Australian Schools Plus Ltd (Schools Plus) (ABN 65 164 622 459) is a national education charity which 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 via Schools Plus tax-deductible. More information is available on the About Us page of the website.
1. Donations to Schools Plus:
- must be voluntary
- must be unconditional
- are non-refundable
- are not subject to GST
2. Donors may nominate a Schools Plus registered project as the preferred beneficiary of their gift. Whilst 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.
3. Donations to schools through 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).
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Schools Plus retains a contribution from each donation to support our work with schools. This contribution – which is 5% for Fundraise Yourself/Donor Choice projects, 10% for Smart Giving and 7.5% auspiced projects – helps us provide our crowdfunding platform including resources and advice to schools about fundraising and donor relationships, plus contributes towards the assessment and evaluation of projects.
7. 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.
8. In the case of Smart Giving projects, if the funding target is not met, Schools Plus will negotiate with the school a revised project to which the amount raised can be directed, and inform the relevant donor/s. In the case of Fundraise Yourself projects, if the funding target is not met, Schools Plus will negotiate with the school a revised project to which the amount raised can be directed, and inform the relevant donor/s.
9. Eligible schools are those facing disadvantage – with a value below 1000 on the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA). You can check a school’s value on the My School website www.myschool.edu.au or by contacting us.
*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.