Four Kiwi charities - working with troubled teens, assistance dogs, young carers and fair food distribution - will pitch for dollars at The Funding Network’s next crowdfunding event.

To be held in Auckland at AUT University on Thursday, June 4, the event will raise tens of thousands of dollars in a fun and philanthropic way.www.thefundingnetwork.org.nz

Popular broadcaster Trudi Nelson will be the MC for the night.

Last year’s TFN event, a first for New Zealand, saw dozens of generous Kiwis pledge more than $50,000 in just half an hour. Subsequent donations saw the total swell to more than $160,000.

In the running this time are:

• Assistance Dogs New Zealand - trains dogs to enrich the lives of adults and children living with multiple disabilities. The dogs help give their owners independence, mobility, confidence and the ability to participate in their communities.

• The Crescendo Trust of Aotearoa - supports young people who are not responding well to traditional education by giving them training and mentoring in music, media and communication. This fosters their creativity and builds life skills.

• Fair Food - Auckland’s first food rescue charity which is both a social and environmental organisation. It rescues fit-to-consume food from retailers and producers that would otherwise go to landfill and redirects it to those most in need through various community groups.

• Young Carers NZ is a network for Kiwi children and young people who look after ill, elderly or disabled love ones. About 8% of young people up to the age of 24 are young carers and the charity provides them with information, support and advice.

“These four terrific organisations are all doing amazing work in their respective areas and are truly worthy of support,” says Hilary Sumpter, CEO of Auckland Communities Foundation which helps run The Funding Network, with support from Philanthropy New Zealand and The Gift Trust.

“Our aim is to support small to medium-sized organisations, for which $10,000 would make a genuinely useful contribution.”

Often described as “Dragon’s Den for charities”, The Funding Network was launched in London in 2002 by philanthropist and art dealer Dr Frederick Mulder. It has since spread around the world, with more than 150 TFN events held, 750 charities supported and at least NZD $13 million raised. Pledges start at $100.

Dr Mulder, who came to Auckland for the first NZ event last September, says The Funding Network aims to democratise philanthropy by providing an attractive and easy way in for new givers.

“The environment we create inspires people to raise more as a group than they could as individuals,” says Dr Mulder. “It also encourages people to give more than just money. Our guests hear about new solutions to community issues, they ask questions, and then they pledge support to social entrepreneurs who have big ideas but limited resources.”

Hilary Sumpter says that is exactly what happened in Auckland last year. “One donor, who pledged $3,000 on the night, was so impressed with the concept they came back to us afterwards and made another $80,000 donation - $40,000 each for two of the charities. Now that is truly big-hearted philanthropy.”

The Macquarie Group Foundation and Macquarie Private Wealth NZ are key supporters of The Funding Network in New Zealand, with the Macquarie Group Foundation matching a third of the donations at the last event.

“We were thrilled by the success of the first TFN NZ event, where the charities and the audience came together to make a real difference in a few short hours. We’re delighted that more New Zealanders will have the opportunity to share in this remarkable giving experience,” says Laurence Fitzpatrick, Head of Macquarie Private Wealth NZ.

After Auckland in June, The Funding Network plans to hold a third event in Wellington later this year and then take the concept to other regional cities around the country.

Sourced directly from Association Adviser by Brianna Lawson

There’s no doubt that video is a powerful communications tool. Using social media, email, digital publications and events to promote your videos will help you inform members of this wonderful benefit you offer.

The Benefits of Using Video

Ensure that your association is taking advantage of all the benefits that video has to offer. Here are just a few of the benefits that can come with integrating video into your current communication strategies:

1. Video can increase member engagement. Just like photos, videos draw people in instantly. Members are looking for quick and easy ways to access information that’s important to them and relevant to their industry of expertise. Developing videos will help your association maximize its communication and content strategy efforts while minimizing time spent on less effective methods.
   
   
2. Video can be promoted as an exclusive member benefit. MHEDA lists video as the first item under its member benefits. Both members and non-members are able to access videos listed under quick business tips, membership services, upcoming MHEDA events, convention presentations, and something worth sharing. But, members receive a discount on videos from MHEDA University. And, it has a video on their member benefits page that talks about the resources it has to offer and why the association is right for you. This video is the perfect example of how an association is using video as a teaser to entice potential members to join the organization and reinforcing the benefits of membership once they have joined.
   
   
3. Video can supply meaningful content in a new way. Your members have already shown you that they are interested in and will understand your message. Using video is a captivating way to present content to members that they will enjoy, especially if they are looking for a large amount of information in a short amount of time.
   
   
4. Video can attract new members, especially younger ones. Video can be an effective recruiting tool. Featuring videos of members from your association talking about what they are excited about that relates to the industry allows younger individuals to more easily identify with your association – because they share the same interests as your current members.
   
   Liz Richards, MHEDA’s executive vice president, stated, “Current and potential members are more likely to watch a video when they are hearing from and seeing their peers on screen. These are the people with whom they network and share the same challenges. Messages resonate much more when they can hear right from a member about how they are addressing a particular business situation or implementing a best practice.”
   
   Younger individuals will seriously consider joining your association if they see and hear what current members are doing and talking about.
   
   
5. Video can increase non-dues revenue. The promotion of video leads to greater exposure for advertisers. Therefore, the better you market your videos, the happier your advertisers will be and the more likely they’ll renew.
   
   When someone identifies with content then they will identify with the brand associated with the content. Therefore, video is a great opportunity to build brand awareness for associations themselves as well as their advertisers and sponsors. When a video is issue-related and not product-related, viewers can more closely associate themselves with what’s currently happening in the story. That’s another opportunity to incorporate your brand so that the viewer associates your product or service with the issue they are facing.
   
   WRLA provides a great example of an association using video to generate non-dues revenue. Their video channel home page has three advertisements to the right of the current video. If you poke around and select different videos, you can see that the ads change, but still remain in a prime location.

These are just a few of the reasons that more and more associations are turning to video. But, don’t just create videos to show you can “do” video; that won’t increase member engagement or revenue. Put yourself in your member’s shoes and develop videos that provide something meaningful to them, as MHEDA did with its training videos. 

See the full blog post here: http://www.associationadviser.com/index.php/video-to-engage-members/?

By Meeting Newz

The Australian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) held a Networking Breakfast in Wellington recently.

LIANZ executive director, Joanna Matthew, told more than 40 ‘not-for-profit’ professionals and AuSAE members how the partnership with Hells Pizza, known for its edgy advertising campaigns, had been a huge success.

Please see more photos from the event below.

Peter Benstead, NZ Veterinary Association; Lisa Blake, Rydges Wellington; Chris McGeown, Tourism Industry Association

Lorraine Kerr, NZ School Trustees Association; Martin Svehla, Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand; Raewyn Tse, Positively Wellington Venues

Rod Auton, Crane Association of NZ; Belinda Moore and Brett Jeffery, AuSAE

A new scheme designed to build stronger links between Small and Medium Enterprises and New Zealand’s largest Institutes of Technologies and Polytechnics was launched last night (May 6).

The Voucher Scheme is an initiative of the Metro Group, made up of the country’s six biggest ITPs – Unitec, Manukau Institute of Technology, Waikato Institute of Technology, Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec), Christchurch Polytechnic (CPIT) and Otago Polytechnic.

The scheme is a funding programme to allow SMEs and NGOs to tap into the research capability the institutes hold, and will see grants of up to $5,000 provided to a business willing to match that amount to create a research project. There is also space for not-for-profits and community groups to have the research fully funded by an institution.

Closer links between the institutes and the industries, government agencies and community groups they work with will have benefits for all parties. Researchers gain valuable experience from working on projects that are answering specific questions for industry, while external partners receive funding, support and guidance on research projects.

