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Archived: Evangelical Missionary Society in Mayurbhanj, charity review

Charity registration 'voluntarily revoked', effective 30 November 2019.  No ABN at 18 August 2021.

This is a charity review, a review for those with an interest in the Australian charity Evangelical Missionary Society in Mayurbhanj (EMS).

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 EMS.

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 5 March 2016, and invited them to comment. They did not respond.

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.)
  • There is then a more detailed comment on the Financial Report. (Go straight there.)

Sources

  • ACNC Register (including links)
  • Google search on the charity’s name.
  • No website, and not on social media. Nor LinkedIn.
  • Qld government fundraising licence register.
  • No reviews yet on Glassdoor.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Entity Subtype

  • A subtype consistent with sharing the Gospel.
  • There is no mention of Christianity in the objects in the constitution.

CHARITY DETAILS

Legal Name

  • Although the ABN record says that EMS is an Other Incorporated Entity, this is not, as the constitution says, because it is ‘incorporated in the State of Queensland’. Nor in any other State.
    • If it were incorporated it would not qualify as a Basic Religious Charity (see below).

Charity ABN

  • You will not be entitled to a tax deduction for a donation to EMS.

Charity Address for Service

  • I have no reason to believe this doesn’t work.

Charity Street Address

  • The 2014-15 Account of Foreign Contribution submitted to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs shows a different address: 31 Chapman Street Chapel Hill.
  • No website to check for a postal address.

Email

  • I have no reason to believe this doesn’t work.

Phone

  • No website to check there.
  • From Lloyd Carter’s LinkedIn profile: 0433 352 088

Website

  • None found.
  • The site of one of the two organisations in India to which they send money: www.mlh.org.in. (The other is Evangelical Missionary Society.)

ANNUAL REPORTING

  • AIS 2015
    • This is EMS’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2015 (AIS 2015).
    • EMS chose – because they could as a Basic Religious Charity (see below) – not to given any financial information. (It did, however, attach a financial report.)
  • Financial Report 2015
    • Although not required to submit a financial report to the ACNC, EMS is, as a member of Missions Interlink[ii] required to ‘have available for its members and supporters a clear and appropriate financial statement which has been approved by its auditor [Standards Statement, 4.1]
    • The report that EMS has lodged does not meet this requirement. See Latest financial report – detail, below.
    • As there is no directors’ declaration included in the Financial Report, we don’t know when the directors approved the financial report – or even if they did approve it.
    • Presumably it was before the auditor signed on 22 August 2015, which would mean that the report was completed within two months of year end.
    • However, it was another four months, on the last day of the period normally allowed for submission, before it was submitted to the ACNC.

ABOUT THE CHARITY

  • Statement of Faith
    • The constitution refers to a Statement of Faith, but it is not included in that document.
    • No website to check there.

Date Established

  • This date is not quite consistent with the histories available, here, and here.

Who the Charity Benefits

  • Vision/Mission
    • No website to check.
  • Activities (What did EMS do?)
    • From Section B in the AIS 2015:
      • Hospital services and rehabilitation services, Other education, Other health services, Other: The charity supports related religious charitable purposes in India, Prayer, correspondence, personal encouragement and support, communicatio
    • Here is a description of what is done in India (as opposed to in Australia).
  • Outcomes (What did EMS deliver?)
    • EMS did not respond to the request in the AIS 2015 for a description of its outcomes.
  • Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
    • No website to check.

Size of Charity

  • If there were a category smaller than this, EMS would no doubt qualify.
  • Not registered for GST, so turnover has to be less than $150K.

Financial Year End

  • This means that the next financial report is due by 31 December 2016 (or 31 January 2017 if the ACNC is generous again). 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.

Basic Religious Charity

  • If you believe that EMS couldn’t be registered as another subtype of charity then it qualifies as one of these special cases. 

WHERE THE CHARITY OPERATES

Operating State(s)[iii]

  • It does not hold a fundraising licence in this state.

CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)

  • This is marked ‘Proposal (Draft 3) Nov 2013’.
  • There is no Annual Report/Review available on the ACNC Register.
  • No website to check for one.

RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

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

Glenys Hambelton          This function was not working at the time of publication

Gladys Staines

Gilbert Venz

Robyn Marriott

Harvey Carter

  • Presumably this is The Consultative Council, not The Executive Council (Constitution, ‘Government’).
  • It is not clear why EMS would say, in their AIS 2015, that this list is not ‘complete, current and accurate’ rather than fix it.
  • Is Harvey Carter the same person as Lloyd Carter, said elsewhere to be the chair, and on the Register as the contact person?

 

(End of review of the ACNC Register information)

  • Latest financial report – detail
  • This report is grossly deficient.
    • It is incomplete. 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 Fellow of an accounting association that requires[v]compliance with the Australian Auditing Standards, is nothing like what is required by those Standards. And shows that the audit was not done as it should have been done.
    • Nowhere are we told the financial reporting framework that has been adopted by the board.
    • A true and fair view requires an explanation of the close relationship between EMS and the two organisations to which it sends money in India.

(End of review)

 

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

[ii] A valuable membership for some– see ‘What membership means’ here.)

[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.

[v] ATMA By-laws, www.atma.com.au.

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BY: Ted Sherwood IN : , ,
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