Advocacy update: Productivity Commission’s Future Foundations for Giving report

The Productivity Commission’s final report of its philanthropy inquiry, Future Foundations for Giving, was publicly released on Thursday 18 July. Here, Philanthropy Australia’s Policy, Government Relations and Research team summarise the outcomes and next steps. You can read further analysis of the report and its recommendations in this summary article.

The Australian Government asked the Productivity Commission to undertake the inquiry to inform its strategy to double giving by 2030. The goal was adopted following the advocacy of Philanthropy Australia, and many of the proposals Philanthropy Australia submitted to the inquiry are reflected in the recommendations of the Future Foundations for Giving report, including:

• Comprehensively overhauling the deductible gift recipient (DGR) system, with the report concluding that the system is not currently fit for purpose
• Enhancing reporting of corporate giving and improving data on bequests
• Helping ensure reforms to harmonise fundraising regulation are fully delivered by governments

The report also recommends the establishment of an independent entity, provisionally called Indigenous Philanthropy Connections, to strengthen relationships between Indigenous organisations and philanthropic networks. There is extensive analysis of the regulatory framework for ancillary funds, with the report making various recommendations in this area, proposing that they be renamed as public and private ‘giving funds’.

In Philanthropy Australia’s media release responding to the release of the report, our CEO, Maree Sidey, welcomed the Australian Government’s re-affirmed commitment to double giving by 2030, and stated that “Policy choices reflect our values and our priorities as a nation, and over the coming months, the Australian Government will need to make important choices about how to respond to the Future Foundations for Giving report and its recommendations.”

Some proposals put forward by Philanthropy Australia were addressed but not adopted by the Productivity Commission. The report acknowledged that making a bequest to a charity from superannuation should be simpler, but it didn’t recommend specific changes due to the complex nature of the superannuation system and the need to look at the so called ‘binding death nomination’ arrangements as part of a broader process. Philanthropy Australia will continue to advocate for this important change, whilst acknowledging the need to look at these settings holistically.

The proposal to facilitate voluntary donations at tax time (a ‘nudge’ in the tax return), was analysed but not recommended. The report also found that a government-funded public giving campaign could help broaden participation in giving but found insufficient evidence that such an intervention would be effective. It did observe that philanthropic organisations could fund and evaluate such a campaign themselves, commenting that not all initiatives to increase giving depend on government action, and that philanthropic and other organisations can also act to support giving in Australia.

Watch Philanthropy Australia’s Rebecca Moriarty interview Krystian Seibert, our new Executive Director for Policy, Government Relations and Research, who served as an Associate Commissioner on the Productivity Commission’s philanthropy inquiry, about the key themes and recommendations of the Future Foundations for Giving report.

Next Steps

We are looking forward to more discussions about the report at Philanthropy Australia’s national conference in Adelaide next week.

The report observes that whilst growing the quantity of giving is important, the way that giving is practiced is also important, commenting that:

Ensuring that philanthropic practices continue to evolve, where necessary, to meet the changing needs and expectations of charities and the community is an essential part of a thriving philanthropic and charitable sector.

This is very relevant to the conference theme of Shifting Perspectives, Shifting Practice.

We are pleased to have the Assistant Minister for Charities, the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, giving a keynote address on the morning of day one of the conference, and the report and its recommendations and findings are likely to feature in other sessions throughout the two days as well.

In August and September, Philanthropy Australia will also be engaging further with our members to help shape our response to the report, including hosting an online webinar on Wednesday 28 August at 1:30pm – you can register for this webinar here.

Watch the recording of the Productivity Commission’s webinar about the Future Foundations for Giving report, held on Wednesday 24 July.