What’s in the April 2025 Update?

• Privacy compliance: Is your not-for-profit doing enough to protect personal information?
• Law and policy updates: Is your organisation vicariously liable for the actions of your volunteers?, and ATO: The annual not-for-profit self-return was due 31 March 2025.   
• Resources:
• Updated resources: Privacy Guide and cyber security fact sheet
• Update on Not-for-profit Law's funding in NSW 
• Upcoming webinars:

• Privacy: What NFPs Need to Know About Protecting Personal Information, 8 May, 12:45 – 2pm
• NEW: Diversity in Volunteering: Using the Law to Support Best Practice, 22 May, 12:45 – 2pm
• Not-for-profit Risk: Current Issues for the Board Agenda, 5 June, 12:45 – 2pm 
• Protecting Mental Health: Psychosocial Hazards in Not-for-profits, 19 June, 12:45 – 2pm

• Customised training: Book us for training before EOFY, and Creative Australia’s Company Director Capability Fund for Organisations.
• News in our sector: Charities and the federal election: ACNC and Australian Electoral Commission rules, and the public consultation on template constitution for charitable companies limited by guarantee.

Privacy compliance: Is your not-for-profit doing enough to protect personal information?

With significant reforms underway and growing public attention on data protection, now is the time to strength your organisation’s understanding of privacy law. We'll help you stay across your not-for-profit's legal and governance responsibilities in two steps:  

1. Join our upcoming webinar on 8 May 

You could gain: a clearer understanding of: which laws apply to you and what to do next; the know-how to spot legal risks early and avoid common pitfalls; and the confidence that your organisation is on the right track.

Secure your seat before they fill up. If you can't attend live, register anyway and we'll send you the recording (available for 3 months) and slide deck. 

2. Download our updated Privacy Guide 

Our free online resource, the Privacy Guide, helps your organisation understand and follow Australian privacy laws. We've updated it to include recent changes under the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth), including:

• Clarification that the ‘reasonable steps’ that must be taken to protect the security of personal information includes implementing ‘technical and organisational measures' (part 4) 
• A new requirement for privacy policies to disclose information about the use of automated processes to make decisions (part 4) 
• A framework for a Children’s Online Privacy Code (part 4) 
• Ministerial powers to 'whitelist' countries that provide substantially similar privacy protections, to assist entities disclosing personal information overseas (part 4) 
• A new statutory cause of action (tort) for serious invasions of privacy (part 7) 
• New civil powers for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to issue infringement notices and compliance notices, and to impose civil penalty orders for non-compliance for three levels of interference with the privacy of an individual (part 7) 

Law and policy updates

Is your organisation vicariously liable for the actions of your volunteers?

Liability of organisations for the actions of volunteers was considered in the recent High Court case Bird v DP (a pseudonym) [2024] HCA 41. Read our article, which explains what this means for volunteer-involving organisations.

ATO: The annual not-for-profit self-return was due by 31 March 2025 

Non-charitable not-for-profits with an active ABN are required to lodge an annual not-for-profit self-review return to confirm their eligibility for income tax exemption. The first return is for the 2023-24 income year and was due by 31 March 2025. 

If you have yet to lodge it, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published a new What happens if you lodge the NFP self-review return late page on their website.

Resources

Updated resources

Privacy guide

Cyber security fact sheet 

Not-for-profit Law’s NSW funding

NSW-specific resources

Since the NSW Government stopped funding our work, we had no choice but to cut off our NSW advice services and remove our tailored legal 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. 

Email a letter now to the NSW Minister for Families and Communities in support of reinstating our funding. 

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. However, this support is time limited, and it’s not enough to reopen our advice service in NSW.