Who we are
We act for some of Australia’s highest profile Not-for-Profit and Social Enterprise (NFP/SE) organisations.
Our lawyers serve on the boards of numerous NFP/SE organisations and are recognised as leading experts in the sector by industry commentators such as Pro Bono Australia and the Financial Times.
We provide legal education, advice and specialist legal counsel across all areas of NFP/ SE operations. Our clients include charities, professional/industry bodies, religious groups, social investment institutions and community organisations. We are particularly well known for our work advising on the Modern Slavery Act and assisting faith-based institutions in responding to claims of child sexual abuse under a restorative justice framework.
What we do
Our lawyers have a genuine understanding of NFP/SE organisations and their increasingly complex legislative environment. We are equipped with the expertise and capability to service organisations across all States and Territories throughout Australia.
Our expertise includes:
- Organisational restructures
- Mergers and collaborations
- Fundraising issues including government grants
- Establishment of charitable institutions, trusts and funds
- Governance, with a view to helping boards function more effectively.
Our other expertise includes tax exemptions and charity endorsements, welfare sector services advisory (out of home care, disability care/NDIS, settlement services, employment provider/job training services, addiction recovery services, homelessness/community housing services), impact investing advisory work and government/funder contracting advice, the establishment of social enterprises and cemetery and crematoria law.
Recent projects
- Advised Salvation Army’s Australia Eastern and Southern Territories on their historic merger and consolidation into a single national organisation, known as ‘Australia One’.
- Advised a global research and education initiative, in charge of a leading meditation app, regarding commercialisation in Australia and the US.
- Restructuring the official social service of the Catholic Church of the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, which covers the western 52% of New South Wales.
- Advising on a phone/website application which allows individuals to donate to Item 1 DGRs, and claim a tax deduction under federal law.
NFPs, Human Rights & Social Impact Toolkits
- Income Generation Toolkit 2023
- Social Enterprise Toolkit 2023
- AGM Toolkit 2023
- Merger Toolkit 2023
- Third Dimension Edition 1 2023
Mills Oakley is a signatory to the National Pro Bono Target.
Thinking
NFPs, Human Rights & Social Impact
Third Dimension Issue 28 Winter Edition 2024
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Nervous shock claims in historical...
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Options for NFP Collaboration
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Australia’s First Commonwealth Anti-...
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EXV v Uniting Church in Australia Property...
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Case Note: RC v The Salvation Army (Western...
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Modern Slavery Amendment Bill 2021 (NSW)
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Case Note: Grant v Bird [2021] VSC 380
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