A report from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has revealed that the number of concerns raised about Australian charities has risen again.
The 2018 edition of the ACNC’s annual Charity Compliance Report found that more than 1,800 concerns were raised about charities, up six per cent compared to 2017.
Commissioner of the ANC, Gary Johns said that charity concerns had increased each year since the ACNC was established in late 2012.
“We have seen concerns grow from the mid-600s in 2013-14, to almost three times that in 2018,” Dr Johns said.
“The annual increase in the number of concerns about charities likely mirrors the community’s growing awareness of the ACNC as the national charity regulator.”
He said this was supported by the fact that most of the concerns, some 57 per cent, were raised by individuals – past or current volunteers, employees, beneficiaries, and members of the public.
“In 2018, a larger proportion of our compliance team’s work was the result of internal ACNC analysis,” he said.
“The number of concerns identified proactively through intelligence gathering and data-matching jumped to 20 per cent, up from eight per cent in 2017.
“Proactively identifying and addressing risk was a priority in 2018 and it will remain a priority in 2019 and beyond,” Dr Johns said.
He said charities operated in high-risk environments and undertook high-risk activities.
“The nature of their work dictates that an element of risk is involved,” he said.
“The key is identifying risk and managing risk appropriately through strong governance policies and procedures.”
