Are donations to EFA tax deductible?
No. EFA is not able to obtain tax deductible gift recipient (“DGR”) status due to the provisions of Australian tax law which, among other things, does not permit organisations whose principal activities include political lobbying to be granted DGR status. To qualify as a DGR, an organisation must fall within one of the specific DGR categories set out in tax law. As it is generally known that one DGR category is “public benevolent institutions”, which includes some (not all) organisations with charitable purposes, some people assume that EFA would be able to obtain DGR status. However, that is not the case. In Australian tax law, the definition of “public benevolent institution” is narrow (as is the definition of “charitable purposes”). Briefly, “public benevolent institution” covers only non-profit institutions established to provide services directly to people needing relief from poverty, sickness, suffering, distress, misfortune, disability or helplessness. As stated on the ATO web s
