Charities: snowball's chance of meeting deadline
Sandra Goudie MP
National Party Internal Affairs
Spokeswoman
20 March 2008
Charities Commission choked - snowball's chance of meeting deadline
The Charities Commission is choked with applications from not-for-profit organisations to register as charities and is processing them so slowly that the June 30 deadline is an impossible dream, says National’s Internal Affairs spokeswoman, Sandra Goudie.
“One accountant has calculated that at the current rate of processing registrations – 41.2 a week – it will take about four decades to process applications from all 90,000 not-for-profit organisations.
“The rate of registration is appallingly slow, but compounding the problem is news that the commissioner is attempting to ‘weed out’ organisations that may do political lobbying, without any policy or guidelines to help him do the job.
“If that’s the case, how is the Charities Commissioner determining the thresholds that have to be met by not-for-profits in terms of advocacy? By guessing?
“This situation is just getting worse. The commission started out saying applications would be processed within 30 days – they now admit it will be at least three times longer than that.
“It certainly didn’t help that the $1.8 million-plus computer system they got to carry out the registrations had to be ditched because it couldn’t do the job.
“Since July 2005, $10.9 million has been spent on setting up the Charities Commission. Their attempt to register organisations has become farcical.
“Taxpayers’ money has been thrown away, non-profits have been put through needless stress as they fear losing their tax advantages, and the commission is buried under a mountain of registrations that it has no chance of processing.
“These organisations are owed an explanation from Labour about why there was no planning, no policies, and no forethought before the commission was established.”
Attached: Written questions 19086, 18512, 18514 (2007) 1173 (2008)
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Answers to
parliamentary questions
9086 (2007).
Sandra Goudie to the Minister for the Community and
Voluntary Sector (19 Nov 2007): What has been the total
cost to date for the Charities Commission, and what portion
of that cost is for the information technology (IT) computer
system?
Ruth Dyson (Minister for the Community and
Voluntary Sector) replied: I have been advised that the
total expenditure for the Charities Commission, from the
Commission’s commencement on 1 July 2005 to 31 October
2007, has been $10.914m and the portion spent on information
technology has been 21 percent.
18512 (2007). Sandra
Goudie to the Minister for the Community and
Voluntary Sector (08 Nov 2007): How much has the
Charities Commission spent establishing their computer
system in 2006 and 2007 financial year?
Ruth Dyson
(Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector)
replied: I am advised that in 2006/07 the Charities
Commission spent $1.854 million to establish the
registration computer system and spent a further $0.203
million to establish other supporting information technology
systems.
18514 (2007). Sandra Goudie to the
Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector (08
Nov 2007): Has the Charities Commission replaced any part of
the computer system it has purchased; if so, what is the
value of the part of the computer system that has been
replaced?
Ruth Dyson (Minister for the Community and
Voluntary Sector) replied: I am advised that the
Charities Commission has replaced the initial registration
software that had an original cost of $1.854 million.
1173 (2008). Sandra Goudie to the Minister for
the Community and Voluntary Sector (22 Feb 2008): Will
the Charities Commission monitor not-for-profit entities
registered with the commission in regard to their advocacy
role, and if so, how?
Ruth Dyson (Minister for the
Community and Voluntary Sector) replied: I am advised
the Charities Commission, under the Charities Act 2005, has
these statutory monitoring functions: "to monitor charitable
entities and their activities to ensure that entities that
are registered as charitable entities continue to be
qualified for registration as charitable entities"; and "to
monitor and promote compliance with this Act, including by
taking prosecutions for offences against this Act in
appropriate circumstances". The Charities Commission is
currently developing detailed operational policy as to how
it will fulfil its monitoring functions under the Charities
Act (2005).
ENDS