The Reforming Fundraising Regulation Forum was recently held at QUT, hosted by ACPNS. The forum aimed to encourage discussion and learning about the next steps for fundraising regulation reform. Following on from QUT’s Reforming Fundraising Regulation Conference held in 2011, this conference focused on an assessment of the current issues to be addressed, accounting for fundraising, self-regulation and the role of local authorities. It brought together regulators, policy makers, scholars and practitioners to review the current state of fundraising regulation and make recommendations for future reform.
We thank Sue Woodward, Director of National Projects/Not-for-profit Law for being a part of the conference and for posting this blog for us.
Here I was again. A different room (beautifully ‘three-sixty’ degrees), but still coming to QUT to bemoan precious non-profit resources being wasted because we need to #fixfundraising! Don’t get me wrong, I love coming to Brissie. I have used the valuable insights I gained at the last fundraising law forum hosted by ACPNS in 2011 as the foundation for my advocacy and law reform work on this issue ever since. My gripe is that we still needed to discuss the issue, even though we have an implementable, cost-neutral, 3-point plan. A plan that could happen this year if only there was the political will – minor amendments to the Australian Consumer Law, repeal of the State-based regimes and continued work on improving self-regulation! Check out the coalition of sector and professional bodies, and about 200 charities, behind this #fixfundraising campaign www.justiceconnect.org.au/fundraisingreform
So with about 60 experienced people from across the breadth of the non-profit sector, academics, lawyers, accountants, regulators and policy advisers in the room, we reflected on three big issues: fundraising law reform (or not!); how to account for fundraising costs transparently (and in compliance with AASB standards); and some best practice examples of self-regulation and co-regulation. Over lunch we were joined by others for the launch of the latest book and to acknowledge the retirement of my friend and hero Professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes.
So what did I take away this time?
I learnt it’s possible to have the same set of financial information and produce three different fundraising admin ratios (from 27% through to 67%), all of which comply with the current Australian accounting standards because of something called ‘preparer’s discretion’. We discovered this in a group activity with an actual Courier Mail journalist breathing down our necks ready to publish a league table of charity admin ratios the next day. So when we have fixed fundraising, we definitely have to #fixnfp_accountingstds!
I learnt that when regulators and peak sector bodies work together many of the ‘on the ground’ issues can be worked out sensibly, without the need for prescriptive and detailed regulations (for example, they can come up with a simple system that avoids six different charities having fundraisers on the same street corner at the same time).
I left feeling sorry for regulators who have to enforce legislation that is no longer fit for purpose – it is preposterous to think that they should be trying to control/monitor the explosion of online and crowdfunding fundraising by sending letters telling people they need to get a licence, advertise etc. Better for them to be doing proactive compliance work.
Thank you ACPNS for inviting me to another thought provoking event.
