Overseas aid funds

Explains whether a public fund can be endorsed by us as a deductible gift recipient under the category of Overseas aid fund.

On this page

• Characteristics of an overseas aid fund
• Approved organisation status
• How to establish an overseas aid fund
• Developing country relief fund
• Changes to your organisation or fund

Next steps:

• Endorsement for deductible gift recipients

Characteristics of an overseas aid fund

An overseas aid fund is a public fund:

• that is either a registered charity or operated by a registered charity.
• established by an organisation declared by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to be an approved organisation
• established solely for the relief of people in a country declared by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to be a developing country
• that the Treasurer has declared to be a developing country relief fund.

To receive tax deductible gifts, an organisation establishing an overseas aid fund must:

• register as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission if the organisation is operating the fund, otherwise the fund itself must be registered as a charity
• apply through Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to be admitted as an approved organisation under the Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme (OAGDS)
• establish an overseas aid fund (subject to approval of the organisation by the Minister for Foreign Affairs)
• apply to us to be endorsed as a deductible gift recipient (DGR).

Approved organisation status

Before we can endorse your organisation or its overseas aid fund as a DGR, your organisation has to be declared by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to be an 'approved organisation'.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is responsible for managing the process of declaring an 'approved organisation' under the Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme (OAGDS).

Step 1

You need to:

• contact DFAT to review the eligibility criteria and to obtain the OAGDS guidelines for applying to become an 'approved organisation', these guidelines are available on the DFAT website
• carefully review the eligibility criteria and guidelines to work out whether your organisation qualifies, including contacting DFAT for any assistance necessary
• request a login for the online application system
• start your application.

Step 2

DFAT will assess your application. If your organisation is assessed as meeting the criteria for an 'approved organisation' status, DFAT will submit the recommendation to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

If the Minister for Foreign Affairs declares that your organisation is an 'approved organisation', the Minister will advise the Treasurer.

Step 3

DFAT will notify you of this in writing.

See also:

• Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme (OAGDS) guidelinesThis link will download a file
• dfat.gov.auExternal Link
• For more information, email oagds@dfat.gov.au
• phone (02) 6178 4688
• Tax deductibilityExternal Link

How to establish an overseas aid fund

Step 1

When DFAT notifies us that your organisation qualifies as an 'approved organisation', we will contact you about other requirements for DGR endorsement.

We will work with you to make sure you have a developing country relief fund in place and will then seek approval of the fund from the Assistant Treasurer.

Step 2

The Assistant Treasurer will:

• write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to us and to DFAT advising that the fund has been approved
• organise for a notice to be published in the Government Notices Gazette (or Special Notices Gazette) declaring your fund to be a developing country relief fund.

See also:

• Developing country relief fund

Developing country relief fund

For the Treasurer to declare a public fund to be a developing country relief fund, the fund's documents must confirm several things, found in the checklist.

Checklist of clauses

• Rules and objects of the relief fund. A relief fund must have its own rules and objects. Clauses governing the establishment and administration of a relief fund can be inserted into an organisation's founding documents or can be contained in a separate document, which should be kept with the founding documents.
• Receipts to issue in the name of the relief fund
• Public invited to contribute. You must include a clause to state that the public are invited to contribute to the relief fund.
• Management committee. A clause is required to state that the relief fund must be managed by members of a committee, and that the majority of committee members must have a degree of responsibility to the community. As a majority is required, the committee must be made up of at least three members.
• Non-profit clause. A clause is required with words to the effect that the public fund must operate on a non-profit basis. This is separate to the non-profit clause for the organisation as a whole.
• Winding-up clause. A clause is required with words to the effect that, should the organisation or the relief fund be wound-up, any surplus money or other assets in the relief fund will be transferred to some other fund qualifying under the OAGDS to which income tax deductible gifts can be made.
• ATO advised of changes. An undertaking in writing or the inclusion of a clause in the founding documents is required to the effect that we will be notified of any changes to them, reflecting on the operational or financial arrangements of the fund.

Changes to your organisation or fund

If your organisation or fund changes its name or status, you should immediately contact DFAT to find out if the changes will affect your organisation's status as a DGR.

Changes to the organisation's name

If your organisation changes its name and DFAT considers the re-named organisation to be the same organisation as that approved previously, you will not need to apply for a new approval as the previous approval still applies. If there is more than an organisation name change involved, you may need to seek a new organisation approval from the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Changes to the overseas aid fund's name

If you want to change the name of your fund, you will have to contact DFAT to organise for the Treasurer to declare, in the Government Notices Gazette (or Special Notices Gazette) the 'new' fund is a developing country relief fund under the OAGDS. The Treasurer will also have to revoke the 'old' fund.

Tax deductible donations cannot be made to the 'new' fund until it has been gazetted and your organisation has been endorsed as a DGR for the fund. If the 'new' fund is not gazetted and your organisation is not endorsed as a DGR for the fund before the 'old' fund ceases, it will not be able to receive any surplus money or assets from the 'old' fund.

Your overseas aid fund ceases to operate

If your organisation's overseas aid fund is wound up or ceases to exist, you should ask us to revoke the fund as an eligible fund under the OAGDS.

We will also revoke your organisation's DGR endorsement in relation to the fund.

Any surplus money or assets held in the fund must be transferred to another overseas aid fund endorsed as a DGR, in accordance with the founding documents of the fund.