#fixfundraising open letter sent to Prime Minister's office

Today’s the day to #fixfundraising!

On 4 April 2017, the Community Council for Australia with support from Justice Connect hand-delivered an open letter to the Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Minister signed by over 150 charities.

The letter, signed by members, strengthened the call for simple and long overdue change to charity legislation. 

There is variation in the requirements at each stage across Australia’s seven different fundraising regimes: from when and if a fundraising licence is needed; to how long a licence is valid; right through to what must be reported and when.

It can be particularly difficult to navigate these complex laws for smaller charities. For larger ones, resources are redirected from service delivery to compliance and spending on fundraising ‘admin’ a significant deterrent to public giving. 

The proposed three simple steps to achieve fundraising reform are:

• Clarification and minor amendments to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) to ensure application to fundraising activities is clear and broad
• Repeal of fragmented state and territory fundraising laws, and
• Work with regulators and self-regulatory bodies to provide guidance to fundraisers to continue to improve fundraiser conduct.

You can read the full statement and check out other people's #fixfundraising stories.