The Government will broaden the scope of the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) to allow it to receive tax deductible donations from regional community foundations and to use these funds exclusively for projects in those regions, with effect from 1 July 2007.
The FRRR, a joint Government initiative with the philanthropic sector, was established in 2000 and listed as a deductible gift recipient (DGR) in the tax law, to promote rural and regional renewal, regeneration and development in Australia in social, economic, environmental and cultural areas.
This measure allows the FRRR’s funding decisions to reflect the donors’ choice of geographic region, and for donations to be used exclusively for projects in specified regions. The FRRR will remain responsible for assessing all community-funded projects against the established FRRR criteria, and for ensuring that funded projects fall within the scope of the FRRR purposes.
The measure provides an additional avenue for funding charitable rural and regional community projects within the broad DGR policy framework, which will give certainty to community foundations that local-level fundraising and philanthropic efforts within their communities are guaranteed to benefit their local community.
Supporting Information
Why is this important?
- The impetus for the measure stems from a view that worthy community projects are unable to receive deductible donations from community foundations in rural and regional communities because of the small number of DGR organisations in those communities that undertake local projects.
Who will benefit?
- Donors will be able to direct DGR funds to an expanded range of charitable projects within rural and regional communities, subject to the FRRR’s approval.
What funding is the Government committing to the initiative?
- The cost to revenue of the initiative is $1.2 million in 2008-09 and $1.3 million in 2009-10.
When will the initiative conclude?
- This measure is on-going.