Access to quality and “clean” data key to ACNC collaboration with sector 

Acting commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) Deborah Jenkins is focusing on communication and access to information but industry insiders highlight the need for data management and access as key to future success.

Deborah Jenkins has been in her role as acting commissioner of the ACNC for over a month and has spent most of that time meeting with charities and largely being involved in the charity network as a representative of the sector.

Jenkins told Pro Bono News this week that talks with the sector over the past month and a half were all “really future focused” and the feedback and discussions were all very “practical, pragmatic and constructive”.

“How can we work together? And what will that look like? These were some of the themes,” she said.

“The first thing highlighted was early engagement. The charities want us to do more together, and to collaborate earlier.”

However she acknowledged that “there is clear anxiety around advocacy”.

“People are worried about advocacy and what I have said to them is that as long as that advocacy is in line with your vision, mission and purpose, then absolutely it is okay,” she said.

“A third theme that has arisen is around CISs (Commissioner’s Interpretation Statements); what I want to make clear to the sector is that there is no rush to finalise feedback and I am aware we will probably need more time for consultation.”

When pressed about access to quality data, the acting commissioner said a data cube is available and access to the data has always been available.

However CEO of the Community Council for Australia David Crosbie says as the data is raw, it is difficult to work with and there are often errors in the data making it difficult to utilise, especially for smaller charities with few resources.

“With these data sets, for instance, simply from a data management perspective, from classification perspective, the way the data is collected makes it [difficult to use],” he said.

“The data needs to be cleaned and it is all extra work. It has not been through a process of cleaning and validating so each research group needs to do it themselves.”

Crosbie said when the ACNC was first set up there were two deputy commissioners, namely  David Loch and Murray Baird, who helped to manage these kinds of issues.

During that time, Crosbie said, the Centre for Social Impact (CSI) was commissioned by the ACNC to effectively analyse the data for inconsistencies so it could be put to good use.

“During that period, under Susan Pascoe there was a deep sense of trust and mutual collaboration and the ACNC was a world leader in voluntary data submission.”

Crosbie also said that since the change in culture that administrative turn around times had risen, and that communication turn around times in general have become protracted.

Crosbie said that education, collaboration and communication is key and this will improve data collection.

University of Queensland professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes who specialises in tax reporting in the charity sector, says it is important that the data is accurate.

“With annual information statements and the financial reports on the ACNC database you find discrepancies commonly in the material,” he said.

“Some common mistakes are figures into the wrong category. Someone added an extra zero accidentally. Small human error but these expected errors need to be corrected for the data to be used.

“Ever since the ACNC started the quality of financial reporting has been an issue in my view.

“It is important. If the charity passport is going to be used across the commonwealth, it becomes a regulatory matter. The ACNC needs to pull the levers to make sure they report in a timely manner and in a way that is accurate,” he said.