Archived: Emmanuel Relief & Rehabilitation International: charity review

This is a charity review of Emmanuel Relief & Rehabilitation International (ERR) an organisation that is exempt from Australian income tax via its membership 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.

Is it responsive to feedback?

• There is no website, so no invitation to give feedback or submit a complaint. And nothing about accountability.
• I sent them a draft of this review. Like last year, they…did not respond.

Is ERR registered?

• As a charity, yes.
• Even though it says, in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) 2017, that it is incorporated, ERR is an unincorporated association.
  • It was originally an incorporated association but was deregistered in 2006.
  • Although it’s not taken advantage of it, ERR, as an unincorporated body with the ‘Entity Subtype’ ‘Advancing Religion’, is likely to qualify as a Basic Religious Charity.
• It does not hold any business names.
• ERR operates, per the ACNC Register, only in Western Australia. It doesn’t have a fundraising licence there. It says, in the AIS 2017, that it intends to fundraise, so if its donations come from the public it needs a licence.

What do they do?

• The only information – there is no website and no Financial Report – is in the AIS 2017:
  • Funds were distributed for education, training, health care, disaster rehabilitation, rural community development projects and religious teaching. At meetings in Australia we raised awareness of the situation of people in need, and prayed for them.
    • This was with an income of $35K.
• Part of the ‘EI Network’.
• They operate overseas, per the ACNC Register, in three countries. With $34k of the $35K income being spent on overseas grants, this is most likely where they sent money, not people.

Do they share the Gospel^[1]?

• No

What impact are they having?

• Nothing found.

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

• ‘Grants and donations made…’ were 98% of the expenses.
  • We don’t know how much administration was deducted by the recipient though.

Do they pay their directors?

• We can’t tell from the information available.

Can you get a tax deduction?

• No

Is their online giving secure?

• NA

Where were the (net) donations sent?

• The grants ‘for use outside Australia’ presumably went to the three countries shown on the ACNC Register (Canada, Philippines, and Uganda). The destination within the countries is not disclosed.

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

• There is no information available on this.

Is their reporting up-to-date?

• Yes (seven months after year end, a week before the deadline).

Does their reporting comply with the regulator’s requirements?

• AIS 2017: Not quite
  • ‘Other names…’: One is a trading name (and they are now of little consequence), and the other is neither a trading name nor a business name. Two other trading names are not shown.
  • No outcomes reported.
• Financial Report 2017: NA
  • As a ‘Small’ charity, ERR doesn’t have to submit a Financial Report.
  • Although ERR is a member of Missions Interlink, and one of their requirements is that members ‘have available for its members and supporters a clear and appropriate financial statement which has been approved by its auditor’ [Standards Statement, 4.1], they did not choose to lodge one with the ACNC voluntarily.
  • An audit is also required by the constitution.

What financial situation was shown in that Report?

• No Report (see above), but from the AIS 2017:
  • Donations returned to 100% of income (71% last year).
  • No employees.
  • ERR reported that its accounting method was ‘Cash’, a method that doesn’t generate assets and liabilities. Other than cash then, these came from outside the double entry system.
  • 98% of the payments were for ‘Grants and donations…’, all of it to overseas.

What did the auditor say about the last financial statements?

• No audit report was published.
  • One is required by both the constitution and Missions Interlink.

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

• Not quite – ‘Who the Charity Benefits’ is blank.
  • It may be known by the names Emmanuel International, and Emmanuel International Australia, but these are not registered business names. It must therefore trade under its full name.
  • ‘No’ for ‘Basic Religious Charity’ may be incorrect.
  • ‘Email’, ‘website’ and ‘phone’ are blank, but are not compulsory.
    • That ERR has no website is confirmed by the listing of ‘National Affiliates’ on Emmanuel International’s site.
    • From there we also get another email address: australia@e-i.org/. And the phone number: (08) 9386 8488.

Who are the people controlling the organisation?

• As shown on the ACNC Register (under ‘Responsible Persons’), the same people as last year:
  • Allison Chapple
    • Is Allison this one?
  • Heather Ellis
    • Shouldn’t it be ‘Margaret Ellis’?
  • Mary Roskams
  • Babu Simon

To whom is ERR accountable?

• As a charity, to the ACNC.
• They are a member of Missions Interlink.
  • For one opinion of the strength of that accountability, see the section Activities in this review.

1. “Good living and social concern are important [to the cause of evangelism], but they are not uniquely Christian graces…I’ve met a lot of fine Hindus, Muslims and atheists. Just living the life is not going to bring someone to Christ. There is much more to it than that. We must help people, certainly, but we must also share with them why we are motivated to do so. We must stand against injustice, poverty and need, but we must at the same time point to the One who brings justice and who can meet the deepest need. Until they know our reasons, how can they come to know our Lord?” [Dan Armstrong, the Fifth Gospel: The Gospel According to You, Anzea Books, pp. 13-14. ↑