The Order of Australia Association Foundation holds Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status, but as an Item 2 category of charity under Section 30-15 of the Act. As an Item 2 the OAAF IS eligible to receive tax deductible donations but NOT from private foundations.

Private Foundations set up as Private Ancillary Funds (PAF’s) are only able to legally give to DGR’s (Deductible Gift Recipients) with an ITEM 1 status.  On the ATO web site they have the following link at which you can check the status of any organisation:

https://abr.business.gov.au/(r5u12a55yeu2c3jbiheykeyv)/main.aspx

The key difference is that Item 1s are doing DGRs – ie the charitable organisations that do the work on the ground and Item 2s are giving DGRs – ie. those that fund the organisations that do the work.  The tax office makes this distinction. OOAF is an ITEM 2.

The law says that one giving DGR cannot give to another giving DGR, so that, to quote the PAF Trustee Handbook because if they did – the money would be circulating from one fund to another (and potentially back again the following year) and therefore not having the intended beneficial impact on the community.

According to the Australian Business Register,

Item 2 describes funds set up solely for

• providing money, property or benefits for DGRs covered by item 1, or
• the establishment of such DGRs.
• These funds are called ancillary funds.”

The ATO have determined that given their purpose and activities they are a DGR Item 2, and therefore a giving DGR, whereas PAFs are only allowed to fund those doing DGRs that undertake the work on the ground – ie an Item 1 DGR.