philanthropyOz Blog

New Events

Amongst this week’s new events, we are inviting our Members to participate in an important consultation with Housing Minister Richard Wynne MP of the Department of Human Services on the development of the Victorian Homelessness Plan.

• Swinburne Postgraduate Information Day: Social Investment and Philanthropy Information Session (1 October, Melbourne)
• Meeting of Philanthropy with Housing Minister Richard Wynne (27 October, Melbourne, Members Only)
• Board Builder Conference 2009 (27 November, Melbourne)
• 2nd Annual Family Office Congress (3-4 December, Sydney)

For more information please see the Events Calendar.

PPF information returns online - will not be mailed this year

The ATO has advised that the Prescribed Private Fund Information return for the period 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 is now available on the ATO’s website at http://www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit/content.asp?doc=/content/00213298.htm

The return form and accompanying instructions will not be mailed out this year and must be downloaded from the ATO. Trusts must complete and submit the information return for the year ended 30 June 2009 if they:

• are a private fund that is prescribed in the Income Tax Assessment Regulations 1997 regulation 995-1.02, or
• have been approved for prescription in the regulations before 1 July 2009 and have received written confirmation to that effect.

PPFs are still required to submit an information return for the 2008-09 year despite the tax law changes for PPFs that take effect from 1 October 2009.

For more information and to download the forms, please see the ATO’s website at http://www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit/content.asp?doc=/content/00213298.htm

New Events

There is a healthy number if new event updates this week, covering quite a few areas of interest. And for our Ageing Futures Affinity Group Members, please note the new date for the November meeting.

• Shared Indigenous Giving Principles for Grantseekers & Grantmakers Workshop (28 September, Canberra)
• Bequest Officers’ Workshop (30 September, Sydney)
• G21 Public Health Forum - ‘How do we have a healthy & wealthy community’ (5 October, Victoria)
• G21 Public Health Forum - ‘Looking at the future impacts on child health & wellbeing in our community’ (12 October, Victoria)
• 2009 Youth Action Conference (15 October, Melbourne)
• Decision-Making for Third Sector CEOs (19 & 20 October, Sydney)
• Ageing Futures Affinity Group Meeting (18 November, Melbourne, Members Only)
• Effective Grants Management Conference (23 November, Sydney)
• Effective Grants Management Conference (25 November, Melbourne)
• 2010 NGO Global Forum for Women: Beijing +15 (27-28 February 2010, China)
• National Volunteer Week (10-16 May 2010, National)

For more information please see the Events Calendar.

New Positions Vacant

Two part-time positions have become available for those with an interest in the legal sector and arts:

• Grants and Awards Officer / Administrative Assistant, Victoria Law Foundation (VIC, Applications close 28 September)
• Philanthropy Manager, Australian Centre for Photography (NSW, Applications close 2 October)

And just a reminder that the following position’s applications close this Saturday:

•  Professor of Social Investment & Philanthropy, Swinburne University of Technology - Asia Pacific Centre of Social Investment & Philanthropy (VIC, Applications close 25 September)

For more information please see the Positions Vacant page.

Not-for-profit statistics released

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released data from the Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account which reveals the economic and employment contribution that the not-for-profit sector makes to the Australian community.

Among the points in the report:

• There were 58,779 not-for-profit organisations registered with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in Australia at June 2007.
• Not-for-profit organisations contributed almost $43 billion to Australia’s economy in 2006-07, or 4.1%.
• In 2006-07, volunteers contributed 623 million hours to not-for-profit organisations, or the equivalent of 317,200 full-time jobs. The economic value of these hours is estimated at $14.6 billion.
• In 2006-07, the not-for-profit sector employed almost 890,000 people.

The full report is downloadable from the ABS.

