Tax deductible giving in 2011-12

Executive summary of Working Paper No ACPNS 63, An Examination of Tax-Deductible Donations made by Individual Australian Taxpayers in 2011-12. The information presented is based on the amount and type of tax-deductible donations made and claimed by Australian individual taxpayers to DGRs for the period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 extracted from the Australian Taxation Office's publication Taxation Statistics 2011-12.

Investigating online recognition for blood donor retention : an experiential donor value approach

Recognising that charitable behaviour can be motivated by public recognition and emotional satisfaction, not-for-profit organisations have developed strategies that leverage self-interest over altruism by facilitating individuals to donate conspicuously. Initially developed as novel marketing programs to increase donation income, such conspicuous tokens of recognition are being recognised as important value propositions to nurture donor relationships. Despite this, there is little empirical evidence that identifies when donations can be increased through conspicuous recognition. Furthermore, social media’s growing popularity for self-expression, as well as the increasing use of technology in donor relationship management strategies, makes an examination of virtual conspicuous tokens of recognition in relation to what value donors seek particularly insightful. Therefore, this research examined the impact of experiential donor value and virtual conspicuous tokens of recognition on blood donor intentions. Using online survey data from 186 Australian blood donors, results show that in fact emotional value is a stronger predictor of intentions to donate blood than altruistic value, while social value is the strongest predictor of intentions if provided with recognition. Clear linkages between dimensions of donor value (altruistic, emotional and social) and conspicuous donation behaviour (CDB) were identified. The findings provide valuable insights into the use of conspicuous donation tokens of recognition on social media, and contribute to our understanding into the under-researched areas of donor value and CDB.

Archimedes, aid/watch, constitutional levers and where we now stand

Archimedes is reported as famously saying: 'Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth.' He was referring to the power of levers. His point was that a person of ordinary capacity with a place to stand, a fulcrum and a level could change the path of planets. This principle of physics is a metaphor for how the common law has moved over the last millennium. Courts have found a stable foundation on which to stand, such as the constitutional bedrock or well-grounded precedent, and, using cases as fulcrums and legal principles as levers, the have moved the law. Australia is at a critical juncture in the development of the law of charities. The High Court of Australia has held that political purposes can be charitable in certain circumstances. The Parliament of Australia has not only enshrined this in a statutory definition of charity but has done so with a preamble to the legislation which affirms the basis for this development in residing in the 'unique nature and diversity of charities and the distinctive and important role that they play in Australia'.

Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) 2000-2012

Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) are trusts to which Australian taxpayers can make tax deductible donations, enabling families, businesses and individuals to create a tax effective closely held charitable trust, whose sole purpose must be to provide money, property or benefits to deductible gift recipients. This Current Issues Information Sheet charts the movement in approval of PAFs, donations made to and distributions made by PAFs during the period 2000-01 to 2011-12.

The French polisher and the unsentimental interior

In January 2011 a swollen Brisbane River broke its banks flooding riverside houses and buildings. The river’s water spread and rose up through storm water drains inundating some 20 000 houses in low-lying land. As the water receded those residents affected by the floods returned to their homes to assess the damage. While some people breathed a sigh of relief others were devastated by the overwhelming damage to their homes and personal belongings. Over the next few weeks the landscape of Brisbane was altered not merely by the mud and debris left by the torrent of water, but by the piles of domestic contents occupying Brisbane streets. Beds, toys, cabinets, plasterboard, tiles and household furniture lined curbsides waiting for collection. Later they would accumulate in public parks and sports centres to await disposal, momentarily creating an unsettling landscape of discarded domestic interiors. While most houses remained standing the heart breaking repercussions were evident in their interiority. Thousands of volunteers flocked to help those affected by the floods to purge the damage left by the water – removing wall and floor linings, discarding furniture and spoilt belongings. In her paper on Hurricane Katrina, Julieanna Preston wrote, ‘What anthropological evidence would we find as we followed their migration – heaps left by the side of the road, the physical weight overcoming the personal value…’ For many of the post flood restored homes and buildings entire interiors have been replaced, eradicating any trace of the significant event that disturbed them only months earlier. There were artifacts that would have survived the floods - furniture of solid timber – these were discarded and with them the patina that marked an important event in history. The patina is beyond technological reproducibility, and as Walter Benjamin writes, this being the whole premise of genuineness. It is the role of the French Polisher to maintain the true wear of the artefact for it is the patina that is most valuable in its ability to narrate the history of a piece. In 2012 two separate exhibitions in Brisbane will take place to display a selected collection of flood-damaged artefacts. This orchestrated way to commemorate the damage left by floods may be a method to compensate for the haste in which the damage was purged from the city. This need for exhibiting damaged artifacts illustrates Andreas Huyssen’s point that "…today memory is understood as a mode of re-presentation and as belonging to the present." This research looks at the dying trade of the French Polisher through conversations and a visual study of flood damaged furniture. The research also investigates the personal loss of artifacts through intimate stories shared by flood victims. This paper seeks to understand why so much was discarded and celebrate what remains.

The ACNC's new governance rules

Australian charities have a new regulator in the form of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) which began operations in December 2012; and new governance rules which applied from 1 July 2013. While there is some uncertainty over the ACNC's future, the new legislative framework currently applies to approximately 58,000 charities which seek federal tax concessions and other benefits, and includes governance standards that apply across charitable organisational forms (company, trust and association) with some exceptions. The governance standards are a minimum benchmark that many charities will already meet, if they are companies or incorporated associations.

Government grants - an abrogation or management of risks?

New public management (NPFM), with its hands-on, private sector-style performance measurement, output control, parsimonious use of resources, disaggreation of public sector units and greater competition in the public sector, has significantly affected charitable and nonprofit organisations delivering community services (Hood, 1991; Dunleavy, 1994; George & Wilding, 2002). The literature indicates that nonprofit organisations under NPM believe they are doing more for less: while administration is increasing, core costs are not being met; their dependence on government funding comes at the expense of other funding strategies; and there are concerns about proportionality and power asymmetries in the relationship (Kerr & Savelsberg, 2001; Powell & Dalton, 2011; Smith, 2002, p. 175; Morris, 1999, 2000a). Government agencies are under increased pressure to do more with less, demonstrate value for money, measure social outcomes, not merely outputs and minimise political risk (Grant, 2008; McGreogor-Lowndes, 2008). Government-community service organisation relationships are often viewed as 'uneasy alliances' characterised by the pressures that come with the parties' differing roles and expectations and the pressures that come with the parties' differing roles and expectations and the pressurs of funding and security (Productivity Commission, 2010, p. 308; McGregor-Lowndes, 2008, p. 45; Morris, 200a). Significant community services are now delivered to citizens through such relationships, often to the most disadvantaged in the community, and it is important for this to be achieved with equity, efficiently and effectively. On one level, the welfare state was seen as a 'risk management system' for the poor, with the state mitigating the risks of sickness, job loss and old age (Giddens, 1999) with the subsequent neoliberalist outlook shifting this risk back to households (Hacker, 2006). At the core of this risk shift are written contracts. Vincent-Jones (1999,2006) has mapped how NPM is characterised by the use of written contracts for all manner of relations; e.g., relgulation of dealings between government agencies, between individual citizens and the state, and the creation of quais-markets of service providers and infrastructure partners. We take this lens of contracts to examine where risk falls in relation to the outsourcing of community services. First we examine the concept of risk. We consider how risk might be managed and apportioned between governments and community serivce organisations (CSOs) in grant agreements, which are quasiy-market transactions at best. This is informed by insights from the law and economics literature. Then, standard grant agreements covering several years in two jurisdictions - Australia and the United Kingdom - are analysed, to establish the risk allocation between government and CSOs. This is placed in the context of the reform agenda in both jurisdictions. In Australia this context is th enonprofit reforms built around the creation of a national charities regulator, and red tape reduction. In the United Kingdom, the backdrop is the THird Way agenda with its compacts, succeed by Big Society in a climate of austerity. These 'case studies' inform a discussion about who is best placed to bear and manage the risks of community service provision on behalf of government. We conclude by identifying the lessons to be learned from our analysis and possible pathways for further scholarship.