One recent project had WelTec assisting Creek Grange ACE Limited to adapt an already successful product for new markets. The company had developed a gas-powered projectile used for avalanche control in New Zealand and many countries overseas and had been approached to see if the device could be modified to control weeds and gorse in difficult-to-access areas and for wider coverage. This became a research and development project, ideal for Wellington Institute of Technology New Zealand Diploma in Engineering student, James Wu (who is now working as an R&D Engineer at Miracle Electronic). As a result of this collaboration, a new electronic activator was developed by WelTec for field testing.

Generally, we’d all agree that using a channel of communication like an e-newsletter is a cost-effective way to:

• keep members, supporters and prospects informed about your organization

• drive traffic to your website

• maintain regular exposure for your organization with external audiences (e.g., media, government, other non-profits, etc.)

So, whether you have a newsletter in place or you’re just starting to develop one, it might be helpful to hear some valuable insight offered from the participants of our Membership Advisory Group sessions on e-newsletters.

Three Member Insights

1. Know your audience

Some practical thinking from your board and leaders should be able to generate some general ideas on what your readers would be interested in. Think about why they joined your organization, what they expect from you, and what they may find useful.

2. Content is still king

While the subject matter will depend on your organization’s scope or mission as well as your communications objectives, here are some guidelines you might want to consider when developing your newsletter/email content:

• Get their attention: First impressions DO COUNT when it comes to your email subject line and newsletter headlines. You’ve heard it all before – you need to offer interesting and intriguing subject lines to get your email opened. This doesn’t mean being too clever or controversial – since the title needs to be linked to your newsletter topic or lead story to let the reader know what to expect.
  
  

• How much content?: The nature of an e-newsletter dictates brevity. Many e-newsletters (including Wild Apricot’s) offer three to five brief overview paragraphs with links to the rest of the article through a “read more” link back to your web site. This is an effective way to drive traffic to your web site. Alternately, you can include short articles and updates and refer readers to other areas of your website for more detail.
  
  

• Be genuine: Your e-newsletter is not the Wall Street Journal! While you need to write tight and concise copy, your readers are subscribing to, and hopefully reading, this newsletter for a reason, so be sure your organization’s unique culture or voice isn’t sacrificed through attempts to sound professional. On the other hand, be sure you don’t lay the industry jargon on too thick. Try to find a balance – with a clean crisp writing style that also suits your organization’s style or persona.
  
  

• Have a call to action: Every newsletter should have a call to action. To make the most of your newsletter, try getting across to your recipient a clear idea of what to do next. Whether you want them to click on a link, engage with you on social media or buy a ticket, keep your call to action brief and straightforward. An effective call to action is between two to five words. However, whatever the desired action, it is important you create some urgency around it. So try using some active language. For example if you want your recipient to donate money, “Donate Now” would be effective. If you want them to follow you on Twitter, “Follow us on Twitter” works.

3. Timing is everything

You may have established circulation timelines to suit your production schedule. But have you ever considered which day and time are best for sending your e-newsletter? The quick answer is –  it depends on your audience. For example, the majority of business-related emails are opened between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday –  with 11 am being a suggested sweet spot. But your recipients may want to read your e-newsletter at home or on the weekend, depending on your content and their profile (e.g., men, women, students, type of career, etc.).

One Community Advisory Member added what worked for him:

“ Monday morning first thing? Not as good, because other things are going on. Tuesday morning, early in the morning all the way up to maybe 10 AM, for our group, a very good time for a high response rate.”

One of the strengths of electronic messaging is that it offers analytics. Most email platforms (including Wild Apricot)  automatically produce some or all of the following data:

• Open rates

• Reports on who clicked on links in your newsletter (e.g., links to your website)

• Subscription information - e.g., unsubscribe and new subscriptions

Track this data when sending your newsletters at different times and days of the week to uncover what is the most effective day and time for your organization and audience.

