Charity

A charity can apply to be endorsed by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) for deductible gift recipient (DGR) status. This allows people who donate money or property to the corporation to claim it on their tax. If you want to apply for DGR status you’ll need to include these rules.

Objectives

Include this rule in your objectives: To operate and maintain a gift fund to be known as ‘The [insert name of gift fund] Gift Fund’ in accordance with the requirements of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. 

Your corporation may have reporting obligations with other regulators and stakeholders such as the examples below.  

Charities

If your corporation is also registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC), you only need to lodge reports and changes to your corporation with ORIC. 

We share your reports and updates with the ACNC. The ACNC will treat your corporation as meeting their requirements and update the ACNC register. 

There are 4 rules that every corporation must have in its rule book.

A corporation’s rule book must state:

Australian Business Number

Once your corporation is registered and has been given an Indigenous Corporation Number (ICN), it can apply for an Australian Business Number (ABN).  

An ABN is a unique 11-digit number that identifies your corporation to the government and community.

There are rules about which organisations can apply for an ABN. Find out more and how to apply at abr.gov.au.