Update on Not-for-profit Law's funding in NSWLast year we told you that, since the NSW Government had stopped funding our work, we had no choice but to cut off our NSW advice services completely and remove our tailored legal information resources for NSW-based community organisations from our website. Since then, tens of thousands of organisations that rely on us have had to go without critical legal and governance support, amidst growing demand for their services and significant pressure on finances due to cost of living increases. We’re grateful to have secured short-term support from another funder which means we can get our NSW-specific resources back on our website for the time being. Each month in our Monthly Update email, we’ll let you know which resources we’ve put back on our website. However, this support is time limited, and it’s not enough to reopen our advice service in NSW. Only adequate funding from the NSW Government will allow us to fully restart all our legal supports. We need your help to ensure a sustainable community sector in NSW, where frontline organisations can access all of our free legal supports to help them deliver services to the growing number of people in need. Email a letter now to the NSW Minister for Families and Communities in support of reinstating our funding. Safety, risk and insurance – five key takeaways
Focusing on safety will help your not-for-profit organisation protect its staff (including volunteers) and the people it serves, comply with its legal obligations, and attract and retain funding, volunteers, staff and members. We’ve summarised five things you should know about safety, risk and insurance for your not-for-profit organisation. Law and policy updates Latest changes to fixed term contract exceptions for charity and not‑for‑profit sector employeesUnder the Fair Work Amendment (Fixed Term Contracts—Exceptions Measures) Regulations 2024, further exceptions to the new restrictions that apply to fixed term contracts have been added. These exceptions apply to fixed term contracts made on or after 1 November 2024 and before 1 November 2025 for certain charity and not‑for‑profit sector employees, medical or health research sector employees, and public hospital employees. Under the exception for charity and not‑for‑profit sector employees, a charity (registered with the ACNC) can align an employment contract with the funding period under a funding contract if the funding contract is for less than five years and the staff member has not been employed by the charity for seven years. There are carve outs for government programs that fund individuals (as opposed to organisations) and the Commonwealth Home Support Programme. The Fair Work Ombudsman will publish an updated Fixed Term Contract Information Statement to assist employers and employees to understand their rights and entitlements soon. Also see the Fair Work Ombudsman’s webpage Additional Exceptions for more information once it has been updated. We are updating our fact sheet on fixed term contracts to reflect these changes.
Police checks and not-profit-organisations ATO self-help service available for not-for-profits Non-charitable not-for-profit organisations may submit their NFP self-review return by phone, using the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) self-help service. You can lodge your self-review return using their self-help phone service on 13 72 26. This service is available to lodge your return for the 2023-24 transitional year. Find out more. We also have a free resource that we are continuously updating where you can find more information about the income tax exemption reporting requirements. Inquiry into not-for-profit entities tax assessmentsThere is currently an inquiry into the ATO's requirement for non-charitable not-for-profits to lodge a self-review return. The inquiry follows a motion raised by Opposition Charities spokesperson Dean Smith which called for a public hearing. Withholding or Removing Commercially Sensitive Information from the ACNC Charity RegisterResourcesManaging risk and insurance We've launched a new fact sheet Introduction to risk and insurance to complement our Guide to risk management and insurance. It considers: - the risks of running a community organisation
- measures to avoid or minimise risk
- what is insurance?
- is your organisation required to get insurance?
- which insurance is right for your organisation?
- what if things change or go wrong
Updated resourcesWork health and safety Managing people Campaigns and protests Changing your structure Fundraising |
