Archived: CBI Australia Inc, charity review

This is a charity review, a review for those with an interest in the Australian charity CBI Australia Inc (CBI).

It is structured according to the charity’s entry on the ACNC[i]Register, and its purpose is to supply some information extra to what is there, information that may be helpful in your decision about CBI.

It is up to you to decide whether any or all of the information presented here is what you need in order to make that decision, and whether you should seek any other information, either from the charity itself or from other sources.

Ministry response

Prior to publishing this review, I sent my observations to the charity, on 31 January 2016, and invited them to comment. They did not respond[ii].

Organisation of this review

• The first part of this review is organised according to the headings in the Register entry. This is how to use this section of the review:
  1. For each heading in the register entry, first read the information under that heading.
  2. Then check if that heading is included below. (Headings for which there is no comment are not included. This also applies to the information in the Financial Report.)
• Lastly, there is a section Membership of accountability organisations claimed.

Sources

• ACNC Register (including links)
• Google search on the charity’s name.
• CBI website. And their second website.
• CBI on FaceBook, and Twitter. Not on LinkedIn, YouTube or Vimeo.
• State government fundraising licence registers.
• www.glassdoor.com.au

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Entity Subtype

• Neither are suggestive of sharing the Gospel.
• The ‘Object’ in the constitution, however, is very much about the Gospel.

CHARITY DETAILS

Legal Name

• CBI is a NSW incorporated association.

Other Name(s)

• This is a trading name. In order to continue to operate, at least legally, under this name, CBI needs to register it as a business name.
• CBI also uses the names ‘CBIaus’, ‘Crossroad Bible Institute Australia’ and Crossroad Bible Institute Australia and South Pacific’. None are registered names.

Charity ABN

• Tax deductibility: Your donation to CBI will not attract a tax deduction.
  • The constitution, however, is written to accommodate DGR status.

Charity Street Address

• Postal address, from the websites: PO Box 84, Pendle Hill, New South Wales 2145

Website

• From an internet search: http://www.crossroadbibleinstitute.org.au/ and http://www.cbiaus.org.au/.
  • The two sites share much of the same information. There is no obvious reason why there are two sites.

ANNUAL REPORTING

• AIS 2014
  • This is CBI’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2014 (AIS 2014).
  • It shows that CBI had only one employee (full-time). Terry West.
  • It gives basic financial information. If you think that this will be sufficient for you
    • Total expenses should be $210,191.
    • Read the section Latest financial report – detail (below) as well.
• Financial Report 2014
  • The auditor signed four months after the year end. (We presume that this was after the directors, but can’t check because no Directors’ Declaration is included in the Financial Report.)
  • The Report was then lodged three months after that, one month late.
  • The coverage of finances in this review is left until the financial report proper (see Latest financial report – detail, below).

ABOUT THE CHARITY

• Statement of Faith

• The second website has a brief statement of beliefs (ignore the heading ‘Our Mission & Vision).
• There is no statement of faith in the constitution.

Date Established

• This may be the date that CBI began in this legal form, but it’s not the date they began in Australia. See here, including when and where they expanded since then.

Who the Charity Benefits

• Vision
  • See Mission.
• Mission
  • On the first website here.
  • Under Mission & Vision on the second website:
    • CBI equips the church to disciple people in prison with the Word of God, free of charge.  It is a personal, in-depth and long-term program that is uniquely designed to help incarcerated persons grow dramatically in a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. 

CBI advocates for change that will make society more welcoming toward returning citizens.

Help the church help people in prison and watch your faith grow!  Crossroad Bible Institute is an international discipleship and advocacy ministry for prisoners and their families.

• • • Preparing Prisoners (sic) for life in the community by using scriptural principles for happiness and fulfilment.
    • This is the description of ‘the program’ on the second website.
• Outcomes (What did CBI deliver?)
  • CBI did not respond to the request in the AIS 2014 for a description of its outcomes.
  • None found on the website.
• Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
  • Nothing systematic found.
  • Personal testimonies are published almost every month.

Size of Charity

• CBI’s revenue is below, not above, the threshold for this classification.

Financial Year End

• This means that the next financial report is due by 30 June 2016. Before that the financial information on the Register will be up to 18 months out-of-date.
  • You may therefore need to ask for more up-to-date information.

WHERE THE CHARITY OPERATES

Operating State(s)[iii]

• As an association CBI is a registrable Australian body. If they have understood this section, they are saying that they are conducting business all over Australia. This means that they need to register under Part 5B.2 of the Corporations Act 2001. It’s lack of an ARBN shows that hasn’t.
• CBI calls for donations on both websites.
  • It does not hold a fundraising licence in any of the six states that have a licencing regime.
    • Apart from exemptions, whether it needs these licences depends on whether those states think that CBI, by calling for donations publicly, are ‘fundraising’ in their State.

Operates in (Countries)

• The Income and Expense Statement’s inclusion of expenses called ‘USA’ equal to 26% of total expenses does not match what’s in this section.

CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)

• A constitution on the Register has been required since the advent of the ACNC, yet CBI only lodged its constitution a few days ago.
• There is no Annual Report/Review available on the ACNC Register.
• Nor on the CBI websites.

RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

No. of Australian ‘responsible person’ positions[iv]

Bruce Bond                               1

Keith Dickson                           1

Ray Hoekzema                         1

Anne Bruinsma                        1

Paul Beringer                            2

• The constitution requires seven members; CBI is therefore two short.
• Under ‘Position’
  • What is the distinction between ‘Director’ and ‘Other’?
  • If Dickson is only the Pubic Officer then he shouldn’t be in this list.
  • The constitution requires four positions, president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary. None are shown here.
• The directors are not identified on either website.

(End of review of the ACNC Register information)

Latest financial report – detail

• This Report is grossly deficient.
• Missing are two of the required financial statements, the Notes to the accounts, and the declaration by the responsible persons.
• The audit report, even though signed by a chartered accountant, is a long way short of what is required by his professional standards.
  • It is both incomplete and inaccurate.
• Neither of the two financial statements included are complaint with the Accounting Standards.

Membership of accountability organisations claimed

• None claimed. CBI is, however, a member of Missions Interlink.

(End of review)

[i] Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, Australia’s national regulator of charities.

[ii] Three of the omissions from the Register that I identified in my draft have now been rectified though.

[iii] This is how the ACNC explains ‘operating locations’ in their application guide: ‘You need to give details about where in Australia your organisation conducts (or plans to conduct) its activities.’

[iv] Because of the possibility of two (or more) directors having the same name on the register of responsible persons, it is not possible to be definitive about the number of directorships held.