Archived: AccessTruth Limited: charity review

This is a charity review of AccessTruth Limited (AT), an organisation that seeks donations online, and is an ‘Associate Organisation’ of Missions Interlink. (Including the answers to the questions that the Australian charity regulator, the ACNC, suggests that you ask.) For the previous review, see here. Are they responsive to feedback?

• There is no invitation on the website to give feedback or to make a complaint. Nor is there any mention of accountability.
• I sent them a draft of this review. Like last year, they…did not respond.

Is AT registered?

• Yes, as a charity.
  • Three of the directors are also three of the four directors of the charity Crossview Australia Limited. It looks like AT is a subsidiary – but Crossview doesn’t mention this in its Financial Report.
• AT is a public company, a company limited by guarantee^[1].
• It holds the business name AccessTruth, allowing it to omit ‘Limited/Ltd’ at the end of its name.
• They are well over the threshold for GST registration, yet are still not registered.
• AT operates, per the ACNC Register, only in New South Wales. It said in the AIS 2017 that they did not intend to fundraise, so that would explain the lack of a licence.
  • But it has an internet invitation to give. The absence of fundraising licences in the other states that have a licensing regime relevant to registered charities no doubt means that AT doesn’t equate this invitation with ‘fundraising’. One or more of those states may disagree.

What does AT do?

• See here.
• AT does not operate overseas [ACNC Register].

Do they share the Gospel?

• No

What impact are they having?

• No information found.

What do they spend outside the costs directly incurred in delivering the above impact, that is, on administration?

• No financial statement is available. So, it is not possible to make this calculation.
• On the giving page, they say that none of their donation receipts or sales revenue goes to what would normally be called administration:

Do they pay their directors?

• It is allowed, but there is no information available to check.

Can you get a tax deduction?

• No

Is their online giving secure?

• Security is not mentioned.

What choices do you have in how your donation is used?

• None

Where were your (net) donations sent?

• ‘Grants and donations…’, both in and outside Australia, were zero.

Is their reporting up-to-date?

• Yes, but only because they are still recorded as a ‘Small’ charity. Did they get approval to keep that size?

Does their reporting comply with the regulator’s requirements?

• AIS 2017: No
  • It is AccessTruth, not Access Truth.’
  • Why is ‘Online’ not selected under fundraising?
  • Plus, a couple of questions:
    • Does AT have permission to stay a ‘Small’ charity?
    • Does people overseas buying things on a website equal ‘Transferring funds or goods overseas’?
• Financial Report 2017: Yes, but does AT have the ACNC’s permission to stay at ‘Small’? If not, then a Financial Report was required.
  • Whatever they do with the ACNC, their Associate membership of Missions Interlink requires them to “have available for [their] members and supporters a clear and appropriate financial statement which has been approved by its auditor.” So just ask.

What financial situation was shown in that Report?

• NA

What did the auditor say about the last financial statements?

• No audit report was required. Missions Interlink requires one though, so just ask.

If a charity, is their page on the ACNC Register complete?

• Not quite – the business name is misspelt.
• ‘Email’ and ‘Phone’ are blank (but the ACNC says that these are not compulsory).

Who are the people controlling the organisation?

• Not shown on the website, but here are the people shown as ‘Responsible Persons’ on the ACNC Register:
  • Geoffrey Henderson
  • Matthew Hillier
  • Linda McIlwain
  • Paul McIlwain
• The number of members is not disclosed, so we can’t assess the accountability coming from that quarter.

To whom is AT accountable?

• As a charity, to the ACNC.
• And, still for some things, as a company, to ASIC.
• Three of the directors are also three of the four directors of the charity Crossview Australia Limited. It looks like AT is a subsidiary, But AT only says that Crossview is a ‘training partner’, and Crossview doesn’t address the question in its accounts.
• Not mentioned on the website, but AT is accountable to Missions Interlink via its ‘Associate Organisation’ membership.
  • For one opinion on the strength of that accountability, see the section Activities in this review.

1. The previous incarnation, an unincorporated charity, was ‘Voluntarily Revoked’. ↑