it since you reviewed your constitution or rules and other governance documents to ensure they are relevant, up to date and comply with the law?
- Is there confusion because of the role of the Chair compared to the Chief Executive
- Could conflicts of interest be managed better having regard to the fiduciary duties of board members
- Is your organisation a Letters Patent with a very old governance document with confusion amongst the governance team about roles and responsibilities
- How long is it since the board updated on the law relating to charities including fiduciary duties, competition and consumer law, fund-raising
- Do your board members know when they may be personally liable for decisions
Lesleigh has extensive knowledge and experience working with PBIs and other DGRs to facilitate the identification of issues and to help the organisation develop strategies, relationships, frameworks, processes and documents to resolve those issues.
