Six core standards govern how every registered charity is run. Here's what each one actually means for your board — and where charities most often fall short.
If you sit on the board of an Australian charity, the ACNC governance standards are the baseline you're expected to meet. They're deliberately high-level — six minimum standards rather than a detailed rulebook — which is good for flexibility but can leave boards unsure whether they're actually complying.
This guide walks through all six in plain language, with the practical steps a board takes to meet each one. It's general information, not legal advice — the ACNC's own governance standards pages are the authoritative source.
The governance standards apply to all registered charities, regardless of size. What counts as "reasonable steps" scales with your charity's size and circumstances — a small volunteer-run charity is not held to the same operational bar as a large one. Basic religious charities are exempt from the governance standards.
Your charity must be set up as a not-for-profit with a charitable purpose, be run as a not-for-profit working towards that purpose, and be able to give the public information about its charitable purpose.
What a board does: keep your governing document (constitution or rules) current and aligned to your stated purpose, ensure surpluses go back into the mission rather than to members, and make your purpose visible — on your website and in your ACNC listing.
If your charity has members, you must take reasonable steps to be accountable to them and give them adequate opportunities to raise concerns about how the charity is run.
What a board does: hold your AGM, circulate reports and financials, run proper member notice and voting processes, and give members a genuine channel to ask questions. (Charities without members — for example, some companies limited by guarantee with a single member structure — apply this proportionately.)
Your charity must act lawfully and comply with Australian laws — specifically, it must not commit a serious offence (such as fraud) or breach a law that carries a civil penalty of 60 penalty units or more.
What a board does: understand the laws that apply to your activities (work health & safety, privacy, fundraising, employment, tax), maintain the policies that keep you on the right side of them, and act quickly when something goes wrong.
You must take reasonable steps to ensure your Responsible People (your board or committee members) are not disqualified from managing a corporation under the Corporations Act 2001, and that the ACNC hasn't disqualified any of them from being a Responsible Person in the previous 12 months.
What a board does: check eligibility before appointing directors, collect signed eligibility declarations, and re-confirm periodically. A simple, dated record of these checks is your evidence of "reasonable steps".
You must take reasonable steps to ensure your Responsible People are suitable and understand and carry out their duties. Those duties include:
What a board does: induct new directors properly, keep a live conflict of interest register, review management accounts at every meeting, and record decisions clearly. This is the standard where good board records matter most.
Introduced to maintain and enhance public trust in the not-for-profit sector, this standard requires charities to take reasonable steps to become a participating non-government institution in the National Redress Scheme if they are, or are likely to be, identified as being involved in the abuse of a person.
What a board does: if your charity works with children or vulnerable people, understand your obligations under the Redress Scheme and your relevant safeguarding duties, and act on them.
Notice that almost every standard turns on "reasonable steps". The ACNC doesn't expect perfection — it expects a board that governs actively and can show it did. In practice that means:
BoardTable keeps the evidence for you: agendas and board packs, AI-assisted minutes, a maintained conflict of interest register, director and interest registers, decision tracking and a full audit trail — mapped to what the ACNC actually expects. If you'd rather govern than chase paperwork, book a demo and we'll set your board up.
This guide is general information only and is not legal or compliance advice. Always check the ACNC for the current, authoritative requirements.
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