Table Of ContentRegulating Charities
In this volume, charity commissioners and leading charity policy reformers
from across the world reflect on the aims and objectives of charity regula-
tion and what it has achieved. Regulating Charities: The Inside Story repre-
sents an insider’s review of the last quarter century of charity law policy and
an insight for its future development.
Charity Commissioners and nonprofit regulatory agency heads chart the
nature of charity law reforms that they have implemented with a “warts and
all” analysis. Influential sector reformers who assess the outcomes of their
policy agitation joined them. All reflect on the current state of charities in a
fiscally restrained environment, often with conservative governments, and
offer their views on productive regulatory paths available for the future.
This topical collection brings together major charity regulation actors
and will be of great interest to anyone concerned with contemporary third-
sector policy making, public administration, and civil society.
Myles McGregor-Lowndes is a Professor and the founding Director of the
Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at the QUT Busi-
ness School, Australia.
Bob Wyatt is Executive Director of the Muttart Foundation, a private Cana-
dian foundation that has engaged in issues of charity regulation for more than
two decades.
Routledge Studies in the Management of Voluntary and
Non-Profit Organizations
Series Editor:
Stephen P. Osborne,
University of Edinburgh, UK
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
This series presents innovative work grounded in new realities, addressing
issues crucial to an understanding of the contemporary world. This is the
world of organised societies, where boundaries between formal and infor-
mal, public and private, local and global organizations have been displaced
or have vanished, along with other nineteenth-century dichotomies and
oppositions. Management, apart from becoming a specialized profession
for a growing number of people, is an everyday activity for most members
of modern societies.
Similarly, at the level of enquiry, culture and technology, and litera-
ture and economics, can no longer be conceived as isolated intellectual
fields; conventional canons and established mainstreams are contested.
Management, Organization and Society addresses these contemporary
dynamics of transformation in a manner that transcends disciplinary
boundaries, with books that will appeal to researchers, student and prac-
titioners alike.
Also available from Routledge:
The Management of Nongovernmental Development Organizations
An Introduction
David Lewis
Financial Management in the Voluntary Sector
New Challenges
Paul Palmer and Adrian Randall
Strategic Management for Nonprofit Organizations
Roger Courtney
Regulating Charities
The Inside Story
Edited by Myles McGregor-Lowndes and Bob Wyatt
Regulating Charities
The Inside Story
Edited by
Myles McGregor-Lowndes and
Bob Wyatt
First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2017 Taylor & Francis
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ISBN: 978-1-138-68054-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-56392-3 (ebk)
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Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgments ix
List of Contributors xi
1 Introduction 1
MYLES MCGREGOR-LOWNDES AND BOB WYATT
England and Wales 15
2 Towards Regulation: Modernizing the Original
Charity Commission 17
RICHARD FRIES
3 The Reforming Regulator 37
LINDSAY DRISCOLL
4 Reflections on Modernizing and Reforming Regulation 59
SIR STUART ETHERINGTON
United States of America 79
5 Challenged Regulators 81
MARCUS OWENS
6 Reflections on Challenged Regulators 97
ELIZABETH T. BORIS AND CINDY M. LOTT
vi Contents
Canada 117
7 The Prevention of Harm Regulator 119
TERRY DE MARCH
8 Reflections on the Long and Winding Road of Regulation 139
BOB WYATT
New Zealand 157
9 The Evanescent Regulator 159
TREVOR GARRETT
10 Reflections on Regulatory Accountability 183
SUE BARKER
Australia 209
11 The Digital Regulator 211
SUSAN PASCOE
12 Reflections on Birthing a Regulator 233
URSULA STEPHENS
Conclusion 259
13 Conclusion 261
MYLES MCGREGOR-LOWNDES AND BOB WYATT
Index 293
Foreword
In 1991, I was asked to serve as a legal adviser in the Czechoslovak Par-
liament. My first task was to help develop the country’s nonprofit laws.
With Vaclav Havel as president, creating space for civil society was a top
priority. To jumpstart the process, we looked for a book that analysed the
nonprofit laws of different jurisdictions, but our search was unsuccessful.
Comparative nonprofit law was an emerging field. No law school taught
comparative nonprofit law, few researchers wrote about the subject, and
human rights activists dubbed the international freedom of association “the
neglected right.”
That was 25 years ago. Since then, comparative nonprofit law has grown
from a nascent, niche issue to a topic of global interest. For example, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Obama, Archbishop Tutu, and
Aung San Suu Kyi have each provided a welcome via video at the Interna-
tional Center for Not-for-Profit Law’s Global Forum on Civil Society Law.
Of even greater significance, thousands of people are now working on ini-
tiatives affecting the legal and regulatory framework for nonprofits around
the world. As a result, the number of requests for comparative information
has increased exponentially. A quick Internet search reveals a significant
amount of information. Researchers have compiled the nonprofit laws of
200 countries and territories, but it is virtually impossible to find a book
that provides comparative information on the regulation of charities and
other nonprofit organizations. This book helps fill this information gap.
Focused on five common law jurisdictions, it shares comparative perspec-
tives on cornerstone issues, including the following:
• the role of regulators (compliance, advice, promoting the “charity
brand,” etc.);
• the division of regulatory responsibilities in federal jurisdictions;
• the benefits and disadvantages of a tax-based regulatory system versus
a Charity Commission model;
• the relationship between government regulation and sectoral self-
regulation;
viii Foreword
• ways to promote both the independence and accountability of regulators;
• staffing and resource challenges confronting regulators;
• the regulation of advocacy and “political” activities;
• the impact of counterterrorism measures on the regulation of charities;
and
• the regulatory response to new entrants, including social enterprises.
The authors are an all-star cast. They have played leading roles as charity
regulators and sector leaders, and they provide “behind-the-scenes” perspec-
tives that help explain recent developments in charity regulation. The authors
share their stories in a clear and compelling fashion, providing insights that
can help inform regulatory reform around the world. This book is an impor-
tant contribution to the field, and it is certain to become a go-to reference for
colleagues interested in charity regulation.
Douglas Rutzen
President and CEO
International Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Acknowledgments
This book owes much to the effort of others.
Our thanks go to the contributors, who graciously accepted our editorial
suggestions and met deadlines in a way that made our task much easier.
Their enthusiasm for the project was infectious and, each could have writ-
ten a book on his or her experiences of charity regulation. Some travelled
long distances to Canada in order to participate in a review and critique
of the first chapter drafts and did so with good humour. At the Canadian
contributors’ meeting, Peter Faid and Yvonne Smith ably facilitated the pro-
ceedings, keeping the participants on time, on message, and on their toes to
generate new insights into their contributions. Laird Hunter, Susan Man-
waring, Peter Broder, and Gordon Floyd acted as fearless critical friends at
the contributors’ meeting to leave no stone unturned or dark corner unex-
plored. The Muttart Foundation was generous in facilitating that meeting,
consistent with the part it has played for decades in seeking to improve the
regulatory environment for charities and build the capacity for sound char-
ity regulation.
Anne Overell and Francis Hannah at the Queensland University of Tech-
nology provided research and editorial assistance above and beyond the call
of duty. Thanks also to Susan Phillips and Matthew Turnour for reading
the manuscript. We both also acknowledge the patience of our employers in
allowing us to devote time to this project.
Finally, thanks to our partners Jenny and Kathryn for their forbearance.
