In June's budget, Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced a new $5 million Chief Minister's Charitable Fund, to be administered by Hands Across Canberra.

Hands Across Canberra has just one part time staff member, chief executive Peter Gordon. The deed of agreement between Hands Across Canberra and the government has so far been kept under wraps, and Unions ACT believes the private charity is not accountable to the public, and the decision to give it the money should be reversed.

"Unions ACT is deeply concerned that the ACT government has gifted an unprecedented $5 million to an unaccountable, unelected private charity," secretary Alex White said.

“This has clear parallels to the controversy surrounding the Federal Liberal Government’s outrageous grant of $444m to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation."

The union group said Mr Gordon was previously contracted by the ACT government to develop its philanthropy strategy, possibly giving the organisation an advantage when it came to being chosen for the fund.

The ACT Labor conference comes as the party faces three bitter preselection races ahead of the next federal election. Despite nominations for preselection closing on Wednesday and the credentials committee meeting on Wednesday evening to decide whether candidates were eligible to run, the final list of candidates has not been released to members.

The conference will be asked to change the party's confusing affirmative action rules, which have created uncertainty around who would be eligible to run for preselection. Members will be asked to remove a clause which requires the party to preselect men for at least 40 per cent of public office positions. The federal rules only ask for women to be preselected for 40 per cent of winnable seats.

Party members will also be asked to vote on a number of changes to reflect the findings of a review into the culture of the party handed down in February. New members will be required to commit to fight against discrimination, bullying, harassment and violence within the party.

It's unclear whether secretary Matt Byrne will be challenged for his position at the conference, while the left faction's Angie Drake will go head to head with the right's Victoria Robertson for the role of party president.

There's also a move to change the cost for unions to affiliate with the party, with a proposal to set the fee at $3.50 per member, with the figure set to rise at double the rate of inflation each year. The move would prop up the party's coffers but slug the Community and Public Sector Union and the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union especially hard.