Investigation: Guide Dogs hit $1m a year over Frydenberg affair

ANTHONY KLAN

EXCLUSIVE

Donations to Guide Dogs Victoria have plunged by more than $1 million a year since the Josh Frydenberg political advertisements scandal last federal election, investigations show.

In each of the last two financial years donations to the embattled charity fell to $4.9m, down from above $6m in each of the two years before the scandal broke.

Yet despite the hit to donations — down around 20 per cent a year— total fundraising by the charity has increased, thanks to funds flowing to Guide Dogs Victoria from bequeathments left in wills.

In the last two financial years, bequeathments from wills surged, as pledging benefactors died, more than offsetting the slump in regular donations, the charity’s accounts show.

Given the uneven nature of will bequeathments, which are usually made many years beforehand, the accounts indicate the charity has taken a substantial financial hit over the Frydenberg scandal.

Weeks out from the last federal election it was revealed Guide Dogs Victoria’s then long-time CEO Karen Hayes had appeared in advertisements spruiking then Federal Treasurer Frydenberg.

It is illegal for charities to endorse politicians or political parties.

Karen Hayes in one of the advertisements. Source: Supplied. Image top: Josh Frydenberg, Source: ABC News/Matt Roberts

As reported by The Klaxon last week, in the more then two-and-a-half years since the scandal broke, Guide Dogs Victoria has not apologised over the affair — or even admitted any wrongdoing occurred. Neither has Frydenberg.

In an exclusive interview with The Klaxon late last month, Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Nicky Long — who replaced Hayes, who departed after the scandal broke — said the impact on the charity overall had been “huge”.

“We had donors who said ‘we’re out of here and we’re never coming back’,” Long told The Klaxon.

“That was pretty harmful”.

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The charity broke its long standing silence in an exclusive interview with The Klaxon late last month. Source: The Klaxon

Long said donations had not seen a “dip” but had “stabilised”.

“When you’re investing in fundraising you want growth — I’d say we’ve held,” she said.

Long said it was hard to determine the specific financial impact of the Frydenberg affair and that economic headwinds meant fundraising was more challenging.

Analysis of Guide Dogs Victoria’s accounts shows the slump in general donations since the Frydenberg scandal broke.

General donations to the charity have slumped 20 per cent since the Frydenberg scandal. Source: GDV annual reports/Image: The Klaxon

The scandal broke in mid-April 2022, towards the end of the 2022 financial year.

That financial year Guide Dogs Victoria received $6.1m in donations, it accounts show. It received $6.0m the year before.

Gifts left in wills to the charity have increased substantially. Source: GDV annual reports/Image: The Klaxon

In the financial year after the scandal broke donations fell from $6.1m to $4.9m — a 19.7 per cent drop. Last financial year donations were almost identical, at $4.9m.

The most recent reporting from the Australian Charities and Not-for Profits Commission (ACNC) states that nationwide, donations to charities grew 4.4 per cent in the 2022 calendar year, to $13.9 billion, and by 5.3 per cent the year before.

Overall — including all government funding, particularly under the NDIS — last financial year Guide Dogs Victoria received total revenue of $21.5m, the highest level in its history.

Over the past decade, funding of Guide Dogs Victoria has increased substantially under payments from the National Disability Support Scheme (NDIS).

The slump in donations has been more than offset by gifts in wills. Source: GDV annual reports/Image: The Klaxon

Over the last three calendar years it received government funding and grants totalling $10.5m, its filings with the ACNC show.

In the 2012-13 financial year, immediately before the NDIS began, Guide Dogs Victoria received total revenue of $11.8m.

When asked whether the damage from the Frydenberg scandal was ongoing, Long was unsure.

“How long is that tail? I hope it isn’t (long),” she said.

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