This post first appeared on the Wild Apricot blog here: http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/2015/04/02/3-key-insights-on-e-newsletters

Sourced directly from Probono News

Company Directors from both the private sector and Not for Profit organisations have indicated their overwhelming support for significant reform of the GST, including an increase in its rate, and also called for an end to an obstructionist Senate, according to a new survey.

The bi-annual Director Sentiment Index compiled by the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) found that GST reform was the top priority for any comprehensive review of the taxation system and that 78 per cent of directors believed the GST should be increased and/or broadened.

“The results are a telling indication of the desire for change as our members come from all parts of the community, not just business. However, the survey also highlights a widespread fear that hostile Senates are a barrier to significant reform of any kind,” AICD’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer John Brogden said.

“The Director Sentiment Index is the only indicator measuring the sentiment and future intentions of directors of Australian companies, Not for Profit organisations and public sector bodies.The latest survey shows that the overall sentiment of directors has slipped 2.4 points so far in 2015."

The need for broad tax reform was a dominant theme in the latest survey, with 35 per cent of respondents indicating that the Government’s priority for next week’s Federal Budget should be increasing long-term revenue by restructuring the tax system. Thirty-seven per cent of directors believed that the Government should aim to achieve a budget surplus within the next five years.

One-third of respondents ranked the balance of power in the Senate as among the top three economic issues facing business, behind low productivity growth and low consumer confidence.

“This unexpected outcome is indicative of the degree to which the Federal Government’s efforts to implement policies are hamstrung by the Senate make-up. It is operating in an environment in which it is almost impossible to govern effectively,” Brogden said.

“It is a problem now faced by successive Governments and is an impediment to sensible policy-making. Directors are looking for quality public debate on a range of issues impacting the economy - including budgetary policy, tax reform, industrial relations and infrastructure.

“A remarkable 85 per cent of respondents to our survey rated the quality of current public policy debate as ‘poor’,” Brogden said.

Almost 90 per cent of directors believed that Government spending on infrastructure was too low and over 70 per cent believed the Government should pursue significant industrial relations reform. Directors were more pessimistic about the health of the Australian economy compared to the second half of 2014. Almost 70 per cent expect the domestic economy to be weak over the next 12 months and almost 40 per cent were pessimistic about the general business outlook.

The AICD’s Director Sentiment Index can be downloaded HERE.

- See more at: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2015/05/directors-call-gst-reform?utm_source=Pro+Bono+Australia+-+email+updates&utm_campaign=c6dd702b81-cc_6_55_6_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5ee68172fb-c6dd702b81-146918849#sthash.TleBZRkT.dpuf

Thirty finalists, representing some of the best and most innovative social enterprises in Australia, have been selected as the shortlist for the 2015 Social Enterprise Awards.

The 2015 finalists include businesses that provide life-changing solar energy products to developing countries; an organic food delivery service that supports environmental education programs; a smash-repair workshop providing training and employment to young people at risk; and a commercial legal service that directs all profits towards providing free legal representation for disadvantaged members of the community.

Social Traders Managing Director David Brookes said this year’s finalists provide a snapshot of the talent and innovation that exists amongst Australia’s 20,000 social enterprises.

“Across Australia, social enterprises are developing innovative ways to address some of our most pressing social, environmental or economic issues. Social enterprise has the ability to create employment, generate income and strengthen local communities.”

“This year’s finalists demonstrate the quality and diversity of Australia’s social enterprise sector, and through this event we acknowledge the enormous social and community benefits that are being achieved.”

“We congratulate all of this year’s finalists on their achievements, and for the amazing contributions they are making to their communities, ” David said.

The 2015 Awards received 75 entries across seven award categories, including the new category of Social Enterprise Champion.

Finalists for the 2015 Social Enterprise Awards are:

Australian Social Enterprise of the Year (Small)
•    Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative Ltd (QLD)
•    Illumination Australia (VIC)
•    CoDesign Studio (VIC)
•    CERES Fair Food (VIC)
•    Melbourne Farmers Market (VIC)

Australian Social Enterprise of the Year (Large)
•    Salvos Legal Limited and Salvos Legal (Humanitarian) Limited (NSW)
•    Finding Workable Solutions Inc (SA)

One to Watch Award

•    Pollinate Energy (VIC)
•    Jeenee Mobile (NSW)
•    Clean Care Cairns (QLD)
•    Synergy Repairs (VIC)
•    Substation 33 (QLD)

Social Enterprise Innovation Award
•    Access Community Services (QLD)
•    Green Collect (VIC)
•    Pollinate Energy (VIC)
•    High Resolves (NSW)
•    Sprout Ventures (WA)

Social Enterprise Investment Award
•    STREAT (VIC) – Investment by Social Ventures Australia/National Australia Bank
•    Sustain Community Housing (NSW) – Investment by Social Ventures Australia/Social Enterprise Finance Australia
•    MiHaven Property Fund (QLD)– Investment by Social Enterprise Finance Australia
•    Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Food Justice Truck (VIC) – Crowdfunding by StartSomeGood

Buy Social Award
•    Greater Bendigo City Council (VIC)
•    Good Samaritan Industries (on behalf of the Western Australian Disability Enterprise Alliance) (WA)
•    Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (SA)

Social Enterprise Champion Award *(New category in 2015)
•    Matthew Gordon (VIC)
•    Luke Terry (QLD)
•    Russell Deal (VIC)
•    Miranda Sharp (VIC)
•    Jonathan Brown (VIC)
•    Robert Hannaford (QLD)

Winners will be selected by an independent judging panel of content and sector experts, headed by respected global strategy advisor Simon Gillies from PwC.

Winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 3rd June in Melbourne.

Find out more.

By Frank Chung, News.com.au, May 4

The federal government says it is willing to consider a wide-scale audit of training providers to weed out rorting of the $1.6 billion VET FEE-HELP loans scheme with inflated course fees. It comes as evidence emerges of massive pricing discrepancies between fee-for-service and VET FEE-HELP courses being offered by a number of registered training organisations (RTOs), with taxpayers forking out up to 400 per cent premiums to line the pockets of training companies with government loans, many of which will never be repaid.

The deregulation of the VET FEE-HELP scheme has led to a massive increase in for-profit, private education providers and an industry-wide decline in quality. According to the Education Department, just over one quarter (26 per cent) of students who enrolled in VET FEE-HELP courses in 2011 finished within three years. Completion rates for online diplomas were abysmal, with just seven per cent of students completing their course.

The government bill for VET FEE-HELP loans blew out by $315 million last year to $1.615 billion, representing 189,000 students at 254 training providers. Modelling by the Grattan Institute estimates 40 per cent of those loans will never be repaid as those students’ income will never rise above the repayment threshold of $53,000, meaning taxpayers will wear that cost.

According to a University of Sydney study, some of Australia’s largest RTOs are raking in profit margins of more than 50 per cent off of these loans. Under the deregulated system, private training colleges are free to set their own fees. In effect, they have been handed a blank cheque from the Australian taxpayer. In a perversion of a ‘pay what you want’ honour system, it’s become ‘charge whatever we can get away with’, critics argue. All the RTOs have to do is get students to sign up and keep them hanging around until the first census date, and the bulk of money goes straight into their pockets.

Under the Higher Education Support Act 2003, the government does not regulate tuition fees, but under the law a VET provider cannot charge different amounts for the same course based on whether the student pays upfront or through the VET FEE-HELP system. However, a news.com.au investigation has uncovered examples of RTOs apparently circumventing this restriction by operating under separate business names.

Two Cairns-based RTOs are both owned by the same man and operate out of the same business address. One, which is approved for VET FEE-HELP, charges $12,750 for a Diploma of Management. The other, which sells courses direct to students, charges just $3420 for the same diploma, for which much of the course material appears to be identical. A number of other diplomas are offered at different rates.

