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. This statement from paragraph 42 of the Commissioner’s Interpretation Statement: Public Benevolent Institutions (we considered the Statement when it was released last year by the ACNC) was reconfirmed as a matter of law by the Full Federal Court in Equality Australia Ltd v Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission [2024] FCAFC 115. In that decision the Court found that the objects and purposes of Equality Australia to advocate for law reform and social change was not sufficiently connected to providing relief from distress of LGBTQI+ people.
We will have more to say on these issues as and when the ACNC updates its guidance (including the Statement, and the ACNC’s Decision Impact Statement that it prepared when the Administrative Appeals Tribunal initially heard this case) in response to the Full Federal Court’s decision.