Harm prevention charities
How to have your organisation listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities.
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What a harm prevention charity does
Harm prevention charities carry out activities to promote preventing or the controlling behaviour harmful or abusive to humans. Behaviour harmful or abusive to humans is emotional, sexual, physical or substance abuse, suicide, self-harm, or harmful gambling.
Gifts to public funds on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities may be tax deductible if the fund is a deductible gift recipient (DGR).
Register of Harm Prevention Charitable Institutions
The Department of Social Services (DSS) maintains the Register of Harm Prevention Charitable Institutions.
The Treasurer and the Minister for Social Services decide if an organisation and its public fund is entered on the register. They make this decision – not us.
If you need information about DSS requirements and processes:
How to apply for the register
To apply to have your organisation's name listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities, follow these steps.
- Register your organisation.
- Register with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
- Get our endorsement for tax concessions.
- Review the Register of Harm Prevention Charities Guidelines 2017 requirements by visiting the (DSS websiteExternal Link and searching for 'harm prevention charities'.
- Check your institution and its fund satisfy the entry requirements.
- Contact DSS for an Application form for entry to the Register of Harm Prevention Charitable Institutions and endorsement as a deductible gift recipient. The form also includes the DGR endorsement application information that we need.
- Complete the application form and send it to DSS.
If you are approved
If the Treasurer and the Minister for Social Services approve your organisation and its public fund for entry on the register:
- DSS will enter the date of approval on the application form
- DSS will send your form to us to process
- DSS will advise you of your organisation's date of entry on the register
- we will send you advice about your DGR endorsement.
Register entry requirements
There are requirements around:
Charity institution
Your organisation must be an institution that is a charity, and not merely a fund. An entity won't be an institution if it is a trust that does one or both of the following:
- merely manages trust property
- holds trust property to make distributions to other entities.
Principal activity
The principal activity of your institution must be the promotion of the prevention or control of behaviour that is harmful or abusive to humans. This means prevention or control of one or more of the following:
- emotional abuse
- sexual abuse
- physical abuse
- suicide
- self-harm
- substance abuse
- harmful gambling.
Public fund
Your institution must maintain a public fund to which all gifts of money or property and deductible contributions for the principal activity of the charity are made.
Ministerial rules
To be eligible for DGR endorsement, your harm prevention charity must agree to comply with any rules that the Treasurer and the Minister for Social Services make to ensure that gifts made to the gift fund are used only for the principal activity of the charity.
Not acting as a conduit
Your charity's principal activity must be promoting the prevention or the control of behaviour that is harmful or abusive to humans. If your charity wants to access DGR endorsement, you will need to show that you have a policy of not acting as a mere conduit for the donation of money or property to other organisations, bodies or people.
Rules for winding up
To be eligible for DGR endorsement, your charity needs to show that it has rules that require any surplus assets of the fund to be transferred to another fund that is on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities in the event of the fund being wound up.
Statistical information
Your organisation must agree to give the DSS Secretary, within a reasonable period after the end of each income year, statistical information about gifts made to the public fund during that income year.
Registered charity
Before your organisation and its public fund can apply for entry on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities, your organisation must be registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) as a charity.
Endorsed as income tax exempt
To be eligible for entry on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities, your organisation must be endorsed by us as an income tax exempt charity.
This means it must:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- be a registered charity with the ACNC.
Endorsement to charity tax concessions, including income tax exemption, is separate to DGR endorsement.
On the ACNC registration application form, you can also apply for endorsement with us to access charity tax concessions.
However, don't apply for DGR endorsement with us on the ACNC registration application form. You apply for DGR endorsement with us when you apply for entry to the Register for Harm Prevention Charities.
How to have your organisation listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities.