View the latest law and policy updates, resources, webinars, training and news from our sector.
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What’s in the June 2025 Update?

  • Help us improve our free legal resources for community organisations 
  • Law and policy updates: New ACNC de-identified registration decision, ATO: extended deadline for NFPs to update their governing documents, ORIC guidance on director terms, and Victoria: Registration with the Social Services Regulator 
  • Donate to Justice Connect
  • Updated resources: Getting started, and understanding the tax landscape
  • Upcoming webinars: 
    • Starting a Not-for-profit Organisation, 3 July 
    • Board Inductions for Not-for-profits, 31 July
  • Customised training
  • News in our sector: Government consultation on giving fund reform, ACNC’s Annual Charities Report and ACNC's annual Governing for Good Forum, ATO seeks feedback on the draft Vulnerability Framework, and Victoria’s State of Volunteering Report 2025  

Help us improve our free legal resources for community organisations

We offer a wide range of free legal resources to support community organisations – whether you’re just starting out, running day-to-day operations, or winding down. To keep these resources as useful and relevant as possible, we need to hear from the people using them. 

We’re inviting you to take a short survey to help us understand how you use our resources, what’s working well, and where there’s room for improvement. Your feedback helps us assess their impact and directly shapes how we evolve them. 

As a thank-you, you’ll go in the draw to win three Not-for-profit Law webinar tickets on topics of your choice, valued at up to $255. We appreciate your time and insights – it helps us maintain and strengthen our legal support for community organisations nationwide. 

Take the Survey

Law and policy updates

Can sport be charitable? ACNC provides guidance in new de-identified registration decision summary

The latest Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) de-identified registration decision summary looks at an organisation whose purposes were to hold cultural events for an ethnic community including β€˜creating community sport events’. 

In deciding whether to register the organisation as a charity, the ACNC had to consider whether the organisation’s purpose of engaging in community sports events was an independent non-charitable purpose. Because it was clear the organisation participated in sport events to fundraise for charities, the ACNC registered the organisation as a charity. 

Read our summary on the ACNC’s guidance.

Read more

ATO: Extended deadline for NFPs to update their governing documents 

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has extended the due date for not-for-profit organisations completing the NFP self-review return to update their governing documents from 30 June 2025 to 30 June 2026. This extension only applies to not-for-profits that have not made any distributions of income or assets to members. The ATO is continuing to encourage not-for-profit organisations to review and update their governing documents as soon as possible.  

The continues to publish guidance on this requirement, including More time to update your NFP's governing documents and NFP governing documents.  

Read more

ORIC guidance on director terms

The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) has released a position statement and a new fact sheet about the period that a director may be in that role under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act). 

Under the CATSI Act, director terms should be two years unless the corporation has an exemption. ORIC will consider requests from corporations to have longer director terms on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the statutory test set out in the CATSI Act.  

Read more

Victoria: Registration with the Social Services Regulator  

The Social Services Regulator (Regulator) has now invited all providers who were delivering in-scope services before 1 July 2024 to register under the social services regulatory scheme. Providers registered with the Human Services Regulator before 1 July 2024 had their registration automatically transitioned. However, there were some services that only came into scope from 1 July 2024.  

Registered or unregistered providers who have been identified as delivering services including those listed below are now asked to register:

  • family violence services funded by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
  • homelessness services funded by the department (excluding community and public housing) 
  • sexual assault services funded by the department 
  • any other social service operating before 1 July 2024 that is not registered, and is not a supported residential service, family violence, homelessness, sexual assault, Transport Accident Commission or WorkSafe-funded disability service provider 

Find out more about registrating with the Social Services Regulator.

Read more

Donate to Justice Connect

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Resources

Updated resources

Getting started 

  • Which incorporated legal structure should you choose? (NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia, ACT, Tasmania)

Understanding the tax landscape

  • Income tax exemption
  • Income tax reporting requirements
  •  

Upcoming webinars

Starting a Not-for-profit Organisation

πŸ“… Thursday, 3 July
πŸ•’ 12:45 - 2pm (AEST)
πŸ’» Online via Zoom
➑️ Register now

Setting up a not-for-profit organisation but not sure where to start? Let us help! 

This FREE introductory webinar will help you understand the legal basics of setting up and getting started. We’ll take you through how to decide which legal structure is best for you and whether you should incorporate, and how to set up and register your organisation. 

