Raising money for your community organisation: tips for complying with fundraising and tax law
Is your organisation properly registered to conduct fundraising? Do you understand the difference between gifts and sponsorship? Do you understand when GST is payable on your fundraising? Do you know what is tax deductible? Are you generating income from a business venture? Do you owe taxes on such income?

Attend this seminar to better understand gifts, grants, sponsorship, sale of items, incentives for donations, conducting a business and how to protect your organisation's tax-exempt status and to ensure that your organisation is operating within the legal guidelines for not-for-profit fundraising and revenue generating activities.

Date: Thursday 4 June
Time: 9.30am - 12.30pm
Presenters: Alice McDougall and Anna Lyons, Lawyers (Freehills)
Location: Freehills, Level 43 101 Collins Street Melbourne.

Light refreshements will be provided.  For further details and to register for the seminar please see:

For the full 2009 program (dates and topics) please see:

PilchConnect @ Law Week May 2009

Legal Governance for community organisations: practical tips for new committee members

Joining the Committee of Management of your organisation may seem a daunting prospect.  In this FREE seminar PilchConnect lawyers will discuss and demystify the duties and responsibilities of committee members and provide practical tips on best practice in this area .

FOR BRIMBANK COMMUNITY GROUPS ONLY

Date: 12 May 2024
Time: 1.30pm (for 2pm seminar).  Light refreshments will be provided.
Location: Errington Community Centre, Princess Street, St Albans

For registration details please see:

PilchConnect and Victorian Council of Social Services (VCOSS) regional training May 2009

The focus of the training will be on: What are the roles, responsibilities and proper activities of the board of directors of a Not-for-Profit organisation? What are the potential liabilities of board members? What role should the board play in the day-to-day operations of the organisation? What legal protections exist for board members? This workshop will address these and other topics relating to the legal and fiduciary obligations of boards and committees of management. 

Training will be held on Tuesday 19 May in Wangaratta, Tuesday 26 May in Warrnambool and Tuesday 4 August in Castlemaine.

For more information, including how to register please see:

Productivity Commission

The Productivity Commission is currently undertaking a study on the contribution of the not-for-profit sector to Australian society.  This is an important review and any findings will inform the Government on how it can better measure the contribution of the sector, and steps that can be taken to remove red tape in order to maximise the sector’s contribution.

Initial consultations are currently underway and the Productivity Commission has released an Issues Paper which asks for comments on a range of topics.  Submissions to the study are due by 29 May 2024 and the final report is expected to be delivered in December 2009.

Details of how your organisation can become involved in the inquiry are available on the PilchConnect website at:

Access to Justice Inquiry

In April 2009, PilchConnect made a submission to the Commonwealth Senate Inquiry into Access to Justice. 

While discussions about access to justice have traditionally focused on the delivery of legal services to individuals, PilchConnect has called for the latest inquiry to consider access to justice issues currently faced by the not-for-profit community, particularly within those small to medium organisations that are heavily reliant on volunteers and lack the resources required to afford legal advice.

The Senate Committee is expected to finalise its report by 17 August 2009. 

The full submission is available on the PilchConnect website at:

Bushfire Royal Commission

Was your community organisation affected by the recent Victorian bushfires? PilchConnect has been working with Bushfire Legal Help - a coalition of legal assistance providers -  to provide legal help to community organisations affected by the Victorian Bushfires.

The 2009 Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission has now commenced and is currently calling for written submissions from any interested individuals or organisations. All submissions should relate to the terms of reference of the Royal Commission. Submissions are due by 4.00pm, Monday 18 May 2009.

For more information see:

If you need assistance in preparing your submission, Bushfire Legal help is offering free information and advice to those affected by the Victorian bushfires about ways to contribute to the Royal Commission. For more information see:

Recent changes to the Associations Incorporations Act 1981 (Vic)

On 7 April 2009, changes to the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Vic) ('the Act') came into force.  Some of these amendments apply immediately to Victorian incorporated associations, while other changes will not come into effect until a later date (to be specified in the future).

PilchConnect welcomes Vas Eliades as the new manager of the program.  Sue Woodward has moved into a dedicated policy and projects role.

Tarni Perkal is going on maternity leave, and in her absence Belinda La Rocca will be taking over the role of administrator for the program. 

PilchConnect is a specialist legal service which has been set up to provide legal help to not-for-profit community organisations (NFPs).

The service provides free and low cost legal information, training, advice and legal referrals for Victorian NFPs. We also undertake law reform and advocacy work about the wide range of legal issues that affect the not-for-profit sector.

PilchConnect is keen to keep interested NFPs up-to-date with legal issues that may affect them or the broader NFP sector.  We now have a new e-bulletin format which will provide your organisation with regular updates, including:

• details of upcoming, low-cost legal seminars PilchConnect is running for NFPs;
• explanations of recent or proposed changes to the laws that affect Victorian NFPs (we cover State-based laws and relevant Federal laws);
• information about policy, law reform or advocacy activities on issues relevant to NFPs and ways that your organisation can contribute or provide feedback; and
• interesting legal cases relevant to NFPs.

If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this e-bulletin please email connect@pilch.org.au.

We also welcome your contributions to and feedback on the e-bulletin. Please email us at connect@pilch.org.au.

To find out more about our service see: