Fiscal Sponsorship
About the program – What is fiscal sponsorship? What do we provide? What are you responsible for?
About the program
Since 2008, our Fiscal Sponsorship program has helped thousands of documentary projects to access philanthropic funding by offering tax deductibility to donors through Documentary Australia’s Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status.
To date, we have facilitated over $58 million in philanthropic funding to documentary.
Our Fiscal Sponsorship program is open to documentary projects that are consistent with our charitable purposes. Projects may be at any stage — from development through post-production, impact and outreach — from emerging and established filmmakers alike.
Filmmakers can apply in one of our four application rounds each year, with all applications assessed closely by a committee. Read more about how to apply.
What is fiscal sponsorship?
Documentary Australia holds Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status with the Australian Taxation Office, allowing approved projects to seek philanthropic grants and solicit tax-deductible donations with the oversight and endorsement of Documentary Australia.
The Trustee for Documentary Australia is endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient under item 1 of the table in section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (as a cultural organisation under item 12.1.1 of section 30-100(1) of that Act).
What do we provide?
- Receiving and administering donations on your behalf, for their intended purpose
- Confirming donor reporting and compliance requirements are met
- For grant applications where Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status is required, Documentary Australia can, in some cases, act as the applicant as your project’s fiscal sponsor
- We also offer resources and workshops that provide impact and fundraising advice
Documentary Australia does not act as a producer or fundraiser for your project and is not involved in the creative development or production. All artistic and proprietary rights, title, intellectual property, interest in and to the completed project remain with the producer and production company.
Read more in our Terms and Conditions.
What are you responsible for?
- Ensuring you have all the necessary rights to carry out the project, including any relevant copyright, chain of title documentation and appropriate clearances from participants
- Producing and managing your documentary project
- Making all creative development and production decisions
- Raising funds for your project
- Researching and identifying prospective donors and grant opportunities
- Updating your Documentary Australia project page regularly
- Updating your donors on your project’s progress
- Completing Documentary Australia’s mandatory annual progress report
Fiscal Sponsorship FAQs
Documentary Australia offers fiscal sponsorship to quality, approved documentary projects that align with our charitable purposes. Approved projects gain visibility through a page on the Documentary Australia website, and can raise philanthropic funding by offering a tax deduction to donors through Documentary Australia’s Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status.
Documentary Australia also offers resources, masterclasses and workshops to help documentary practitioners achieve their goals and maximise their social impact.
Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status is an endorsement by the Australian Taxation Office that allows not-for-profit organisations to receive tax-deductible donations.
Documentary Australia has DGR status, which means that approved documentary projects can offer tax-deductible donations to donors.
Many philanthropic supporters and grantmakers require a tax deduction to consider supporting your project, so this is a valuable benefit for documentary projects without DGR status.
No. Documentary Australia does not directly fund projects.
Our role is to provide fiscal sponsorship, enabling approved projects to raise funds through philanthropic grants and tax-deductible donations from individuals and organisations. Documentary Australia receives and administers these funds on behalf of documentary projects.
No. Documentary Australia does not actively search for funding or grants on behalf of individual projects unless you are selected for one of our programs. Filmmakers are responsible for researching and identifying potential grant opportunities.
For grant applications where DGR status is required, Documentary Australia can, in some cases, apply on a project’s behalf as your fiscal sponsor. Read about our grant request process for approved projects.
Yes. Fiscal sponsorship does not affect ownership of your documentary.
Documentary Australia is not involved in the creative development or production of your documentary. All creative control, artistic and proprietary rights, title and intellectual remain with the producer or production company.
Visit our How to Apply page for more information, including our application guidelines and assessment process.
There is a $150 + GST non-refundable application fee for each new documentary when you apply.
For approved projects, we retain 5% of donations to cover the costs of fiscal sponsorship, such as administrative, legal, accounting, website and compliance costs. For a donation greater than $250,001, a 2.5% retention applies.
In certain circumstances when Documentary Australia has sourced a grant or donation, managed the donor relationship or Executive Produced the project, the retention fee is 15%. Read more in our Terms and Conditions.
Running a fiscal sponsorship program and fundraising website involves significant administrative, legal, accounting, website, staff and compliance costs. The retention fee contributes to these expenses, which allows us to offer this valuable program to filmmakers.
Our retention rate is extremely competitive with other comparable fiscal sponsorship programs with similar offerings and resources.
Funds raised through Documentary Australia must be used for the development, production, post-production, outreach or impact campaign of the approved documentary project. They cannot be used for another project that has not been submitted for assessment by the Applications Committee and ratified by the Board.
Approved projects are required to enter into a grant agreement with Documentary Australia as the fiscal sponsor, and to ensure funds are used for their intended purpose.
No. Under Australian tax law and our Terms and Conditions, Documentary Australia is only able to accept donations that are unconditional, i.e. made without any goods (DVDs, Merchandise), content, benefit or privilege in return, as part of our obligations as a DGR-endorsed charity.
This means that you cannot offer tiered rewards or benefits to supporters as you might on a crowdfunding site, as these platforms do not offer a tax deduction. With Documentary Australia your donors receive a tax deduction, which means they cannot receive goods or services in exchange for their donation, which would be considered a sale. However, you can still thank your donors in the film credits or gift them tickets to a screening once the project is complete.
Unconditional corporate donations are allowed under Documentary Australia’s obligations, however corporate sponsorship or donations in exchange for benefits are not. They are not tax deductible and therefore cannot be allowed through the Documentary Australia page, however filmmakers can enter into sponsorship arrangements independently of Documentary Australia.
No. Donations from relatives are not tax deductible.
Documentary Australia is unable to provide tax advice. For guidance specific to your situation, please consult your accountant or refer to the ATO website.
Documentary Australia issues official tax receipts to donors as the party receiving and administering the tax-deductible donation.
To access tax receipts, donors can set up an account and log in here. They can also follow documentary projects for updates on their activity.