Local charities at risk of deregistration

ANOTHER four Geelong charities risk being deregistered by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
The four are among 300 charities nationally that will lose charity status if they do not contact the regulator.
The four local charities are:
· Life Cry Community Incorporated, Geelong West
· Vietnam Veterans Federation Victorian Branch Incorporated, Geelong
· The Trustee For Ford Heritage Trust, Geelong
· Shining Star Equine Rehabilitation, Whittington
The Independent reported in March that Grovedale Community Centre had its charitable status revoked with five others on notice they faced the same fate.
The ACNC is calling for community help to contact charities it has not been able to reach since as far back as December 2012.
The four charities have not responded the ACNC despite a number of attempts to contact them, the ACNC said.
Commissioner Susan Pascoe encouraged the public check the ACNC website to see if any charities they were associated with were listed.
“Many of these charities are likely still operating,” Ms Pascoe said.
“However, they have not provided the ACNC with accurate and up-to-date contact details, meaning we have not been able to send them timely reminders to complete their outstanding Annual Information Statements.
“Charities that fail to submit an Annual Information Statement for two consecutive years face revocation, which removes their entitlements to Commonwealth charity tax concessions.
“In addition to submitting an Annual Information Statement, registered charities are also required to notify the ACNC when their details change.
“To date, we have revoked or removed over 9000 charities from the register, largely because they were no longer operating or had not met their reporting obligations for two consecutive years.
“If we are not able to contact these charities, we will move to revoke their charity status.”
The list of charities at risk can be found at acnc.gov.au/whereareyou.