New Events

We have some interesting new events coming up over the next couple of months for both our Full and Associate Members; we hope you can come along:

• Discussion with Chris Stori, ClimateWorks Foundation (22 September, Melbourne, Members Only)
• Legal Aspects of Charitable Law and International Giving with guest speaker Blake Bromley (23 September, Melbourne, Members Only)
• Morning Tea With the Asia Pacific Breakthrough Steering Committee and the Australian Women Donors Network (28 September, Melbourne, Members Only)
• A briefing for Associate Members on representations with Government (14 October, Melbourne, Members Only)
• A briefing for Associate Members on representations with Government (27 October, Sydney, Members Only)

For more information please see the Events Calendar.

ATO on revocation of charitable status; Good governance tools

The Australian Taxation Office has released a bulletin on recent reviews of a number of charitable funds, and provides an example of a fund which had its charitable status revoked because it was found that the fund had not been applied for the charitable purposes for which it was established. The fund in question had its charitable status revoked for three years and will be required to pay income tax and lodge tax returns during that time.

Indications that a fund may not be applied for its charitable purposes include:

• investment that benefits private entities
• excessive accumulation of investment income
• making distributions for non-charitable purposes

The ATO advises that charitable organisatiosn regularly review their entitlement to endorsement, tell the ATO in writing if the organisation is no longer entitled to endorsement, and avoid problems through good governance. More information is available from the ATO’s bulletin at: http://www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit/content.asp?doc=/content/00209848.htm

One tool to help assist charitable funds to operate with good governance is the Trustee Handbook published by Philanthropy Australia. It is specifically designed to assist philanthropic trusts and foundations and is available for free download from the PhilanthropyWiki. Trustee Seminars are planned for October 2009 to accompany the Handbook - watch this space for more details.

The latest edition of Australian Philanthropy journal focuses on governance and regulation in philanthropy and is a must-read for updates in this vital area. See the Journal page on our website to read selected articles and subscribe.

Board scholarships awarded to directors of charitable organisations

Eight directors of charitable organisations from across Australia will receive scholarships from the Australian Scholarships Foundation (ASF) to attend director and board development programs. The training programs awarded include: two full scholarships for the Company Directors Course; two full scholarships for the Foundations of Directorship suite; and four full scholarships for The Not-for-Profit Board (an In-Focus program).

Primarily reliant on fundraising to achieve their social objectives, charitable organisations often find it difficult, if not impossible, to allocate a budget for their board’s professional development. The scholarships awarded supported ASF’s mission to build the capacity of NFP organisations. A list of scholarship recipients, some of which are Philanthropy Australia Members and Associates, is available at www.scholarships.org.au.

Alliance magazine essay prize

Alliance magazine ‘for philanthropy and social investment worldwide’ has announced an essay competition.

The topic is: As a philanthropist, how would you spend US$10 million to combat global warming?

They ask: Would you seek to put pressure on governments, or to drive changes in public behaviour directly? Would you focus on challenging unsustainable consumption trends or on addressing questions of equity between richer and poorer countries? Would you target your efforts towards particular industry sectors or particular technologies or institutions? Whatever your plan, your essay must give some indication of how you would judge if you had been successful, what the obstacles would be and in what timeframe you would undertake this.

The deadline for submissions is 30 September, and the word limit is 1000 words.
The winning essay will be published in Alliance magazine, and recieve a price of £1,000.

For more information and entry details go to
http://www.alliancemagazine.org/en/content/alliance-essay-prize

New Events

 We have a few new events this week, including a Sydney Arts Affinity Group discussion and a new meeting for Melbourne’s Corporate Network:

• Law Week Oration 2009, Presented by Gareth Evans AO QC  (22 September, Melbourne)
• Corporate Network - A Dialogue with Cheryl Kernot (24 September, Melbourne, Members Only)
• Philanthropy Australia Sydney Arts Affinity Group - Lessons Learnt: Samantha Meers & Neil Balnaves in conversation with Louise Walsh, Director of Artsupport Australia (29 September, Sydney, Members Only)

For more information please see the Events Calendar.