Address For Service

If you provide an email address as your charity’s Address For Service, the ACNC will always attempt to contact your charity by that email address first. In certain circumstances, however, we may need to try contacting your charity through other addresses.

Because the Address For Service is the address to which the ACNC will send important notifications, we recommend that your charity uses a generic email address rather than an individual’s email address. For example, it is a good idea to use something like ‘info@yourcharityname.org.au’ and to give more than one person in your organisation access to the account.

Doing this means that you will still be able to see any emails from the ACNC if your charity’s contact person changes or is away. It is also a good idea to have more than one person regularly check the inbox.

Sometimes ACNC emails are filtered to the junk or spam folder in an email account. You should check these folders for emails from the ACNC. We recommend adding ACNC email addresses to your contacts list to ensure that emails from the ACNC are not automatically sent to the junk or spam folder.

For the ACNC, your charity’s contact details are not the same as its Address For Service. A charity’s contact details are the details that the public can use to contact the charity. These details are likely to be the same ones as those listed on a charity’s website, or used in other communications from a charity.

The ACNC’s Address For Service, however, is the address to which a charity wants to receive official notifications from the ACNC. The Address For Service can be the same as the email or postal address in a charity’s contact details, but it doesn't have to be. Some charities are happy to have the same details for both the general contact and the Address For Service, while others prefer to keep them separate. A charity’s contact details and its Address For Service will appear on its page on the ACNC Charity Register.

It is mandatory to notify the ACNC if your charity’s Address For Service changes. Under the ACNC Act, you must notify us of the change within a specific period (the timeframe to notify is either 28 days or 60 days depending on your charity’s size). You can do this online at any time through the ACNC Charity Portal.

Read more about notifying the ACNC of changes.

The ACNC reminds charities when their Annual Information Statement (AIS) is soon due, so an up-to-date Address For Service ensures your charity will not miss these important reminders.

Charities that fail to submit their AIS on time are liable to pay administrative penalties and may face other compliance action. Failure to submit an AIS for two or more reporting periods means a charity risks having its registration revoked by the ACNC. Losing ACNC charity registration removes the charity’s entitlement to Commonwealth tax concessions. Many charities that had their registration revoked for failing to submit two AISs did not have an up-to-date Address For Service and their reminders and other notifications were not being received by the appropriate people within the charity.

If your charity is registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as a company or registrable body, it is required to have a registered office address in Australia. Please provide a physical address (not a PO box). This physical address should be provided as your charity’s Address For Service. The ACNC will pass this information on to ASIC.

You can also provide an email address for your charity’s Address For Service, and we will use this as the primary way to contact your charity.

Although being registered as a charity with the ACNC means it is not a requirement to notify ASIC of a change of address (such as a registered office address, a company’s principal place of business or a director or secretary’s residential address), you can choose to do so.

If your charity is an incorporated association, you may find it easier to use the same address for all communications from your regulators. You can use the same address for your charity’s Address For Service that you use for your registered office address, official address or nominated address with your state regulator.