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Overview of the ACNC

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the national regulator of charities. Learn more in this step.
Collage of diverse Australian community: community market, older lady with hat gardening, Aboriginal woman laughing, young man with glasses and business shirt, dog with frisbee, dad in wheelchair with daughter on knee, hand giving free food.
© ACNC
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the national regulator of charities. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth) established the ACNC in December 2012.​

As of May 2022, there are approximately 600,000 not-for-profits in Australia.

Around 60,000 of these are registered charities. ​

The ACNC is responsible for those 60,000.

Diagram with main circle labelled 'Not-for-profit organisations'. A smaller circle within it is labelled 'Registered charities'.

Registration with the ACNC is voluntary. Some of the benefits of being a registered charity are:

  • Access to certain Commonwealth charity tax concessions such as income tax exemptions, goods and services tax concessions and, for some charities, Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) endorsement.
  • Other benefits and exemptions from Commonwealth and state governments.
  • The use of the ACNC’s Charity Tick of Registration on documents to show your charity is registered.
  • A free online presence on the ACNC Charity Register where the public, donors, and funding agencies find information about charities.

© ACNC
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