Commissioners, Philanthropy Inquiry

We are pleased to see that a number of the Commission’s draft findings and recommendations have incorporated views we put forward in that submission, including on the appropriate roles for philanthropy and government; on the importance of indirect costs to charity effectiveness; and on the challenges in finding funding that covers indirect costs. [...] We have undertaken two recent projects specifically relevant to the charity and NFP sector: the Partners in Recovery project on the financial health of the charity sector, and the Paying What It Takes project exploring the issue of underinvestment in NFP capability by funders, with particular attention to understanding indirect costs of delivering their work. [...] We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues raised in this submission further with the Commissioners and staff of the Inquiry. [...] Draft recommendation 7.2: A suite of reforms to strengthen the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission SVA supports the section of this recommendation that relate to donor transparency.5 Enabling the Commissioner to communicate with the public regarding non-compliant charities (after balancing potential benefit with potential harm) will strengthen public confidence in the regulator, an. [...] This leaves NFPs with little choice but to underinvest in critical capabilities.” SVA encourages the Commission to ensure that the recommendations made in this inquiry do not have the inadvertent effect of encouraging charities to under-report administrative expenses by, for example, ensuring that DGR-supported donations can be used for indirect costs in proportion to the scale of DGR-eligible act.