New Charity data tool

Inner North Foundation has launched a new charity data tool. The tool  offers
data across the ACNC Annual Information Statement and matches  it with the
ATO DGR1 text tables, with ABNs as a link between the two data sets.  The tool
displays data via three different tabs: Assets, Charity list, Financials.  Inner North
created the tool to understand the local charity area, match donors  to local groups
and engage in conversations with MPs/government.  The tool can be accessed here.


Case note prepared by CLAANZ member

CLAANZ member Kim Weinert recently prepared a case note that 
examines the expansion of charitable purposes and the 
public benefit test for Aboriginal trusts in the decision of GEAT v 
Deloitte, Touche Tohmatsu & Ors [No 2] [2017] NTAC 04. Read it here.


Family First of New Zealand v 

Attorney-General judgement

CLAANZ recently intervened in the New Zealand Court of Appeal case, 
Family First of New Zealand v Attorney-General. The case was heard in 
October 2019, and a CLAANZ team of consisting of Kate Davenport QC, 
Jennifer Batrouney AM QC, Professor Matthew Harding, and Sue Barker, 
prepared the CLAANZ submissions and then presented oral arguments in 
Court.The New Zealand Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in this 
important case today. The judgment may be found here. 
A CLAANZ webinar is planned soon at which the team that led the 
intervention will discuss the case, the Court’s judgment, and implications 
on both sides of the Tasman. 

Call for Papers - Third Sector Review

Special 2021(1) Issue of Third Sector Review on 
‘Charities & Crises: Impacts and Responses’

Recent times have witnessed a series of profound crises: health and 
economic (COVID-19), social (mosque shootings in New Zealand and
Black lives matter protests) and environmental (Australian bushfires).
These crises are causing material disruption to the way that charities raise 
revenue and carry out their activities. This poses both challenges and
opportunities for funders, charities and regulators. How have giving patterns
changed in response? Is there a need for greater consumer protection for
emotive crowd-funding responses to severe crises? How should managers
of charities deal with the financial uncertainty and change?

Articles examining charities and crises – broadly conceived as set out
above - are welcomed from different disciplinary perspectives including
law, psychology, history, business and political science.
Find out more here.


Charting the Future: A framework for 

thinking about change

Thought and Action Paper by Craig Fisher and Steven Moe, June 2020. 

Executive Summary: Covid-19 has hit many organisations hard. Post covid will
see many challenges, including for funding that charitable groups, NGO's, NFP's
and other community groups need in order to survive. They play a vital role in
our society. This paper by Craig Fisher and Steven Moe looks at those issues
and explores possible solutions. Taking inspiration from the quote above about
exploration and charting new territory, the purpose of the "Thought and Action
Paper" is to apply critical thinking about what the questions are that we need to
be asking at this time. In the paper we outline 7 critical questions that we think
Boards and leaders need to be considering when they are 'charting the future'
and looking to the new environment we find ourselves in. While the paper has a
focus on Charities, Community Groups and Not for Profits, the challenges will
be equally applicable to other organisations. The paper ends positively by
considering where the opportunities may lie.


Professor Matthew Harding delivers

18th Kwa Geok Choo Distinguished 

Visitor Lecture on Charity and Law

CLAANZ Chair, Professor Matthew Harding delivered the 18th Kwa Geok Choo
Distinguished Visitor Lecture on 16 January 2020 to a full house at the Moot
Court at the National University of Singapore. The lecture was titled "Charity
and Law: Past, Present and Future". Find out more here


2019 International Research Fellowship
awarded to CLAANZ Director

2019 International Research Fellowship awarded to Wellington barrister 
 We are delighted to announce that Wellington Barrister and Charities Law 
expert, Susan Barker, is the 2019 recipient of the Law Foundation’s International 
Research Fellowship Te Karahipi Rangahau a Taiao. The Fellowship is New 
Zealand’s premier legal research award, providing recipients up to $125,000 
for research that will make a significant contribution to our law.


John Emerson AM Oration

The John Emerson AM Oration was held on 7 August 2019. The Oration was delivered 
by Robert Fitzgerald AM and chaired by Jennifer Batrouney QC, Chair of the Law 
Council's Not-for-Profit and Legal Practice and Charities Committee. 
Watch the video of the event here.


New NFPs UWA Report: Regulation of the 

Contemporary Not-for-profit

Commissioned by the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, 
supported by the UWA Public Policy Institute and UWA Faculty of Arts, Business,
Law and Education, the report synthesises and analyses themes from discussions
and presentations at a recent summit on NFP regulation. The summit included the
inaugural CLAANZ keynote lecture by the Hon Robert French AC. Key themes are
the need for a national scheme for NFP regulation, need for red tape reduction and
need to focus the ACNC’s second object on supporting the sector.
The report can be downloaded here. Further information about NFPs UWA is available here.


Greenpeace of New Zealand Incorporated

The independent Charities Registration Board has decided that Greenpeace of
New Zealand Incorporated (“Greenpeace”) does not meet the legal requirements
to be registered as a charity. 
Click here to view the decision. Published on 21 March 2018


Regulating Charities - the Inside Story

Edited by Myles McGregor-Lowndes and Bob Wyatt
was launched by Anne Robinson AM on 21 June 2017.
Click here to access Anne's launch address.
Link to purchase a copy of Regulating Charities - the Inside Story.