Australian Schools Plus Ltd (Schools Plus) (ABN 65 164 622 459) is a national not-for-profit that improves the education outcomes of students in need by increasing philanthropic support to disadvantaged schools and school communities. The Federal Government has granted Schools Plus Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR1) status, making donations of $2 or more to Schools Plus tax-deductible.
1. Donations to Schools Plus:
- must be voluntary
- must be unconditional
- are non-refundable
- are not subject to GST
2. Donations to Schools Plus are treated as a gift. As such, donors, or their associates* must not receive, insist, or be promised any material benefit, advantage, right or privilege (apart from tax deductibility) nor act on an expectation that a benefit, material advantage, right or privilege will be returned to him or her in return for their donation (apart from tax deductibility).
3. For donations of $2 or more, an official Schools Plus receipt will be forwarded to donors by email (or by mail where no email address is provided) for taxation purposes.
4. All claims for a tax deduction are subject to being accepted by the Commissioner of Taxation. If either an individual or business is uncertain of their taxation position, they should obtain professional advice.
5. Donors may nominate a Schools Plus registered project as the preferred beneficiary of their gift. While tax laws mean donors cannot insist Schools Plus direct their donation to a specific project or school, discretionary grants are made by Schools Plus’ Funding Committee to projects taking into account donor wishes.
6. Only eligible schools can receive donations via Schools Plus. Eligible schools have a value below 1000 on the Index of Community Socio- Educational Advantage (ICSEA) or are special schools as defined by ACARA. You can check a school’s value on the My School website myschool.edu.au or by contacting us.
7. We have opted you into the Schools Plus newsletter so we can share information on our activities and your impact. You can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of the newsletter or contact Schools Plus to be removed from the mailing list.
8. Schools Plus is transparent about how donations are used. In general:
a. 90% of all donations are used to support schools, primarily in the form of project funding that is transferred directly to the schools. Where schools participate in our strategic education program, 75% of the total donation supports direct project funding and 15% supports long-term capacity building within the schools through coaching, evaluation tools, knowledge sharing and program management.
b. 10% of all donations support Schools Plus’ operational costs, enabling us to run efficiently and sustainably so we can grow our long-term impact on schools and maintain our positive relationships with donors.
c. For donations to organisations with which we have an auspicing agreement, we retain 5% plus GST to support our costs.
9. All transactions by credit card incur fees from Stripe, our internet payment provider. The fees are 30 cents per transaction plus 1.4% for domestic Visa and Mastercard transactions, 1.75% for domestic American Express transactions or 2.9% for all international transactions. Please contact Schools Plus if you wish to donate via credit card.
* The definition of associate is very broad, but includes relatives, companies in which you or associates have control, partners in a partnership and spouses of those partners, as well as beneficiaries with an interest in a trust. This list is not exhaustive and is a guide only. Please refer to section 318 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 for the complete definition of associates.