Woodend’s Pets Haven Foundation has been stripped of its accreditation as a charity for abusing its position.
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) last week revoked the charity status of the Woodend animal shelter.
ACNC commissioner Gary Johns said the animal shelter had been involved in serious misconduct.
“Pets Haven Foundation has abused their position as a trusted charity in the community,” Dr Johns said. “Revocation is the most serious action we can take when a charity has been mismanaged.
“In most cases, we are able to resolve issues with charities without reaching this stage. In this instance, we have been left with no choice but to revoke Pets Haven Foundation charity status.”
The commission says it has evidence of the organisation breaching the standards required of an Australian charity dating from December, 3, 2012.
Pets Haven Foundation has announced it will appeal the ACNC’s decision.
“We are willing to submit ourselves to any reasonable voluntary undertaking with ACNC to address any concerns raised by ACNC,” it said in a media release.
“Given that the issues highlighted related mostly to the infancy stages of our establishment dated back to 2012, we are confident that the current processes will satisfy the requirements of ACNC in regards to maintaining public trust and confidence.”
The organisation said it had fully complied with the ACNC’s record-keeping requirements.
It said it would continue to operate as a not-for-profit organisation and would continue to rescue and re-home animals.
With its charity status revoked, Pets Haven Foundation can no longer access commonwealth charity tax concessions and cannot display the ACNC’s tick of registration.
