Letter · Not-for-Profit, Charities & Associations
Letter of appointment for Responsible People (board members), with AI oversight paragraph (adapted from the ACNC template)
The ACNC's openly licensed appointment letter setting out the Governance Standard 5 duties for a new board member, adapted with optional paragraphs on governance documents, oversight of AI and data, and acknowledgement of receipt.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Green AI can do most of the drafting. A lawyer still reviews the result.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Reproduced from an official source. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Based on the ACNC template letter of appointment for Responsible People, © Commonwealth of Australia 2018 (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Changes made.
Where this comes from
Reproduced from acnc.gov.au under CC BY 4.0. Based on the ACNC template letter of appointment for Responsible People, © Commonwealth of Australia 2018 (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Changes made.. Last checked on 2026-10-17.
When to use it
Use when a registered charity appoints a new board or committee member, to meet the reasonable-steps duty to make sure Responsible People know their duties. Add the charity's induction pack. Do not use it as the only induction for directors of large or high-risk charities.
How AI may be used
AI may personalise the letter and assemble the induction attachments under lawyer or company secretary review. The duties text should stay aligned with Governance Standard 5.
AI may
- Insert names, roles and charity details and adjust the letter for a board or committee
- List the governance documents to attach from the charity's document register
- Produce a plain-language version for board members who need one, for checking
AI must not
- Must not rewrite or summarise the statement of duties so that it departs from Governance Standard 5
- Must not state that the new member has been checked against the ACNC disqualification register unless the check has been done and recorded
- Must not include personal information of the appointee beyond what the letter needs
The lawyer checks
- The appointment was valid under the constitution
- Governance Standard 4 suitability checks are done and recorded
- The optional AI paragraph reflects the charity's actual AI policy
- Attribution and change note remain on the template
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Based on the ACNC template letter of appointment for Responsible People, © Commonwealth of Australia 2018 (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Changes made..
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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