May - Tax Concessions for Not-for-Profit organisations: Who is eligible?  How to apply?  What are the benefits and obligations?
 
This seminar will discuss the pros and cons of becoming an income tax exempt charity (ITEC) and getting deductible gift recipient (DGR) status.  It will help you determine whether these are the right choices for your organisation.  What do these terms mean?  What do the application processes involve?  What can you do if your application is rejected?  What are the ongoing compliance obligations?  The seminar will also consider the Fringe Benefit Tax rules and briefly consider the GST concessions.

Date: Thursday 7 May
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Presenters: Ann O’Connell (Special Counsel) and Melanie Baker (Senior Associate) (Allens Arthur Robinson) and Graeme Allen and Tony Page (ATO)
Venue: Allens Arthur Robinson, 530 Collins Street Melbourne

Light refreshments provided.  For further details and to register for the seminar please see:

June - Raising money for your community organisation: tips for complying with fundraising and tax law

Date: Thursday 4 June
Time: 9.30am-12.30pm
Presenters: Alice McDougall and Anna Lyons, Lawyers (Freehills)
Venue: Freehills, Level 43 101 Collins Street.

Light refreshments provided.  Registrations will open in early May.  If you wish us to note your interest now and send you an e-mail when registrations open in May let us know by e-mailing connect@pilch.org.au.  For further details please see:

For the full year’s program (dates and topics) see: 

PilchConnect @ Law Week 12 May 2024

Legal Governance for community organisations: practical tips for new committee members

Joining the Committee of Management of your organisation may seem a daunting prospect.  In this FREE seminar PilchConnect lawyers will discuss and demystify the duties and responsibilities of committee members and provide practical tips on best practice in this area.  This seminar will be held in Brimbank. 

Go to below link for details of registration:

PilchConnect and Victorian Council of Social Services (VCOSS) regional training May 2009

In 2009 PilchConnect and VCOSS are working together to bring governance training to regional Victoria, running a program entitled Board Members: Roles, Responsibilities, Liabilities and Protections. The training will cost $30 and run from 10.00am until 12.30pm on Tuesday 19 May in Wangaratta and on Tuesday 26 May in Warrnambool. 

For information, including how to register see:

Changes to Victorian fundraising laws

On 10 February 2009, a number of changes to Victorian fundraising laws were introduced.  Importantly the amendments contain new disclosure requirements for fundraising activities and extend the future default registration period from 12 months to 3 years.

These changes, together with the other amendments to fundraising laws are further detailed on the PilchConnect website at:

Changes to the Associations Incorporations Act

Changes to the operation of incorporated associations have now been passed by the Victorian parliamentand will be finalised shortly.  The amendments include:

• small incorporated associations which have less than $10,000 (and meet other requirements) will be allowed to apply to the Registrar for voluntary cancellation of the registration of the association; and
• the Registrar can investigate the affairs of an incorporated association under a new remedy called statutory management.

A summary of how the changes will impact on existing and new incorporated associations is available on the PilchConnect website.  We will continue to monitor the progress of the changes and keep you advised via our website at:

Relevant cases decided in 2008

Our partner organisation, the Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at QUT have summarised legal cases that have an impact on the running of not-for-profit community organisations.

For links to the relevant website please see:

State Government seeks feedback about support for not-for-profit sector

The State Government is looking for feedback about the services (eg. training, consultants, resources, websites, organisations, networks) that not-for-profits use to support their work. 

This is part of the State Government implementing the Victorian Government’s Action Plan:  Strengthening Community Organisations.  We are hoping that the information from these consultations will be used by the Victorian Government to decide to fund practical, useful resources and services to support the NFP sector.

There are 2 ways you can provide feedback to the Government about the support your organisation needs:

(i) enrol to attend a consultation session (3 hour sessions to be held in late April); or
(ii) fill in an on-line survey (approx. 10 minutes to be completed before 21 April 2024)

For more details about providing feedback see:

COAG to work on reducing the red tape for NFPs

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has recently announced that it will be working at both state and federal levels to reduce the red tape that currently exists within the NFP sector.  Some of the intententions of COAG are to create of a standard chart of accounts and a nationally consistent approach to fundraising.

PilchConnect Manager Sue Woodward discussed the COAG initiative in a recent article appearing the Australian Financial Review on 19 March 2025 entitled ‘Red Tape strangles Charities'.  For a link to the article see:

Productivity Commission’s study on the contribution of the NFP sector

On 17 March 2009, the Federal Government requested that the Productivity Commission conduct a study into the contribution of the not-for-profit sector to Australian society.  The study is intended to inform the Government on what it can do to improve the measurement of the NFP sector’s contribution, and remove unnecessary reporting requirements to maximise the sector’s contribution.

The Commission will conduct initial consultations throughout April 2009, and will be accepting public submissions up until 29 May 2009.  The final report is expected to be delivered in December 2009.
Further information on the review process, and details of how your organisation can become involved is available on the PilchConnect website at:

PilchConnect appearing in ‘Keeping Good Companies’

PilchConnect recently produced an article for the March 2009 edition of ‘Keeping Good Companies’ the monthly journal of Chartered Secretaries Australia.  The article focuses on the growing pressure within Government to reform the existing regulatory framework for the NFP sector, with specific reference to the recent Senate Inquiry into disclosure regimes for charities and NFP organisations.

The full article, entitled 'Regulatory reform for the not-for-profit sector - is real change now likely?' is available at:

PilchConnect is a specialist legal service which has been set up to provide legal help to not-for-profit community organisations (NFPs).

The service provides free and low cost legal information, training, advice and legal referrals for Victorian NFPs. We also undertake law reform and advocacy work about the wide range of legal issues that affect the not-for-profit sector.

PilchConnect is keen to keep interested NFPs up-to-date with legal issues that may affect them or the broader NFP sector.  We now have a new e-bulletin format which will provide your organisation with regular updates, including:

• details of upcoming, low-cost legal seminars PilchConnect is running for NFPs;
• explanations of recent or proposed changes to the laws that affect Victorian NFPs (we cover State-based laws and relevant Federal laws);
• information about policy, law reform or advocacy activities on issues relevant to NFPs and ways that your organisation can contribute or provide feedback; and
• interesting legal cases relevant to NFPs.

If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this e-bulletin please email connect@pilch.org.au.

We also welcome your contributions to and feedback on the e-bulletin. Please email us at connect@pilch.org.au.

To find out more about our service see: