Community & Associations Newsletter – January 2025
Published on January 24, 2025 by Josephine Heesh, Grace Brophy and Shakvaan Wijetunga
Welcome to 2025: we hope the year has started happily for all.
In this edition we cover some issues that we consider are permanently relevant, and with some updates on some activity relating to deductible gift recipients.
Safeguarding is a universal responsibility and charities and not-for-profits must place it as a high priority in their operations.
Online access to material from anywhere carries risks which are not just from scams and failures of fire walls to prevent hacking: there is a wealth of intellectual property on the web and it is easy to inadvertently breach rights of others.
In late 2024 the ACNC ran a case and was upheld in its refusal to register an applicant as a charity, so it is helpful to understand the reasons why.
Concerning deductible gift recipients, ATO has changed some rules and added a new category (which is a rare event) so we set out some notes on those developments.
The Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers Community & Associations’ Team
Safeguarding in the Charity Law Sphere
In the context of charity law, safeguarding is defined by the ACNC as “protecting the welfare and human rights of people that are connected with a charity or its work”.
The purpose of safeguarding policies is to eliminate physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, bullying, and the exposure to domestic violence.
Read more here.
Josephine Heesh, Partner
Grace Brophy, Associate
Copyright and your website
It is no surprise that scams are a growing presence in the online ecosystem. So it is understandable if you receive an unsolicited email from a sender “PicRights” and believe it to be one of those scams. It is not a scam, but it is also not a cause for alarm.
Read more here.
Josephine Heesh, Partner
Shakvaan Wijetunga, Lawyer
The Commonwealth Government has responded to the Productivity Commission’s report into philanthropy, charities and giving
In a recent ‘mini-update’, our Firm considered the Productivity Commission’s recommendations arising from its final report into philanthropy, charities and giving. By way of media release dated 5 December 2024, the Commonwealth Government has now responded to these recommendations.
Read more here.
Josephine Heesh, Partner
Samuel Chu, Lawyer
Some more clarity on the law applying to public benevolent institutions
If your organisation is a public benevolent institution that provides indirect relief to people or communities in need, your organisation needs to demonstrate that there is a “sufficiency of connection” between its activities and the relief that it claims to provide.
Read more here.
Josephine Heesh, Partner
Samuel Chu, Lawyer
Community charities can now be endorsed as Deductible Gift Recipients
On 29 June 2024, the Commonwealth tax law was changed so that ‘community charities’ can now be endorsed as Deductible Gift Recipients.
Read more here.
