ACNC Assistant Commissioner Anna Longley has this morning notified the ACNC Advisor Forum about the release of a consultation paper relating to charity fundraising for natural disasters
You will recall that with the encouragement of Celeste Barber a huge sum was raised from the public for the victims of the black summer bushfires. Later a Supreme Court found that those funds could only be used for the purposes of the NSW Rural Fire Brigade significantly limiting who could receive relief from those funds. The Government has released a consultation paper, to improve the transparency around the use of charitable donations during natural disasters. In the introduction to the paper, it states
During the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, the public generously donated more than $640 million for charities’ relief and recovery efforts. However, early into the recovery process it became evident that there was a mismatch between the expectations of donors around how their funds would be used and the obligations of the charities to use funds in line with their charitable purpose. It also became clear that there was a gap between donor expectations around the speed with which funds should be distributed and the challenges charities face in ensuring funds are used to support people in genuine need through both the immediate and long term impacts of a natural disaster, whilst operating in an uncertain environment.
The proposed Transparency Code will provide charities a framework for transparent reporting of disaster recovery fundraising and activities. The specific features identified include prescribing specific information for charities to report, including how donations are used, and minimum reporting frequencies.
A link to the consultation paper can be found at https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2021-190753.
Submissions close 13th August 2021. If you would like to join with others in making a submission please let me know.
Feature Image: Helitak430, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
