The ACNC holds a Forum twice a year with a group representing the charities sector. As a representative of the Christian part of the sector, the Executive Director of the CMA Standards Council, Steve Kerr, attends that Forum.
At the most recent Forum, the ACNC confirmed that it is planning changes to the 2020 AIS, in which it proposes to include a section asking charities to list the major programs they carry out, that is, what they do on a day-to-day basis. A charity must list at least one program, and may list up to ten. This information will be searchable on the Charities Register, so that (for example) a visitor to the register will be able to search for all op shops in the Dandenong area benefiting people with disabilities. The ACNC believes this will be a useful way to “advertise” a charity’s work. Of course this will only work if programs are categorised by a set of standard descriptions. There will be a comprehensive list of potential program descriptions in a dropdown box in the AIS for you to choose the description best suiting any program you provide (and yes, “op shop” is a category). So be prepared to do a bit of thinking when you fill in next year’s AIS. The ACNC has indicated that it will have a help line available to answer questions.
Also potentially on the horizon for the ACNC is a suggestion that registered charities which receive grants from Government should separately disclose such revenue in its Profit & Loss Statement. At present this is in the planning stages for the ACNC, but we think that it is likely to proceed at some stage in the future. Stay tuned!