Blackstone Waterhouse establishes A.S.K. Foundation of Australia as a public benevolent institution

The A.S.K. Foundation of Australia raises much needed funds to assist in the provision of surgery to correct the debilitating effects of cleft lip and palate and other facial deformities in impoverished children in the Philippines.

For many years the Foundation has worked with Operation Restore Hope in providing life changing surgery changing the lives of you children – providing them with opportunities for employment and dramatically improving their well being.

For many years Billbergia Group has supported the Foundation.

In June 2017, as part of Blackstone Waterhouse’s pro-bono program, Veno and Danny were able to successfully establish the Foundation as a public benevolent institution under the Charities Act 2013 (Cth). The Foundation now enjoys tax-exempt status and donors will have the benefit of its deductible gift registration status.

This was a challenging application. Whilst the Foundation clearly acts for a public benevolent purpose, all funds raised in Australia are for benevolent purposes in the Philippines. This necessitated extensive submissions to the ACNC – who assisted the Foundation in formalising additional processes and risk management controls to ensure the success of this application.

The extensive assistance of Secretary Sokee Westcott and other volunteer board members of the Foundation was critical to this fantastic outcome for this extraordinary charity.