On this page
- What is fundraising?
- The role of ‘charitable purpose’ in fundraising
- Key elements of fundraising regulation
- The National Fundraising Principles
What is fundraising?
In Australia, fundraising generally refers to activities to raise money to help a person, cause, or organisation. These activities may be in person or online and include requesting donations, conducting raffles, crowdfunding, selling merchandise or memberships, and holding events.
Because Australia does not have a single national fundraising law, these activities are regulated by separate state and territory laws. This means that the laws which apply depend on where a fundraising activity ‘takes place’.
Regulated fundraising activities commonly include:
- face-to-face appeals, such as doorknocking, street collections, and collection tins in public places
- direct marketing, including telephone, email, and direct mail appeals
- community gaming, such as raffles, lotteries, bingo, and sweepstakes
- commercial activities, such as selling goods or services (for example, through op-shops), and
- online appeals, including crowdfunding and social networking campaigns
The laws in each state and territory use specific legal terminology to define what constitutes regulated fundraising:
- The ACT refers to a ‘collection’ under the Charitable Collections Act 2003 (ACT).
- New South Wales refers to a ‘fundraising appeal’ under the Charitable Fundraising Act 1991 (NSW).
- Queensland refers to ‘appeal for support’ under the Collections Act 1966 (QLD).
- South Australia regulates ‘collectors’ who seek funds wholly or partly for a ‘charitable purpose’ under the Collections for Charitable Purposes Act 1939 (SA).
- Tasmania regulates ‘soliciting’ for a ‘charitable purpose’ under the Collections for Charities Act 2001 (Tas).
- Victoria regulates ‘fundraising appeals’ where the solicitor represents that the activity is not solely for profit under the Fundraising Act 1998 (Vic).
- Western Australia regulates various activities (including collections, conducting entertainment, etc) for any ‘charitable purpose’ under the Charitable Collections Act 1946 (WA).
The Northern Territory does not have general fundraising legislation, although it does regulate community gaming activities (like raffles) through the Gaming Control Act 1993 (NT).
View our guide to fundraising laws in Australia for more information.
The role of ‘charitable purpose’ in fundraising
For a fundraising activity to be regulated under these state and territory laws, the activity must usually be for a prescribed purpose. Each state and territory defines the relevant purposes differently.
A number of jurisdictions refer to charitable purposes using a ‘common law’ definition (developed by judges through their decisions in court cases) – being the relief of poverty, the advancement of education or religion, and other purposes beneficial to the community – but also cover additional purposes including philanthropic, benevolent, or patriotic purposes. Some jurisdictions cover other purposes such as well as animal welfare and environmental protection.
View our guide to fundraising laws in Australia for more information.
Key elements of fundraising regulation
The regulation of fundraising can be broken down into two key elements:
- A person or organisation may require a licence to conduct fundraising activities.
- Fundraising activities may need to comply with certain conduct and record keeping obligations. Some of these requirements only apply to holders of a licence – other requirements apply even if you are not required to hold a licence.
View our guide to fundraising laws in Australia for more information.
The National Fundraising Principles
To address the complexity of complying with multiple different state laws, Australian state and territory governments agreed to 16 National Fundraising Principles in February 2023.
These principles aim to create a streamlined, nationally consistent set of conduct rules for charitable fundraisers. The principles are focussed on the second element of regulation – the conduct and record keeping for fundraising activities. They are not relevant to the issue of the licencing of fundraising activities.
See our summary of the National Fundraising Principles and the current state of implementation.
Our campaign to #FixFundraising
In early 2023, a significant step was taken towards simplifying fundraising regulations in Australia. State and Territory governments committed to adopting National Fundraising Principles, promising a more harmonised approach across the country. However, progress has been slow.
The content on this webpage was last updated in May 2026 and is not legal advice. See full disclaimer and copyright notice.
