The charities watchdog received an average of 12 complaints a week about not-for-profit organisations, taking the total number of concerns raised to 1,307 in its first two years of operations, a report has revealed.
Despite the high number of concerns raised, the overwhelming majority of organisations do the right thing and operate within the law, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission compliance report said.
Of the 1,307 reports, 521 were assessed and fewer than than 96 resulted in-depth investigations. Only nine charities have had their status revoked.
The charities that were subject to compliance cases controlled more than $100m in assets.
“We have dealt with some very serious cases where harm has been done and illegal activity has occurred,” the charities commissioner, Susan Pascoe, told Guardian Australia.
Nearly two-thirds of concerns raised were from members of the public, including current and former staff of the charities in question. The remainder came from government agencies, media reports and from the commission itself.
Nine out of 10 registered charities lodged information statements, a remarkably high number for a sector that has only had a regulator for two years.
“They want the bad apples rooted out and the sector to be seen as clean,” Pascoe said.
She said the commission had “an enhanced role” in acting in partnership with security agencies to weed out dodgy charities that funnel money to terrorist organisations.
The commissioner labelled the charitable sector as “the foundation of civil society”, saying it contributed $1bn to the economy and represented 8% of the overall workforce.
A question mark remains over the commission itself, with the Coalition vowing to axe the regulator before taking office in 2013. The social services minister, Scott Morrison, has indicated that scrapping it is low on the government’s agenda.
The minister’s office has refused to answer Guardian Australia’s questions on the future of the commission, which was established by the then Labor government in 2012.
Pascoe argued the regulator was vital as both a watchdog and as an educator for the sector.
