Charities, we don't think so!

http://thesharedparentingdisaster.blogspot.com/2008/11/government-funds.html

We left this comment and question on the above blog TheSharedParentingDisaster:

"Expose The Truth has left a new comment on the post "Government Funded Propaganda":

Fathers4Equality breeds hatred for women and has attracted a lot of the more extremist Fathers Rights members. We believe they should be shut down for promoting hate.


A question for you:
How did the Fatherhood Foundation and D.I.D.S, get to be rated as a charity?

The Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund is a public fund listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities under Subdivision 30_EA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.


Dads in Distress Inc is registered as a harm prevention charity. If you would like to donate to our organisation please mail cheque or money order with your name and address details to: Dads in Distress Inc. Po Box J 395, Coffs Harbour Jetty NSW 2450. (The Dads in Distress Public Fund is a public fund listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities under Subdivision 30_EA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997) "


It started us thinking, so we looked on the Australian Taxation Office site for the definition of Charity and found the following excerpts:

The characteristics of a charity are:

• it is an entity which is also a trust fund or an institution
• it exists for the public benefit or the relief of poverty
• its purposes are charitable within the legal sense of that term
• it is non-profit, and
• its sole purpose is charitable.

Charitable purposes

Charitable purposes are:

• the relief of poverty or sickness or the needs of the aged
• the advancement of education
• the advancement of religion
• other purposes beneficial to the community, and
• the provision of child care services on a non-profit basis.

Legislative extension to the meaning of charity

A statutory extension to the common law meaning of charity introduced from 1 July 2004 allows:

• open and non-discriminatory self-help groups that are for charitable purposes only, and
• closed or contemplative religious orders that offer prayerful intervention for the public,

to meet the public benefit test. To be considered charities, these entities must satisfy all other characteristics of a charity. That is, these entities will also need to be non-profit, and have a sole or dominant purpose that is charitable.

Organisations that are not charities

Many community organisations are not charities. An entity is not a charity if:

• it is primarily for sporting, recreational or social purposes
• it is primarily for political, lobbying or promotional purposes
• its purpose is illegal or against public policy, or
• it is primarily for carrying on a commercial enterprise to generate surpluses.

It doesn't appear to us that either Fatherhood Foundation or D.I.D.S should have received a rating as a charity when they discriminate against women when that is illegal in this country.
We will keep digging to see what we get back regarding the funding provided to S.P.C.A. for www.familylawwebguide.com.au. Stay tuned!!