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Africa Inland Mission Ltd

Care:  At least some of the information about this charity is no longer current.  Use the ‘Search charity names’ box to see if there is a later review.  If the latest review has a message like this, you are welcome to make your case for an updated review via email to ted@businessbythebook.com.au.

This is a review[1] in the series ‘Members of Missions Interlink’, Missions Interlink being the Australian Evangelical Alliance Inc‘s ‘network for global mission‘. We review these charities because their membership means that they must sign up to a set of standards, and this, at least on paper, makes them a better bet for your donations (or other involvement).

‘Africa Inland Mission Ltd’ is one such member. It seeks donations on the website linked from Missions Interlink.

COVID-19

Donors

The charity regulator (the ACNC), in their article, Donating to Legitimate Charities, gives “some things to consider to help you make sure your donation is going where it is intended”:

1.Check the charity’s name.
2.Ask for identification from anyone seeking a donation.
3.Be careful of online requests for donations.
4.No tax deduction doesn’t mean the charity is not a legitimate one, and
5.Find out more about how the charity says it uses donations.

Here’s the results for ‘Africa Inland Mission Ltd’, with #5 supplemented by the essentials of the ACNC’s What should I consider when deciding which charity to support?[2]

1.A search on the ACNC Register for ‘Africa Inland Mission Ltd’ leads to a registered[3]charity in that name[4] (AIM).

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2.  There is nothing to indicate that AIM uses either door-to-door or street collectors.

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3.  The web address begins with a closed padlock symbol, so the website is secure [the ACNC article above[5]]. PayPal is used for donations, so your information should be secure.

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4.  AIM’s ABN record says that it is not entitled to receive tax-deductible gifts. The website information contradicts this:

Clicking on the link gives the explanation:

Global Development Group gives the tax deduction.

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5.  The use of your donations

Context

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The ‘Mission’ and ‘Vision’ on the website are for the worldwide organisation, not Australia.

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What a charity did last year appears in its Annual Information Statement (AIS). However, the spot in AIM’s Register record for its AIS is blank (as it was last year).

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Note 9 in the Financial Report 2019 has a little description of what AIM does:

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And here, from the Non-statutory report from the Australian Council [Financial Report 2019] is what AIM is trying to do:

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The Financial Report 2019

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The audited account of how a charity uses donations is the Financial Report on the ACNC Register.

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There are a few things with this Report that reduce one’s confidence in AIM:

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• One of the required financial statements is missing (a Statement of Changes in Equity).
• It appears that AIM controls the New Zealand Africa Inland Mission organisation:.

But the question of including their transactions and balances with those of AIM (i.e. consolidation) is not raised.

• Several of the Notes (and parts of Notes) are missing from the Notes to and Forming Part of the Accounts.[6]

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Balance Sheet

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• ‘Cash on deposit’ is separated from ‘Cash and cash equivalents’.
◦ And there is no policy Note on cash.
• The ‘Working Capital’ shown in Note 5 is a completely different figure than Current Assets less Current Liabilities in the Balance Sheet.
• The description of the ‘Financial assets’ does not match any of the three types of financial assets said to be possible in Note 2.

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Statement of Cashflows

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• Many cashflows are misclassified.
• Net cash used is reconciled to the wrong figure.

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Statement of Income and Other Comprehensive Income

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• ‘Investment Income’ of $49K on only $113K of ‘Financial assets’?
• Cash ‘Investment Income’ is identical to the revenue.
◦ And there is no policy Note on ‘Investment Income’.
• ‘Missionary Support’ revenue is separated from ‘Donations’.
• ‘Home Administration contributions’ is unexplained.
• There is no explanation of the reason for or accounting for the ‘Prior year adjustments’?

