Improving on-time submission rates for charity Annual Information Statements

Last registered on October 15, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Improving on-time submission rates for charity Annual Information Statements
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015006
Initial registration date
December 17, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
December 23, 2024, 1:24 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
October 15, 2025, 11:35 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Australia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Australian Centre of Evaluation (ACE)
Affiliation
The Treasury
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2025-01-01
End date
2025-05-31
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
policy evaluation
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) requires the approximately 55,000 registered charities across Australia to submit an Annual Information Statement (AIS) each year. The AIS is an important tool for maintaining sector transparency and accountability. This online form, covering operational and financial details, is submitted through the ACNC Charity Portal at no cost.

The research is a two-arm randomised controlled trial designed to improve the on-time submission rate of Annual Information Statements (AIS) by charities across Australia.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
(ACE), Australian Centre of Evaluation. 2025. "Improving on-time submission rates for charity Annual Information Statements." AEA RCT Registry. October 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15006-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Two-arm randomised controlled trial
Intervention (Hidden)
This two-armed individually-randomised RCT aims to test an approach to improve the effectiveness of the second email reminder, targeting charities who have not submitted the AIS in response to the first reminder. Specifically, the trial aims to test whether including a second email reminder, sent directly via email to a relevant Responsible Person (in addition to the AFS email), improves on time AIS reporting.
Intervention Start Date
2025-01-06
Intervention End Date
2025-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Charity on-time submission.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Time to submission.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Two-arm randomised controlled trial
Experimental Design Details
Full details of the experiment can be found the attached pre-analysis plan.
Randomization Method
Stratified randomisation
Randomization Unit
Individual charity
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
There is some uncertainty surrounding the final sample, but we anticipate over 10,000 observations in our sample.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Same as cluster.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
At least 5,000 charities in treatment group and 5,000 charities in control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Macquarie University Human Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2024-12-03
IRB Approval Number
520241822260350
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
January 17, 2025, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
February 28, 2025, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Individual units of 15000 charities
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
15,000 charities
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
7,500 for the control group and 7,500 for the treatment group
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials

Description
The Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE) worked with the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission (ACNC) to see if a simple reminder could help charities submit their yearly reports on time. Every year, charities in Australia must submit an Annual Information Statement (AIS). Even though the ACNC sends regular reminders, many charities still miss the deadline. The goal is for at least 75 per cent of charities to submit on time. To test a new approach, ACE and the ACNC ran a trial. They looked at 15,000 charities that had not submitted their AIS by 3 January 2025. Half of these charities got an extra reminder email sent directly to someone in charge. The other half didn’t get this extra reminder. The trial was registered in a pre-analysis plan and approved by an independent ethics committee.
Citation
(ACE), Australian Centre of Evaluation. 2025. "Improving on-time submission rates for charity Annual Information Statements." AEA RCT Registry. October 15. 2025. "Registration Entry Title: The Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE) worked with the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commission (ACNC) to see if a simple reminder could help charities submit their yearly reports on time. Every year, charities in Australia must submit an Annual Information Statement (AIS). Even though the ACNC sends regular reminders, many charities still miss the deadline. The goal is for at least 75 per cent of charities to submit on time. To test a new approach, ACE and the ACNC ran a trial. They looked at 15,000 charities that had not submitted their AIS by 3 January 2025. Half of these charities got an extra reminder email sent directly to someone in charge. The other half didn’t get this extra reminder. The trial was registered in a pre-analysis plan and approved by an independent ethics committee.." AEA RCT Registry. October 15 https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15006-1.1
File
Evaluation Report - Charity on-time submission trial-v2.pdf

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Uploaded At: October 15, 2025