Christian Venues Association
Care: At least some of the information about this charity is no longer current.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 in the series ‘Organisations accredited by the CMA Standards Council’. The CMA Standards Council is ‘a ministry of Christian Ministry Advancement’[1], with a mission “to help build faith and trust in Christian organisations, be they churches, charities, schools or otherwise, to enable them to achieve more effective outcomes[2].
Not long ago, The Council announced a new member[3], ‘Christian Venues Association’[4].
The extra ‘faith and trust’ is meant to lead[5] to increased giving and more volunteers.
But Christian Venues Association[6] seeks neither[7]. So why would they put themselves through the accreditation process? There is no explanation on the website; in fact, there is nothing at all about the accreditation on the website.
End of review[8].
Charity response
Christian Venues Association has no invitation to submit feedback, nor any instructions about making a complaint. It is arguable that this contravenes one of the standards with which they must comply:
There is a ‘Complaints Policy’ hidden under ‘Privacy and Other Policies’ in the footer. This says that they value both feedback and complaints:
We sent a draft of this review to the organisation. They…did not respond.
- Linked added by us. ↑
- Emphasis in original. ↑
- It achieved this by meeting the Council’s ‘Principles and Standards of Responsible Stewardship’, and therefore is able to be promoted as a ‘high quality organisation’ ↑
- Having the list of accredited organisations on a site that is not secure is inconsistent with this building of ‘faith and trust’:
↑ 
↑- A search for a registered charity in this name brings up Christian Camping International Australia. There is no mention of the connection on the website. ↑
- The Directory has a spot for the member to advertise their needs. For Christian Venues Association, this spot is blank:
↑ - It is disappointing – but not surprising – that accreditation was possible despite the condition of their financial reporting:No cash flow statement.An incomplete ‘Income and Expenditure Statement’ (sic).Incorrect presentation in the ‘Assets and Liabilities Statement’ (sic).Missing many of the required ‘Notes of the Financial Statements’ (sic).
An incorrect responsible person’s declaration. ↑