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Where the money went

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If you are still happy to consider a donation to AIM, here’s how AIM consumed its resources (i.e. accrual figures, with last year in the second column):

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• What is ‘Ministry’? The whole charity is a ‘ministry’.
• There were 17 ‘full-term workers’ last year in Africa [2019 Annual Report, ACNC Register].
◦ Are they employees?
· There are no provisions for annual and long service leave in the Balance Sheet.
• There is no further information for ‘Missionary staffing and other costs’, 75% of the total.
• The usual ‘Employee benefits expenses’ is missing.
◦ Note 10 discloses remuneration of $82K to the Executive Director and his wife.
· How does this relate to
• ‘Missionary Support’ donations?
• ‘Missionary staffing and other costs’?
· Do they also receive ‘Missionary Support’?

Who’s responsible?

These are the directors responsible for the reporting (from the Non-statutory report from the Australian CouncilI, Financial Report 2019):

Peter Aldridge

Gavin Currie

Colin Earnshaw

Jack Hung

William Kelly

Heather Love

Len Lesleighter[7]

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Len is the Executive Director, an ex-officio member of the board.

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Since the above time, Gavin and William have departed, and Laura Sleeman has joined [ACNC Register[8]].

The board is responsible to the members. The customary disclosure of the number of members is absent, but it is significant that AIM is actively seeking members:

Impact

There is nothing on the website about the impact of the donations.

Charity response

The introduction to the Mission Interlink standards (see above) includes this statement:

We sent the member a draft of this review. They provided this comment for publication:

I’ll comment on a few of your points. You refer to our board, noting the list on last year’s audited financial statements. Unfortunately, we had some resign from poor health or death of spouse. Your viewers should always get the latest information from the ACNC site: https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/c5b9d52bc3ecf1a14e35006380ea3a06#people

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 You mention our Annual Information Statement is unavailable on the ACNC site. This is true and unfortunate but follows our application in November 2019 to withhold some sensitive information on countries in which we work, but not actually in the AIS . However, this results in the automatic and immediate withdrawal of our AIS by ACNC until the application is considered. Their decision is still pending. Our submissions of AIS to ACNC are all on time and up-to-date.

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https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/c5b9d52bc3ecf1a14e35006380ea3a06#overview

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 Our Annual Report and Audited statements are available on https://aimint.org/ap/connect/ Some updates on activities of workers in Africa and projects we support etc are given from time to time in issues of Africa News, also on the connect page.

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You mention other related entities including New Zealand.  Africa Inland Mission in the Asia Pacific operates as Africa Inland Mission Ltd. in Australia and Africa Inland Mission International New Zealand, and Africa Inland Mission International Hong Kong Committee.  These are all independently registered entities in their own country. They cooperate together through the Asia-Pacific Mobilising Region overseen by the Australia Council or board of Africa Inland Mission Ltd. The council has membership from one other country at present.  Each entity has their own audited accounts. Those in New Zealand are independently audited and submitted to the NZ Charity Services. We consider consolidated accounts are not appropriate in Australia.

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Declaration of interest: The reviewer and his wife give to a missionary couple in South Sudan through AIM.

 

End of review.

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  1. See here for the previous review. ↑

  2. A section in the article, Donating and Volunteering: ↑

    ◦ Focus on the nature of the charity’s work, its beneficiaries and the impact the charity is having in the community.
    ◦ Is it clear what the charity is trying to achieve and how its activities work towards its objectives?
    ◦ Would you like to spend your money, or time if volunteering, to support these objectives?
    ◦ Is the charity being transparent about its activities?

  3. The ACNC implies, therefore, that it is a ‘legitimate’ charity. But this is not correct – as the ACNC itself points out, registration is voluntary. ↑

  4. The name was changed from Africa Inland Mission International Inc in November 2018. The old name is still here. ↑

  5. The ACNC’s information (in its article above) is not correct for the Chrome browser; it does not have ‘https’. ↑

  6. I use the industry-respected illustrative statements produced by Accurri. ↑

  7. Len’s position is described as ‘Public Officer’ on the ACNC Register. This is a carry-over from when AIM was an incorporated association. ↑

  8. Current directors are not shown on the website. ↑

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BY: Ted Sherwood IN : , ,
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