African Enterprise Ltd

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).

‘African Enterprise Ltd’ is one such member. It seeks donations on the website (‘African Enterprise Australia’) that is one click from the website linked by Missions Interlink (‘African Enterprise International’).

COVID-19. See also ‘Material uncertainty’ below.

Donors

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 ‘African Enterprise 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 ‘African Enterprise Ltd’ leads to a registered^[3]charity in that name (AE).

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2.  There is nothing to indicate that AE 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^[4]]. There is an ‘SSL Secure Connection’ logo on the page where you enter your information, so it should be safe.

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4.  AE’s ABN record says that it is not entitled to receive tax-deductible gifts. But a fund that it operates, African Enterprise Aid and Development Fund, is.

The information on the ‘Donate’ page is consistent with this.

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5.  The use of your donations

Context

There is nothing under ‘Who We Are’ about AE except ‘Governance’ (the other five pages are about AE International).

From AE’s ACNC Register entry: ‘Funding provided from African Enterprise allows African Enterprise International to undertake its purpose to evangelise the cities of Africa, in word and deed, in partnership with the church’.

Financial Report 2019

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

Here’s the report of the resources consumed (with last year in the second column):

None of these items are defined^[5].

• What, for instance, is the difference between the two ‘overseas entities’ items?
• What is ‘Fundraising costs – Public’ as opposed to ‘private’?
• Are there some ‘administration’ expenses in the items other than ‘Administration’?
  • If so, what is the method of allocation?

This is the only other information on the expenses:

• To where did the $1.61 million and the $871K go?
• How did AE ensure that this money (a) got to its intended destination, and (b) was used for the purpose(s) for which it was given?

‘Material uncertainty’

Apart from ‘clean’ opinion given by the auditor, this paragraph in his report is of interest to donors:

This is the meaning of ‘going concern’^[6]:

And here are the two Notes mentioned by the auditor:

Who’s responsible?

From the Directors’ Report [Financial Report 2019], these are the directors responsible for the reporting^[7]:

Daniel Anderson

Elizabeth Clark

Rohan Gilchrist

Benjamin Henshall

Steven Mackay

David Ralph

Bernice Sarpong

Amanda Siriweera

The ACNC Register shows that the board has since added Benjamin Campbell.

The board is shown on the website. It has not been updated for Ben though.

The board is responsible to the members. The number of members is not disclosed, so no assessment of accountability is possible.

Impact

No systematic study of impact, either for AE or the entire African Enterprise effort, was found.

Charity response

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

We sent the member a draft of this review. They received the email but chose not to respond.

End of review.

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 ACNC’s information (in its article above) is not correct for the Chrome browser; it does not have ‘https’. ↑
5. Paragraph 112 (c) of Australian Accounting Standard AASB 101, requires charities to ‘provide information that is not presented elsewhere in the financial statements, but is relevant to an understanding of any of them’. ↑
6. Australian Accounting Standard AASB 101, www.aasb.gov.au.