Archived: Hope Myanmar Partnership Incorporated, charity review
Care: At least some of the information about this charity is no longer current.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 charity review, a review for those with an interest in the Australian charity Hope Myanmar Partnership Incorporated (HMP).
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 HMP.
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 16 March 2016, and invited them to comment. They did not respond.
Organisation of this review
- The review is organised according to the headings in the Register entry.
- For each heading in the register entry, first read the information under that heading.
- Then check if that heading is included below. (Headings for which there is no comment are not included.)
Sources
- ACNC Register (including links)
- Google search on the charity’s name.
- HMP website, FaceBook, and Vimeo (all in the name Hope Myanmar Partnership). Not on LinkedIn.
- State government fundraising licence registers.
- No reviews yet on Glassdoor.
REGISTRATION DETAILS
Entity Subtype
- The first is consistent with sharing the Gospel.
- The governing object in the constitution makes evangelisation prime:
- to contribute to the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ in Myanmar, in Australia and elsewhere…
CHARITY DETAILS
Legal Name
- HMP is a NSW incorporated association (INC9884719)
Other Name(s)
- The two trading names, Hope Myanmar Partnership, and Hope Myanmar, should be here. However, these do not, as HMP appears to believe that they do (see Sources, above), permit HMP to operate under them. That would require a business name.
- In fact, no only does HMP have to add Australia to the name that it is using, but also ‘Inc’ or ‘Incorporated’ on anything official.
Charity ABN
- Tax deductibility: Your donation to HMP will not attract a tax deduction.
- I have no reason to believe that this doesn’t work.
Charity Street Address
- I have no reason to believe that this doesn’t work.
- Postal address, from the FaceBook page: PO Box 112 Jesmond, Newcastle, NSW
Phone
- There’s not one on the website either.
- Nor in the White Pages.
ANNUAL REPORTING
- AIS 2015
- This is HMP’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2015 (AIS 2015).
- It was submitted four and a half months after year end.
- Financial Report 2015
- Although there is nothing on the website, HMP is a member of Missions Interlink[ii].
- 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].
- I asked HMP, as a potential supporter and somebody who reviews charities, for this ‘statement’. However, the contact person said the request would have to considered by the board. It is now two weeks after the time for that meeting, and I have heard nothing. I have therefore been unable to review the latest report.
- Although there is nothing on the website, HMP is a member of Missions Interlink[ii].
ABOUT THE CHARITY
Date Established
Who the Charity Benefits
- Vision
- Mission
- Activities (What did HMP do?)
- From the AIS 2015:
- HMP Australia seeks to raise awareness and funds to support activities of HMP Myanmar. The monies raised were used for funding the accommodation, food, and education costs of students and staff at Restoration Bible Institute in Yangon. The monies also went to Blossom Preschool, an innovative early learning centre for poverty stricken (sic) Buddhists in one of the most disadvantaged areas of Yangon. From time to time the monies raised also went to emergency relief e.g. draught/famine relief and to a hospital program modelled on the starlight foundation (sic) model.
- Unclear whether this is particular to 2015.
- HMP Australia seeks to raise awareness and funds to support activities of HMP Myanmar. The monies raised were used for funding the accommodation, food, and education costs of students and staff at Restoration Bible Institute in Yangon. The monies also went to Blossom Preschool, an innovative early learning centre for poverty stricken (sic) Buddhists in one of the most disadvantaged areas of Yangon. From time to time the monies raised also went to emergency relief e.g. draught/famine relief and to a hospital program modelled on the starlight foundation (sic) model.
- What HMP does is well described on the website.
- From the AIS 2015:
- Outcomes (What did HMP deliver?)
- HMP did respond to the request in the AIS 2015 for a description of its outcome.
- Some anecdotal is in evidence in HMP’s occasional newsletters.
- Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
- Some anecdotal is in evidence in HMP’s occasional newsletters.
Size of Charity
- If there were a size smaller than ‘Small’, HMP would no doubt qualify.
- HMP is not registered for GST, but is well under the revenue at which it has to register.
Financial Year End
- Before the due date for the next report, 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]
- It is not clear from the website in what sense HMP ‘operates’ all over Australia, but if they have understood the ACNC’s definition, then, as a registrable Australian body, they could well need an ARBN. They don’t have one.
- HMP calls for donations on each page of its website.
- And on GiveNow.
- Despite references to the Charitable Fundraising Act 1991 in its constitution, HMP is not a registered fundraiser in NSW.
- Nor is it registered in any of the other six states that have a licensing regime.
- Apart from exemptions, whether it needs such a licence depends on whether they think that HMP, by calling for donations publicly, is ‘fundraising’ in their territory.
CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)
- An annual report/review, if there was one, and it had been lodged, would have appeared here.
- There is no Annual Report/Review on the HMP website.
No. of Australian ‘responsible person’ positions[iv]
Andrew Orenstein This function was not working at the time of writing
David Calderwood
- Constitutionally, there must be at least five committee members.
- In addition to the Treasurer, above, there should be a President and a Secretary, plus one other ‘Committee member’.
- The Committee is not mentioned on the website.
(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.