Ancillary Funds 2000-2012

Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) are trusts to which Australian taxpayers can make tax deductible donations, enabling families, businesses and individuals to create a tax effective closely held charitable trust, whose sole purpose must be to provide money, property or benefits to deductible gift recipients. This Current Issues Information Sheet charts the movement in approval of PAFs, donations made to and distributions made by PAFs during the period 2000-01 to 2011-12. This information sheet also examines for the first time Public Ancillary Funds (PuAFs).

The Australian Nonprofit Sector Legal Almanac 2014

The ACPNS nonprofit sector legal almanac provides summaries of legal cases involving nonprofit organisations, or of relevance to the work of nonprofits, particularly from Australia, but also New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. It also summarises legislative changes that relate to nonprofit organisations in all Australian jurisdictions, and includes short articles on relevant topics: mergers of not for profit organisations; public ancillary funds; charitable housing; and dispute resolution.

Pivotal people, pivotal journeys: Interim report on the impact of a fundraising study tour on CEOs and their organisations

A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted with CEOs of 12 fundraising organisations across Australia to answer the question - how mights a change in the CEO's fundraising knowledge improve fundraising activity and outcomes for their organisation? The CEOs along with the inaugural Australian Grantmaker of the Year, Caitriona Fay from Perpetual and lead researcher Dr Wendy Scaife travelled to San Antonio, Texas, USA to attend the annual Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) conference in March 2014. Participants identified five main success factors for such group learning initiatives about fundraising: - Getting away from the day to day business of running the organisation - Informal, social time to debrief and get to know others - Diversity of organisations whereby no one was in direct competition to others - Commitment, openness and willingness of individuals to participate - Group facilitation This research has been supported by the Perpetual Foundation – Trustees Endowment, The Edward Corbould Charitable Trust, and the Samuel and Eileen Gluyas Charitable Trust under the management of Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd.

Encouraging Generosity: The practice & organisation of fundraising across nations

This paper is drawn from data provided by colleagues around the world who have written chapters for a book entitled ‘Palgrave Research Companion to Global Philanthropy’ (eds. P. Wiepking and F. Handy, forthcoming 2014). Whilst the focus of the book is a c omparative global study of charitable giving, it also contains information on the activity involved in prompting charitable gifts in each country or region. This paper synthesizes, analyses and discusses this data in relation to factors such as: how fundra ising is organized in different geographical domains; the most common methods of fundraising found in different countries; and the extent to which the fundraising industry is professionalized around the world. The paper begins by noting the lack of resear ch on fundraisers and fundraising in contrast to the extensive studies undertaken of donors. It argues that the demand - side of charitable transactions is worthy of greater attention, because giving and asking are two sides of the same coin. This paper seek s to help rectify the situation by drawing out issues related to the practice and organization of fundraising across the world and linking it to the patterns of charitable giving that are described in the book.

Encouraging Generosity: The Practice and organization of Fundraising Across Nations

The international collaboration in this book creates a unique opportunity to establish, discuss and draw conclusions about fundraising across nations. Based on the 26-country dataset provided by the authors in this volume, this chapter describes and analyzes for the first time the diverse fundraising environments around the world that are shaped by different historical, cultural, social, religious, political and economic conditions. It begins by noting the lack of research on fundraisers and fundraising in contrast to the extensive studies undertaken of donors, and argues that the demand side of charitable transactions is worthy of greater attention if a complete and dynamic understanding of giving is to be achieved. It then presents and discusses key themes related to fundraising in the countries represented in this book. A typology is suggested to impose order on the huge variety of fundraising approaches and stages of development in the organization of this activity around the world; this typology also strengthens understanding of the connection between asking and giving. After offering suggestions for future research in this area of study, the chapter ends by noting that despite global differences in the evolution of fundraising as a profession and the diversity of current contexts, fundraisers in every country face shared challenges that would benefit from greater exchange of knowledge and best practices.