Fehlbewertung von Sachspenden führt zu entgangenen steuerlichen Vorteilen und verzerrten Projektbudgets

Definition

Australian NFPs receiving in-kind goods, services and discounted supplies must recognise them at fair value under AASB 1058 and common grant practice, typically valuing volunteer general labour at about AUD 20/hour, specialist labour at about AUD 45/hour and donated goods at the price the organisation would otherwise pay.[2][3] Donors are responsible for advising the market value of non-cash gifts to DGRs for tax purposes.[2][6] Where valuation is handled ad hoc in spreadsheets or emails, organisations frequently under-record professional volunteer time, discounts, and donated assets, leading to lower reported project co‑contributions in grant acquittals and reduced supportable deduction amounts for donors. For a mid-size charity with, for example, 1,000 hours of specialist volunteer input and AUD 50,000 of discounted goods per year, failing to document and receipt just 30% of this in-kind support can easily suppress reported project income by AUD 20,000–30,000 annually (1,000h × 45 = 45,000; 30% unrecorded ≈ 13,500 plus 30% of 50,000 discounts = 15,000). This directly reduces leverage in matching grants and can cause grantors to reduce or claw back funding when audited against guidelines that expect in-kind contributions to be itemised and evidenced.[2][3][4] Overstatement is an opposite risk: if staff use retail rather than realistic discounted rates, grant co‑funding or DGR receipts may be materially overstated, forcing later corrections and loss of trust with donors and funders. Because donors must substantiate the market value of gifts for ATO purposes and NFPs must be able to evidence fair value for AASB 1058 compliance, lack of a robust valuation and receipting workflow constitutes a recurrent revenue leakage.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Fundraising organisations in Australia 🇦🇺 waste AUD 10,000–50,000 annually on mis-valued or undocumented in-kind donations. Automation of valuation rules, documentation capture and receipting recovers deductible value for donors and protects grant income.

Affected Stakeholders

CFO / Finance Manager (NFP), Fundraising & Development Manager, Grants Manager, Financial Accountant, External Auditor, Major Donor Relationship Manager

Related Business Risks