Proposal to extend charity status to all for purpose organisations

Philanthropy Australia’s submission titled “Why a More Generous and Giving Australia Matters” shows that we have the potential to double our charitable giving by 2030 and create a more generous culture.

Australia is lagging behind many of our international counterparts when it comes to charitable giving, with just 0.81% of GDP being donated to charity, compared to 1.84% in New Zealand and 2.1% in the United States.

The report highlights several opportunities that could help us achieve this goal. For starters, Australia has unprecedented wealth, and over the next two decades, $2.6 trillion will pass to the next generation. If even just 5-10% of this wealth was donated to charity, it would unleash $130-260 billion, catapulting us to be among the leading philanthropic nations in the world.
The report proposes several high-impact reforms that can double giving to charity, including:

1. Tax Deductibility Reform: Currently, donations to charity are only tax-deductible if they are made to specific organisations that have Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status. The report proposes expanding the list of DGR organisations to include a broader range of charities and causes, making it easier for Australians to donate to the causes they care about.
2. Encouraging Workplace Giving: The report suggests introducing a tax incentive for employers who encourage their employees to give to charity. This could take the form of a matching scheme, where employers match their employees’ donations to charity dollar-for-dollar.
3. Social Impact Investing: Philanthropists are increasingly including impact investing as part of their portfolio, and the report suggests creating a more favourable policy architecture for impact investing in the 2023-24 budget. Philanthropy has a particular role to play in ensuring this market can work effectively, by funding organisations to become “investment ready,” helping to build a strong pipeline of social impact ventures that can attract capital from private and other investors.
4. Governance Reforms: The report suggests introducing governance reforms to facilitate engagement between government, philanthropy, charity, and business. These reforms could include creating joint initiatives and co-investing in flagship projects aimed at system change.

The report also highlights the significant benefits of charitable giving. Philanthropy can amplify the impact of government by contributing to social innovation, meeting unmet need, and providing funds for impact investing.
Additionally, giving leads to a more generous and giving culture, where we focus on serving each other, being active in the community, and working to ensure no one is left behind.

All charity and community leaders understand the continual call for more people and resources to tackle social change. Your programs are mission-rich, but cash-poor. And your revenue sources are stretched, and you don’t know how to diversify and grow money.