Structuring advice for your PAF, charity or NFP

Choose the right structure for your giving before you commit to it.

Structured giving starts with a decision that is hard to undo: which vehicle holds the money. A Private Ancillary Fund, a registered charity and a not-for-profit are governed differently, taxed differently, and hand control to different people. We work through the options against your tax position, the scale you have in mind, and how much say you want your family to keep. You finish with a structure chosen on purpose, and the documents that put it in place.

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The right vehicle, first time

You choose between a PAF, a registered charity and a not-for-profit knowing what each one costs you in control, tax and reporting.

Tax treatment you can rely on

Your deduction position and your fund's endorsement are settled before money moves, rather than argued about afterwards.

Control that outlasts you

Who makes the granting decisions in twenty years is written into the deed now, instead of being inherited by default.

What are your options for structuring a PAF, charity or NFP?

Structured philanthropy in Australia runs through a small number of vehicles, and they are not interchangeable. A Private Ancillary Fund is a charitable trust that a family or company controls privately and uses to make grants to endorsed recipients. A registered charity usually runs its own programs and answers to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. A not-for-profit may do neither, and may not attract the tax concessions people assume come with the label. Which one suits you turns on your tax position, the scale you have in mind, and how much control you want to keep.

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What is the difference between a Private Ancillary Fund and a public ancillary fund?

A Private Ancillary Fund is a charitable trust set up by an individual, family or company to make grants to endorsed organisations, and it stays privately controlled. A public ancillary fund raises money from the public and operates under different rules, including a broader requirement about who sits on it. If you want your family to keep control of the granting decisions, the private fund is usually the one that does it.

Do I need ACNC registration to establish a charitable structure?

Not always. A Private Ancillary Fund is registered with the ATO and does not need registration with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission unless it is seeking charity tax concessions, while a registered charity does. Which applies to you follows from the structure you choose, so it is a consequence of that decision rather than a separate question.

How long does it take to establish a PAF or registered charity?

A PAF can usually be running within a few weeks once the trust deed is settled and the ATO endorsement is through. Charity registration is slower and can take several months. We will give you a realistic timeline before you commit, not after.

Can I claim a deduction for what I put into the structure?

Contributions to a DGR-endorsed Private Ancillary Fund are generally deductible, and registered charities with DGR status can give donors deductible receipts. What you can claim, and in which year, depends on the structure and on your own tax position at the time you contribute. That is worth modelling before you commit rather than discovering at lodgement.

Not sure which structure is right for your situation?

Before we walk through the options, tell us what you are trying to do. The right structure depends less on tax than people expect, and more on who you want making decisions once it is running.

Who is making these decisions in twenty years?

You have decided to give seriously, and now you are being asked to choose between a Private Ancillary Fund, a registered charity and a not-for-profit before you properly understand what separates them. The advice so far has been about tax, which is the part that is easiest to quantify and not the part you will live with. What you want to know is which one still works when you are not the one running it.

We will work out what you are trying to achieve, over what timeframe, and with whom.
We will compare a PAF, a registered charity and a not-for-profit against your tax position and the control you want to keep.
We will recommend one structure, in writing, with the reasons it beat the others.
We will draft the deed or constitution and lodge the registrations that structure needs.

You have built something, and now you want it to do something

You have had a good run in business or a profession, and the giving has been ad hoc so far: a cheque here, a fundraising table there. You want it to be more deliberate than that, and you have started to wonder whether your children should be part of it. Someone has mentioned a PAF, someone else has said a charity would be simpler, and both were confident. You don’t want to spend three months becoming an expert in something you only intend to set up once.

What's included in your structuring advice service

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A working session on your giving intentions, timeframe and tax position.
A written comparison of PAF, registered charity and not-for-profit against your circumstances.
Advice on DGR eligibility and what each structure does to your deduction position.
A recommendation on trustee or director arrangements and who holds control.
Drafting of the trust deed or constitution, and lodgement of the registrations.

The wrong structure is expensive to leave

A structure chosen quickly tends to be the one that was easiest to explain, not the one that fits. Set up a registered charity when what you wanted was a family fund, and you have an organisation with public obligations, an annual reporting cycle and a board that is not only you. Set up a PAF without thinking about the distribution rate, and you have committed to paying out a minimum share of the fund every year, including the years the investments did badly. Unwinding either means moving charitable assets, which the regulator takes an interest in, and the cost rises with every year of reporting, endorsements and donor expectations built on the first choice.

How we get you to one structure you can defend

We start with what you want the money to do and who you want deciding it, because those two answers rule out most of the options before tax is discussed at all. Then we put the remaining candidates side by side: what each costs you in reporting, what it does to your deduction, what happens to control when you step back. You get one recommendation with the reasoning attached, so the decision is yours and it is documented. From there we draft the deed or constitution and take the registrations through, and you end up with a structure you chose rather than one you defaulted into.

Three steps to a structure that fits

Intent first, then tax, then the paperwork.

Map your intent

We work out what you want the fund to do, over what period, and who you want making the granting decisions.

Compare the structures

We put PAF, registered charity and not-for-profit side by side against your tax position and the control you want to keep, then recommend one.

Build and lodge

We draft the deed or constitution, set up the trustee or board arrangements, and lodge the registrations and endorsements.

Advice from people who have watched these structures age

Most people setting up a structured gift are doing it once, and are being asked to commit to arrangements they will live with for decades. That is an uncomfortable position, and the discomfort is reasonable.

We have taken clients through PAF establishment, charity registration and DGR endorsement, and the pattern is consistent: the structures that work are the ones where control and succession were settled before the documents were drafted. We have a Chartered Tax Advisor with The Tax Institute, which counts on this decision because the deduction and the endorsement are tax questions before they are anything else. We are also ISO 9001 accredited, so how your file is run, who does the work, and what you are told are defined rather than assumed.

Our great lawyer guarantee

Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.

Take the time

We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.

Share our knowledge

We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.

Stick to our knitting

We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.

Work as one team

Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.

Fair pricing

A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.

It is your show

We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.

Ready to choose a structure and get it in place?

Structured giving works best when the vehicle is chosen deliberately and the documents follow. Tell us what you want your giving to do, and we will tell you which structure carries it.

Speak to a lawyer 1300 654 590