How to use the code

This Code of funding practice adopts a wide-ranging overview of government funding arrangements with non-profit organisations. It works from two central premises. First, that government funders need to be assured that public funds achieve value for money and represent a defensible use of taxpayer money. Second, the best results for citizens and communities remains the ultimate goal of funding arrangements.

The main sources of public sector guidance on funding arrangements have been developed by the Treasury and the Office of the Auditor-General. The documents published by these organisations focus on providing advice to central government, Crown entities, and local government organisations on managing the funding arrangements they have with external agencies in the community and voluntary sector.

This Code does not duplicate the advice provided by the Treasury or the Office of the Auditor-General but rather embodies a common understanding of, and mutual commitment to, specified principles and minimum standards that may be used by both government and non-profit organisations.

Many government agencies have funding or procurement guidelines setting out their organisation’s requirements and expectations for the funding of non-profit organisations. It is not the intention of the Code to take the place of these individual agency guidelines.

This Code has been written to complement the existing guidance documents. The Code is expected to evolve over time and to be refined based on experience with its use.

In this Code the word ‘will’ refers to practices that the parties to this document have committed to adopt. ’Will’ is also used for practices that are already mandated in other documents. The word ‘should’ refers to practices that are advised or recommended.

In the downloadable PDF, general guidance on how to meet the elements of the Code is included throughout in shaded text, and prefixed by the letter ‘G’. The purpose of the guidance is to assist with the interpretation of the Code element, providing examples, which are general in nature, and do not necessarily, include all methods that can be used to meet each requirement.