Deductible Gift Recipient & Public Benevolent Institution Application

1. Legal framework

1.1 The PBI concept

A Public Benevolent Institution is one of the 14 charity subtypes listed in section 25-5(5) of the ACNC Act. A PBI is an institution that is organised, conducted or promoted for the relief of poverty, sickness, destitution, helplessness, suffering, misfortune, disability or distress (Perpetual Trustee Co Ltd v Federal Commissioner of Taxation, applied and elaborated in the ACNC's Commissioner's Interpretation Statement: Public Benevolent Institutions, 29 September 2025).

Three elements must be established: the organisation must be, in the relevant senses, public, benevolent, and an institution.

1.2 DGR endorsement — item 4.1.1

The ATO endorses an entity as a DGR under item 4.1.1 of the table in section 30-45 of the ITAA 1997 if the entity is registered with the ACNC as a PBI, has an ABN, and has a governing document containing appropriate DGR clauses (winding-up / dissolution transferring surplus DGR-attributable assets to another eligible DGR).

2. Element 1 — "Public"

2.1 Beneficiaries are a section of the community based on need + capacity

The Company aids any Australian who meets the beneficiary criteria in the Constitution clause 4 — persons living with a terminal, life-limiting, chronic or serious illness (and their immediate families and primary carers) who are in financial hardship as a consequence of that illness. The Company's choice of whom to help turns on the beneficiary's need and the Company's capacity to help — not on any arbitrary criterion.

2.2 Beneficiary class is "appreciable"

The beneficiary class is materially larger than classes accepted as sufficient in the case law (Trustees of the Indigenous Barristers' Trust v FCT). Public-health data (ABS, Palliative Care Australia) support the assessment that the class comprises hundreds of thousands of Australians.

2.3 Public character of the organisation

Applying paragraph 16 of the PBI Interpretation Statement:

• Financial support from members of the public: the Company solicits and expects to receive donations from members of the Australian public (see the public website's "Donate" pages).
• Government support: the Company will apply for state and federal government grants over its first three years (see internal Funding Applications documentation).
• Public control (not control by related persons): the Constitution requires a minimum of one Independent Director (clause 17.6) and the Company aspires to a majority-independent Board. The founding family (Laurence and Lisa Hugo) does not control the Board — decisions requiring conflicted-Director recusal are made by non-conflicted Directors, including at least one Independent Director.

2.4 Not a government entity

The Company is not part of, or controlled by, any Commonwealth, State, Territory or foreign government or agency (Charities Act s.6).

3. Element 2 — "Benevolent" (including dominant purpose)

3.1 The relief provided is benevolent relief

The Company relieves the poverty, sickness, distress, misfortune, helplessness and suffering of its beneficiaries — that is, the conditions squarely within the PBI concept as identified in Perpetual Trustee, expanded in Cairnmillar Institute, Launceston Legacy, Tangentyere Council, and confirmed in the 2025 Commissioner's Interpretation Statement.

3.2 Distress goes beyond ordinary daily life

Applying paragraph 32 (Cairnmillar) and paragraph 34 (Marriage Guidance Council): the Company's beneficiaries experience distress that "goes beyond the pain and suffering associated with everyday life". The combination of (a) a terminal, life-limiting, chronic or serious illness and (b) financial hardship generates a compounding form of distress — clinically documented as "financial toxicity" in oncology, palliative care and chronic-disease literature — that is qualitatively different from ordinary financial stress. This is analogous to Cairnmillar (mental illness requiring psychotherapy) and clearly distinguishable from Marriage Guidance Council (marital discord).

3.3 Dominant purpose — the Company is organised, conducted and promoted for benevolent relief

Applying paragraphs 38–43 of the PBI Interpretation Statement:

• The Constitution clause 4(a) sets out the Company's dominant purpose as the relief of the specified conditions in language that tracks the PBI concept (paragraph 39 of the Statement).
• All of the Company's activities either directly further, or are ancillary to, that dominant purpose. See section 7 below for the direct-relief activities and section 6 for the ancillary advocacy activities.
• The Company's resources — staff time, professional-service hours, direct-relief funds — are directed to benevolent relief. Advocacy and education account for a small minority of resource allocation and are ancillary to the dominant relief activity.

4. Element 3 — "Institution"

4.1 Not a mere trust or fund

Applying paragraphs 100–108 of the PBI Interpretation Statement, the Company clearly qualifies as an institution because:

• it is incorporated under the Corporations Act as a public company limited by guarantee;
• it undertakes several regular activities (intake; document collection; creditor engagement; negotiation; resolution; referral; advocacy and education);
• it has (or will have on commencement) staff (CEO; Community & Medical Liaison; Case Officer(s); Compliance Officer) and defined operational processes;
• it does not exist merely to hold assets and make distributions.

4.2 Activity plan for the Company's first year (as required for a new institution)

Applying paragraph 107 of the PBI Interpretation Statement, a start-up institution must provide a detailed activity plan. The Company's Year-1 plan is set out below (extracted from internal strategic documentation):

5. Sufficiency-of-connection between activities and benevolent ends

The Company's activities are directly connected to the benevolent relief of its beneficiaries:

• Debt negotiation is a form of direct relief: analogous to Legal Aid Commission of Victoria v Commissioner of Payroll Tax (Vic) (para 67 PBI Statement), where direct representation of people in need in legal matters is an accepted mode of benevolent relief. Skilled debt negotiation on behalf of a terminally ill person is directly analogous — the Company acts as advocate in an adversarial creditor process the beneficiary is unable to manage.
• Direct financial relief: the most direct form of benevolent relief — payment of essential costs, unfunded medical costs and, in appropriate cases, discharge of debts. Governed by the Direct Relief Policy caps to preserve dominant-purpose targeting.
• Referral and continuity: analogous to Launceston Legacy (moral and practical support to widows and families of deceased ex-servicemen — para 45 PBI Statement).

These activities are on the "direct" end of the spectrum discussed in Global Citizen v ACNC and are clearly distinguishable from the predominantly advocacy-based activities considered in Equality Australia v Commissioner of the ACNC. The Company is not a policy or law-reform organisation — it is an operational service provider delivering relief case-by-case.

6. Advocacy — role and boundaries

1. 6.1 The Company will engage in ancillary advocacy and education, consistent with paragraphs 65–73 of the PBI Interpretation Statement.
2. 6.2 Advocacy is confined to areas that improve the effectiveness of benevolent relief:
   1. creditor-industry protocols for terminal-illness hardship;
   2. medical-community awareness of financial-hardship pathways;
   3. public awareness of the intersection of terminal illness and financial hardship;
   4. submissions to Government inquiries where they further the relief of the beneficiary class.
3. 6.3 The Company will not: engage in political-party or candidate promotion or opposition; take positions on unrelated public-policy issues; make advocacy its predominant activity. The Board reviews the advocacy footprint annually to confirm advocacy remains ancillary in fact and in resource allocation.

7. Direct relief — how the Company provides it (fund-use question)

Applying paragraphs 44–46 of the PBI Interpretation Statement, a PBI may provide material relief directly, or through others. The Company will provide relief directly. Direct-relief spending is governed by the Direct Relief Policy. Summary of allowable fund uses:

Direct answer to Carla's question: the charity's funds may lawfully pay (a) salaries of staff at market rate; (b) fees to contracted professionals for debt-negotiation and other benevolent-relief services; (c) direct payments for essential living costs and unfunded medical costs of beneficiaries; and (d) direct discharge or reduction of specific debts of beneficiaries — each subject to the controls described above. What the charity's funds cannot pay: distributions to Members / Directors as owners; private benefit to related parties; direct relief to related parties or close family members; expenditure not in pursuit of the purposes in clause 4.

8. Fees to beneficiaries

The Company charges beneficiaries no fee for any of its services. This preserves the benevolent character of the relief in accordance with paragraph 86 of the PBI Interpretation Statement. All costs of delivering the service to the beneficiary are borne by the Company from donations, grants and endorsed DGR gifts.

9. Governing document — DGR-compatible clauses

The Constitution contains the clauses required for PBI + DGR endorsement:

• Not-for-profit clause (clause 7) — no distribution to Members other than permitted payments;
• Restriction on exercise of powers (clause 6) — Company may not act inconsistently with charitable purpose;
• Winding-up / dissolution clause (clause 33) — surplus assets go only to another PBI/DGR with similar purposes;
• DGR gift revocation clause (clause 33.4) — separates DGR-attributed assets and transfers them to another DGR on revocation;
• Paramount clauses (clause 35) — clauses 4, 6, 7 and 33 override any inconsistent clause;
• Amendment restriction (clause 34.2) — no amendment may defeat charitable / PBI / DGR eligibility.

10. Financial position and gift-fund arrangements

• Endorsement is sought as a whole-of-entity DGR (not a separate gift fund).
• The Company will maintain a separate accounting for gifts and contributions received as DGR-attributable amounts (per s.30-125(6) ITAA 1997 and ATO guidance).
• The Company will issue tax-deductible receipts in the form required by the ATO.
• The Company will maintain records to enable identification of DGR-attributable assets for the purposes of clause 33.4 of the Constitution (gift revocation on DGR revocation).

11. Conclusion and requested endorsements

On the basis set out above, the Company respectfully asks the ACNC to register it as the Public Benevolent Institution subtype and asks the Australian Taxation Office to endorse it as a Deductible Gift Recipient under item 4.1.1 of the table in section 30-45 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth), with effect from the date of ACNC registration.

In addition, the Company applies for:

• income tax exemption under Subdivision 50-B of the ITAA 1997;
• GST concessions available to charities registered with the ACNC;
• FBT rebate (or, if applicable given PBI status, FBT exemption subject to the s.57A ITAA 1997 cap for PBIs).