Zero Political Funding Pledge — Version 1.0 — 1 August 2026 Displayed on the register, every verification page, and returned by the verification API documentation. Forms part of the Website Terms of Use.
What a "Pledged & Screened" status establishes
A business shown as Pledged & Screened has, as at the time you check:
- Pledged — through an authorised signatory — that its declared corporate group does not and will not make political donations (as defined in the Pledge) while certified;
- Declared that its group made no such donations in the 12 months before it applied; and
- Been screened by the scheme operator against the published AEC Transparency Register (federal political donation disclosures), with the result reviewed and decided by a person.
What it does not establish
- It is not an audit or a guarantee. The scheme does not inspect a business's financial records.
- Screening sees only what has been published. AEC annual returns publish about seven months after each financial year ends. Screening cannot detect donations that are recent and not yet published, below statutory disclosure thresholds, made at state, territory or local level (outside the federal register), or never declared. From 1 January 2027, federal reforms (a $5,000 disclosure threshold and faster disclosure) will narrow — but not close — these gaps.
- The 12-month declaration is the business's own statement. It is relied on, not independently verified.
- The scheme operator does not endorse any listed business or its products or services.
Absence from the register
The register lists current members of a voluntary scheme only. A business's absence means only that it is not currently a member. It implies nothing about that business's political funding practices. Businesses may have identical funding practices to members and simply not have applied. The verification API returns a single status for any non-current business — "not certified" — and does not distinguish never-applied, declined, lapsed, suspended or revoked.
Currency
Status is real time and may change at any moment. Rely only on the live verification page or API response at the time you need it — not on a screenshot, printout or cached copy. A printed certificate evidences status only as at its stated issue date.
Data attribution
Screening uses data from the AEC Transparency Register, © Commonwealth of Australia (Australian Electoral Commission), used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. The AEC does not endorse this scheme.
Questions and reports
To report a suspected inaccuracy or badge misuse: report@zeropoliticalfunding.com.au.