Is your organisation acting in accordance with its charitable purpose?? Charities are responsible for ensuring they maintain eligibility for registration which includes meeting their obligations to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission fulfilling their charitable purpose.
As the new financial year begins, the ACNC is urging charities to ensure they are still working towards their stated purposes by reviewing their governing document.
Responsible People and staff should be familiar with their charity’s governing document and ensure that its objects reflect its stated mission.
If it is proposed to vary the activities and purpose of the charity, then the governing documents must be reviewed and, where necessary, updated.
Care must be taken when making changes to governing documents to avoid inadvertently losing registrations and tax statuses beneficial to the organisation.
This includes those relating to ACNC, DFAT, TCC status, DGR status, IT/FBT/GST and entry in various DGR registers.
Organisations must also ensure that current activities and purposes match their charity subtype appearing on the ACNC register and other relevant registers where may appear.
If you need legal advice about an existing charity’s governing document or wish to set up a new charity, we can help.