The ACNC has published its report on its 21/22 review of the ongoing entitlement of charities to be registered with the ACNC.
In its 21/22 reviews it concentrated on public benevolent institutions (PBIs) and prioritised :
- Older charities (in recognition that they were more likely to have changed purposes since their initial registration or be affected by changes to case law)
- Charities not already subject to a high degree of oversight by certain other regulators (in recognition of risks associated with less oversight), and
- Other indicators of heightened risk (for example, charities that have not submitted required information or had concerns raised through other work processes).
As a result of the reviews:
- 19% had their registration revoked or are in that process,
- 9% had a charity subtype revoked or are in that process.
In addition to its review of PBIs the ACNC reviewed a sample of charities which were not PBIs to ensure they maintained entitlement to registration.
In that process it identified those at risk were:
- charities with purposes that appeared to be not charitable
- charities with registration that may have been affected by changes in case law
- charities with potential concerns about entitlement that were identified through other work processes.
The ACNC found that risks to ongoing entitlement to registration fell into four main categories:
- Disconnect between a charity's purpose and the activities it undertook to achieve that purpose.
- Governing document that was out of date and contained clauses that contradicted the not-for-profit and public benefit requirements of a charity.
- Being registered with subtypes that are not appropriate for the charity’s purpose.
- Not having charitable purposes.
As a part of these latter reviews, a very small number of charities had their ACNC registration involuntarily revoked.
For the full report see the ACNC Charity Register
These reviews are ongoing. You ought check your charity’s ongoing compliance with the ACNC criteria by contacting Lesleigh.