Australians planning on donating to charitable Christmas appeals later this year will be able to better determine whether or not an organisation is legitimate with a government-issued verification "tick".
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The charity tick, resembling a green and blue ribbon at the centre of a circle, will be available to any of the more than 54,000 organisations listed on the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission register.
Following the lead of Scottish charity register OSCR, the commission is expected to make the tick available to interested charities on its website by late November.
The rollout follows the same principle as the Heart Foundation tick of approval for food nutrition, and verification ticks alongside brands and personalities on Facebook and Twitter.
Once provided, charities will be able to use the tick to show their organisations are "transparent and accountable by highlighting their presence on the ACNC Charity Register".
An ACNC-commissioned report into public trust and confidence of charities last year found charitable organisations were the third most trusted group in the country, after doctors and police.
But the commission said there was still room to improve the image of the sector, as well as providing a greater distinction between registered and unregistered organisations.
"We hope that the charity tick will have a positive effect on public trust and confidence in the charity sector," an ACNC spokeswoman said in a statement.
"We see the benefit of the charity tick as two-fold; registered charities can display their charity registration status in a simple way and donors can instantly be confident that they are giving to a registered (and regulated) charity."
Charities are authorised to use a line of approved text in statements to confirm registration with the ACNC, with the tick offering a graphical alternative.
Before downloading the tick from the ACNC website, charity operators will need to agree to yet-to-be-released terms and conditions of its use.
The ACNC spokeswoman said the commission would monitor use of the graphic to attempt to enforce the terms and conditions.
"The ACNC will track the use of the tick by each registered charity and take action where we are notified of a breach of the terms of use," the spokeswoman said.
"Instances of misuse of the charity tick, for example, where organisations falsely present themselves as registered charities, will be monitored by the ACNC."
An exact date for the availability of the tick and associated conditions has not been specified.
