‘Global Concern’: charity review

This is a review^[1] in the series ‘Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Members’^[2]. ACFID ‘is the peak body for Australian non government organisations (NGOs) involved in international development and humanitarian action.’ It requires Members to adhere to a Code of Conduct. ‘Every Home Global Concern’ is one such Member.

Donors

The website linked from the ACFID list goes to a website in the name ‘Global Concern’. Here, by a redirection to GivingFuel, they seek online donations.

Covid-19 – no message or article found on the website

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.
5. Find out more about how the charity says it uses donations.

Here’s the results for ‘Every Home Global Concern’, with #5 supplemented by the essentials of the ACNC’s What should I consider when deciding which charity to support?^[3]

1.   A search on the ACNC Register for Every Home Global Concern leads to Every Home Global Concern Limited (EHGC).

However, the website on EHGC’s Register entry leads to a website in a different name, ‘Every Home for Christ’^[4]. A search for this name on the Register leads back to EHGC. So just two names for the same charity. With a website for each.

Charity response: “The names have changed over the years and the name we advertise now is www.everyhome.org.au but the important thing is that whichever name you use, it takes you to the same website… everyhomeforchrist.org.au.”

Reviewer response: Membership of both ACFID and Missions Interlink goes to EHGC, not ‘everyhomeforchrist.org.au’. (See the second paragraph above.)

On the EHGC website, it is as if Every Home for Christ didn’t exist. There is one incidental reference only^[5]. Similarly, with the Every Home for Christ website: the only reference to EHGC is to imply, in the footer, that the website is about EHGC, not Every Home for Christ^[6]

Adding to the confusion is the multiple names used for EHGC. Although it has Every Home for Christ registered as a business name^[7], it does not have a similar registration for Global Concern, or EHC Australia. So, it shouldn’t be representing itself under those names. Nor is Every Home Global Concern registered, so lacking the necessary provisions in its governing document, it shouldn’t be omitting ‘Ltd’ or ‘Limited’ on the end of the name^[8].

Charity comment: “Global Concern is a registered Trademark – registered with IP Australia (Australian Government) and current until April 2028. However, we realise the law is changing (by 2023) and we will register Global Concern as a registered name so that we comply with the new laws.”

Reviewer response: The business name requirement is current law. It is irrelevant that EHGC has a trade mark.

Charity comment: “Every Home Global Concern Australia and Every Home Global Concern on the website have now been changed to the registered name – Every Home Global Concern Limited.” As the logo represents the registered business name EVERYHOME FOR CHRIST this will not be changed.”

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2.  There is nothing to indicate that EHGC uses door-to-door or street (donation) collectors.

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3.  Both web addresses begin with a closed padlock symbol, so the websites are secure [the ACNC article above]. Both ‘Donate’ pages use the Giving Fuel service, a secure service.

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4.  EHGC’s ABN record says that it is not entitled to receive tax-deductible gifts. But it has a fund, Every Home Global Concern Ltd Australia Overseas Aid Fund that can.

Why is there is no mention of the Fund on the website?

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5. ‘Find out more about how the charity says it uses donations.’

As context, here’s what EHGC does under its own name:

Under Every Home for Christ it seems that it does the same:

So why the two websites?

The audited account of how a charity uses donations is the Financial Report on the ACNC Register. There is, because Every Home for Christ is just a business name, just one Financial Report for EHGC.

But why no mention of Every Home for Christ in this Report?

The use of your donations

Cash spent

From the Statement of Cash Flows (with last year in the second column):

No further information is given on this figure. So, we don’t have enough information to understand where the cash went.

Resources consumed (i.e. accrual)

This, from the Statement of Profit or Loss and Other Comprehensive Income, is how the activities translated into expenses^[9] (with last year’s figures in the second column):

That’s 80% (up from 79% last year) of the total expenses in one line, ‘Other expenses’, with no direction to a Note for a breakup. Not a true and fair view.

Although there is a Note giving more information on the expenses, it is a different classification of the expenses, not an explanation of the above figures:

As there’s no reconciliation to the figures in the body of the statement, so we don’t know what’s in the $1.53 million ‘Other expenses’.

We are not told how EHGC ensures that the funds sent overseas (a) reach the intended recipient, and (b) were used for the purposes for which they were given.

Other issues with the Financial Report

• Almost 100% of the revenue ($1.82 million) has been misclassified as ‘Other income’.
• Trade receivables are misclassified as ‘Other receivables’ [Note 7].
• 54% of the current assets are in the unexplained ‘Other financial assets’.
• Loans have been misclassified as ‘Trade and Other Payables’ [Note 9].
• Are the interest free loans correctly classified as non-current? [Note 9].
• Is it true that a director was paid fees of $64K? [Note 14].

Directors

There’s no Directors’ Report (commonly included, but not compulsory), so we don’t know who was responsible for this disclosure. Presumably, though, it was most, if not all, of those shown people on the ACNC Register (which, going by the website, has yet to be modified for the addition of Roger Mackay):

Alexander Thomas

Darcy Watson

Davidson James

Eric Leach

John Ealand

Ken Koh

Laurel Siokos

Richard Snellenburg

Setatow Befekadu^[10]

The auditor who approved the disclosure is A F Gilbert CA, WSC Group.

Charity response

EHGC ‘welcomes any feedback’. We sent EHGC a draft of this review on 27 April 2020. They responded with comments on the previous review. Where relevant, these have been included above.

1. See here for the previous review. ↑
2. Every Home Global Concern is also a Member of Missions Interlink, so it’s a review in that series as well. (Missions Interlink is ‘the Australian network for global mission’ (and a means for a Member to get income tax exemption when it might not otherwise be available). ↑
3. 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? [A section in the article, Donating and Volunteering]. ↑ ↑
4. As does the entry in the Missions Interlink membership list. ↑
5. ↑
6. ↑
7. ↑
8. Note 14, [Notes to the Financial Statements], says that EHGC pays its directors, something that would stop it being able to use the shortened name anyway. ↑
9. Suggestion to The Navigators: make it an ordered list. ↑
10. Normally directors are accountable to the members. But directors of EHGC are not elected by the members, but by the directors themselves. And there are only 10 members anyway [Note 13, Financial Report 2019].Charity comment: “This is correct. The Directors are the members and are accountable to the broader support base of EHGC. Most Directors are drawn from the support and/or church base.”Reviewer response: There is no accountability mechanism for this ‘broader support base’.↑