We'll cover: 

  • Key steps when starting out 
  • The pros and cons of incorporation 
  • Legal structures
  • Basics of charity status and tax concessions 
  • Additional resources to help with the process 
Register now

Not-for-profit Risk: Current Issues for the Board Agenda

πŸ“… Thursday, 31 July
πŸ•’ 12:45 - 2pm (AEST)
πŸ’» Online via Zoom
➑️ Register now

Induction is an important step in ensuring your board members understand their role and responsibilities.  What legal duties apply? When are you personally responsible if things go wrong, and what protections are available?

In our popular Board Inductions webinar, we’ll help answer these questions and give you tips on how to improve your induction process. You’ll take with you a checklist of what to include in an induction to set your board up for success.

We'll cover: 

  • Guidance about how to approach risk management
  • Key takeaways and top tips to help your Board address some of the current risk issues
  • Understanding director liability and protections
Register now

Customised training 

Keep pace with privacy protection 

Last week was Privacy Awareness Week, and the theme was β€˜Privacy: it’s everyone’s business’. With Australia’s latest data breach statistics showing reported breaches are at an all-time high, and almost a third of those caused by human error, we agree. It’s critical for staff and volunteers at not-for-profits to understand your organisation’s privacy obligations, and what their responsibilities are in meeting them. With major reforms to privacy laws still underway, it can be difficult to keep across all this. We’re here to help! 

Our Privacy and Data Laws training is tailored to your organisation and delivered in an interactive and memorable way using case studies, real life examples and activities that keep participants engaged. 

The session is delivered by a lawyer with experience working with not-for-profits. They’ll update you about key changes to privacy laws, highlight the systems you need to have in place, and walk you through the personal information lifecycle: from collection of data, through to use and disclosure, storage and access, and finally how to address a privacy complaint or data breach. 

Here’s what our participants have said about our Privacy training recently: 

  • β€œThe training was so relevant and clear. Excellent presenter. Very switched on and responsive. One of the best I have encountered in online training situations.” 
  • "Made somewhat dry information more interesting and relevant to my role and also really emphasised the importance with real life examples." 
  • "The content was specifically tailored to the target cohort we work with, everything felt extremely relevant and clear. The resources provided are wonderful for continuing learning and the content and context provided in the session made me feel confident to continue learning and apply these practices." 

Get in touch with our training team for more information. 

Contact us

News in our sector 

Government consultation on giving (previously ancillary) fund reform  

The Albanese Government is reforming the tax deductibility of donations and how philanthropic funds operate. Proposed changes include: 

  • removing the requirement that a gift must be at least $2 before a donor can claim a tax deduction 
  • renaming ancillary funds as β€˜giving funds’ 
  • aligning the annual distribution rate between public and private giving funds 
  • increasing the annual distribution rate for giving funds, and 
  • allowing funds to smooth distributions across years 

The government has released a consultation paper on these proposed changes. Consultation is open until 1 August 2025.  

ACNC’s Annual Charities Report 

The ACNC has published its Annual Charities Report. This edition is based on the Annual Information Statements submitted by charities to the ACNC for the 2023 reporting period. Trends from the report include:  

  • the charity workforce has increased  
  • charities continue to be a key driver of the economy, and  
  • while charity revenue has rebounded, the operating environment remains challenging
  • See the comprehensive report for a full analysis of the 2023 reporting period data.    

    ACNC's annual Governing for Good Forum 

    Register now for the ACNC's annual Governing for Good Forum (previously known as Regulators Day). It will be held on Wednesday 30 July, in person in Melbourne and online. This event is for charities, not-for-profits and sector professionals who are passionate about good governance and sharing insights and best practices. 

    Reserve your ticket by Monday, 30 June 2025 if you are attending in person in Melbourne, or Monday, 14 July 2025 if you are attending online.  

    ATO seeks feedback on the draft Vulnerability Framework  

    The ATO has developed a draft framework to support people experiencing vulnerability. The draft framework is intended to guide how the ATO allocates resources and design systems and processes to support people experiencing vulnerability to meet their tax and super obligations. 

    The ATO has requested feedback on the draft ATO Vulnerability Framework by 18 July 2025. 

    Victoria’s State of Volunteering Report 2025 

    Volunteering Victoria has released Victoria’s State of Volunteering Report 2025, which provides the latest insights into volunteering across the state. Last produced in 2020, the State of Volunteering Report provides a comprehensive overview of volunteering in Victoria. 


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