Asked to explain the pricing discrepancy, the owner told news.com.au the “journey of study and learning” was “quite different” for students of the two RTOs. “They are two separate Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). Some qualifications are offered by both, and descriptions will be similar as like most RTOs reference is made to the Training Packages for this information,” he said. “The journey of study and learning is quite different for students from each of these RTOs.”

He added that each RTO had a different learning management system and curriculum. “Students studying under the VET FEE-HELP loan scheme receive a more comprehensive and frequent support, mentoring and training service which are not available to the other students,” he said.

“These services are available to students upon access to the course they are enrolled into. It is also supported by a strong administration team, due to VET FEE-HELP procedures.”

In Sydney, a similar discrepancy exists between courses offered by two separate training providers owned by the same company, trading under the same RTO registration number. One provider offers a Diploma of Business for an upfront fee of $7000. The other charges $14,800 for its Diploma of Business — delivered online — under the VET FEE-HELP scheme. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

One industry insider, who did not wish to be named, said many RTO owners were “laughing in the government’s face”. “Back in 2013, these RTOs were all just starting to apply for the VET FEE-HELP program,” he said. “I was talking to these directors, and they were all saying to me, ‘We’re going to be doing these VET FEE-HELP courses and we’re increasing our prices.’ I was thinking it’s just bloody unethical. This is just a blatant rip-off of the taxpayer and the government.

“The taxpayers have a right to know how much money has been wasted on this program and how much money has been paid to these RTOs and their brokers.” While the industry regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, has been given new powers to issue fines for a number of infringements, it does not have the power to regulate the fundamental issue of pricing.

Assistant Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham, who has led the government’s efforts to reform the sector, described such examples of pricing discrepancy as “absolutely concerning”.

“I’ve written to and had communications with the ACCC with concerns about unscrupulous practices, not just in terms of sign-ups but also some pricing activity,” he said. Rod Camm, chief executive of the peak body the Australian Council for Private Education and Training, which represents around 28 per cent of RTOs and about half of all employees in the sector, described the pricing discrepancies highlighted by news.com.au as “predatory and inappropriate”.

“I would have thought that’s some sort of breach of consumer protection laws,” he said. Mr Camm said part of the problem was that unlike in the tertiary education sector where price competition is fierce, vocational students don’t appear to be price sensitive. “You don’t see this sort of thing in the higher education sector, where if anything the competition is driving prices down,” he said. “So while it’s a loan and they have to pay it back, price doesn’t seem to be important to them.”

He called for greater requirements to be placed on providers to test the viability of their offerings and on the capacity of the student to repay.

“That’s a design issue within the system,” he said. “If you go to the MySkills website, for example, there are plenty of courses that show the projected income is lower than the repayment threshold.”

The regulator is currently investigating 23 private colleges — including six from Queensland, seven from NSW and six from Victoria — over allegations of unscrupulous sign-up activity. Businesses found to be in breach of fair trading laws face fines of up to $1.1 million and a cancellation of their registration.

An ASQA spokesman said the investigations were “underway and ongoing”. News.com.au understands an outcome is expected in coming weeks. 

See full story here.

By John Beshears and Francesca Gino, Harvard Business Review

All employees, from CEOs to frontline workers, commit preventable mistakes: We underestimate how long it will take to finish a task, overlook or ignore information that reveals a flaw in our planning, or fail to take advantage of company benefits that are in our best interests. It’s extraordinarily difficult to rewire the human brain to undo the patterns that lead to such mistakes. But there is another approach: Alter the environment in which decisions are made so that people are more likely to make choices that lead to good outcomes.

Leaders can do this by acting as architects. Drawing on our extensive research in the consulting, software, entertainment, health care, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, banking, retail, and food industries and on the basic principles of behavioral economics, we have developed an approach for structuring work to encourage good decision making.

Our approach consists of five basic steps: (1) Understand the systematic errors in decision making that can occur, (2) determine whether behavioral issues are at the heart of the poor decisions in question, (3) pinpoint the specific underlying causes, (4) redesign the decision-making context to mitigate the negative impacts of biases and inadequate motivation, and (5) rigorously test the solution. This process can be applied to a wide range of problems, from high employee turnover to missed deadlines to poor strategic decisions.

Please find full article here: https://hbr.org/2015/05/leaders-as-decision-architects

By Lina Caneva, Pro Bono News, Tuesday 5 May 2015

Savings made from any changes to Not for Profit employment benefits should be returned to the sector, according to a peak body, as speculation mounts that the Federal Government will end uncapped meals and entertainment tax concessions in next week’s Budget.  

CEO of the Community Council for Australia (CCA), David Crosbie, said many in the charities and Not for Profit sector recognise that the current concession system is unfair for most employees and some capping is inevitable, but any Government changes should see the savings kept within the sector.

“According to the ATO, the savings that can be achieved by capping the meals and entertainment card are well over $100 million per annum,” Crosbie said.

CCA says the concessions should be capped at $15,000 per annum, and the money saved should be used to enable all charities and Not for Profit organisations to offer tax deductibility for donations made by their communities. “ATO figures suggest this measure would be more than affordable with the savings from capping the FBT concessions, provided all schools and churches did not automatically qualify,” Crosbie said.

“It is important to understand that more than one million Australians work for charity and Not for Profit organisations in Australia, most at well below commercial rates of pay.

“Over 90 per cent of these employees do not use a meal and entertainment card (originally intended to help the sector attract and retain staff) and of those that do, most claim back relatively small amounts.  

“The reality is that there is a tiny minority within the sector that are very well-paid that can afford to spend and therefore claim tens of thousands in tax free income.  Capping the concession is fair, but the savings should be directed towards the original intent – supporting our charities and Not for Profits.

“To get tax deductibility in Australia is a ridiculously complex and time consuming process typically costing tens of thousands of dollars and often more than a year of effort, so only the bigger charities tend to go through the process.  

“We can make deductibility more transparent and equitable by using the now well established Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission determination of whether a charity should gain or retain their charity status as the basis for eligibility.  

“Why not allow all those with charitable status to receive tax-deductible donations?  This is much fairer for all charities, would encourage more donations and build stronger communities for all of us.”

The Federal Government’s recent discussion paper on tax reform specifically targets the Not for Profit sector asking if the current tax arrangements are appropriate - raising issues around the ongoing availability of Fringe Benefits Tax concessions and other foregone tax revenue.

The White Paper, entitled Re:think, Better tax, Better Australia, includes a separate section on the Not for Profit sector which points out that while existing tax concessions help increase the level of activity in the NFP sector, the value of revenue forgone from the concessions is significant and growing steadily.

On Monday Assistant Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg confirmed the Government was looking at capping concessions in a bid to create a fairer system.

“Leaders in the Not for Profit sector...including Tim Costello from World Vision have all said that this one should stop,” Frydenberg said.

Chair of CCA and CEO of World Vision Australia,Tim Costello  said that “the current concessions favour the richest employees in our sector”.  

“While we need to retain concessions to attract the best and brightest to our sector, I would prefer the concession was capped at a reasonable level, and that all the savings were used to strengthen the sector, not just be redirected into consolidated revenue,” Costello said.

Figures released previously suggest that a number of Not for Profit employees, including medical specialists employed at public hospitals, have claimed over $50,000 in tax free concessions in one year by using their meals and entertainment card to pay for personal expenses such as overseas travel and the cost of weddings. 

“These practices have become more widespread in recent years, particularly amongst the small minority of more highly paid employees of charities,” Costello said.

See more at: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2015/05/budget-target-nfp-tax-concessions#sthash.G18IqB5W.dpuf