Restoring Public Trust in Charities: Empirical Findings and Recommendations

Abstract

This article reports the results of an extensive survey of persons who govern Australian charities (known as ‘responsible persons’) in relation to governance duties and conflicts of interest. These results are significant in light of the complexity of the legal framework governing Australia’s charities sector and in light of the shortage of empirical research into the sector. The results, combined with comprehensive legal analysis, enable critical evaluation of the overall effectiveness of the governance and regulatory system of charities in Australia, in turn enabling recommendations to ameliorate the difficulties caused by complexity and to facilitate improved governance.

Keywords: charity, governance duties, fiduciary duties, empirical research, regulation

JEL Classification: K10, K19, K22