Archived: International Teams Ministries Australia Inc, charity review

This is a review, for donors, of the Australian charity International Teams Ministries Australia Inc (IT).

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 giving decision.

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 24 October 2015, and invited them to comment by 3 November. The Chief Finance Officer, in reply to my follow up on 29 October (also sent to the auditor),  said that ‘We have passed this onto our board for consideration’. Nothing further was received by the time of publication on 5 November.

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.
• Lastly, there is a section Membership of accountability organisations claimed.

Sources

• ACNC Register (including links)
• Google search on the charity’s names (see Charity Details, below).
• IT website, including Sydney Refugee Team and their Facebook page.
• IT social media sites, half way down here. Not on LinkedIn.
• Ride for Refugees website, and social media at the bottom here.
• State government fundraising licence registers.
• www.glassdoor.com.au

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Entity Subtype

• A type consistent with sharing the Gospel comes second to ‘social or public welfare’.
• The company’s objects don’t mention religion.

CHARITY DETAILS

Legal Name

• Not to be confused with International Teams Ministries Australia Incorporated as the operator of a PBI. This is a charity automatically created by the ACNC which doesn’t have to, as yet, report separately.
  • It has the fund that is approved for tax deductions (INTERNATIONAL TEAMS AUSTRALIA SYDNEY REFUGEE TEAM).
  • Its Other Name(s) is Sydney Refugee Team, but this is not a registered business name.
• IT is an incorporated association, incorporated under NSW legislation.

Other Name(s)

• Ride for Refugees Australia is missing.
• Neither International Teams nor ITeams are registered business names.

Charity ABN

• Tax deductibility: You cannot claim a tax deduction for a donation to IT, but you can to the charity controlled by IT (see Legal Name, above).

Charity Street Address

• Postal address on the website: PO Box 1123, Baulkham Hills NSW 1755.

ANNUAL REPORTING

• AIS 2014

• This is IT ’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2014 (AIS 2014).
• It gives basic financial information.
  • If you think that this is sufficient for you then you should note that
    • Because they are not shown in the financial statements, it is not possible to verify any of the Income Statement items.
    • Both the income and the expenses are understated by $3K.

• Financial Report 2014

• The report was signed three and a half months after the year end.
• It was then lodged over two months after that.
• The coverage of finances in this review is left until the financial report proper (Latest financial report – detail, below).

ABOUT THE CHARITY

Who the Charity Benefits

• Statement of Faith

• Vision
  • “Lives and communities transformed by the power of God.” Read the explanation here.

• Mission
  • “Helping churches help the poor and oppressed.” Read the explanation here:

• Activities (What did IT do?)
  • From Description of charity’s activities and outcomes in the AIS 2014:
    • We support and develop refugee, end-slavery (sic) and evangelism programs in conjunction with churches overseas and in Australia.

• Outcomes (What did IT deliver?)
  • Unfortunately in the AIS 2014, in response to the request to describe activities and outcomes, there are only activities (see above).

• Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
  • None found.

Size of Charity

• This year’s revenue, $902K, is under $1m, so the Medium classification is correct. However, last year IT qualified in the largest of the ACNC three size categories (‘Large’).

Financial Year End

• This means that the next financial report is due by 30 June 2016. Before that the financial information on the Register will be up to 18 months out-of-date.

WHERE THE CHARITY OPERATES

Operating State(s)[ii]

• Only in NSW has IT a licence to fundraise. Both the other two states in which it says it operates have a licensing regime.
• IT operates interstate as an association, but does not have an Australian Registered Body Number.

Operates in (Countries)

• According to the ‘Give’ page on the website, Romania is missing from this list.
  • And Christmas Island is part of Australia.
• No Australians are shown to be in Cambodia or Greece on the map on the website.

CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)

• There is no Annual Report/Review available on the ACNC Register.
• Nor on the website.

RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

No. of Australian charity directorships[iii])

Danelle McLeay                2 (the other being ‘the operator of a PBI’ (see above))

• This is very incomplete listing.       See here for the names that are missing.
• Danelle McLeay is not on the website list. (The Public Officer is not necessarily a ‘responsible person’.)
• IT is one short of the minimum number of directors required by its constitution.
• It is also short a Deputy Chairman.

(End of review of the ACNC Register information)

Latest financial report – detail

• The cover implies that IT and Sydney Refugee Team are separate organisations. However, not only is there no organisation with the name Sydney Refugee Team, but it’s not a registered business name.
• The directors say that this is a ‘general purpose financial report’ but the accountant who compiled the financial statements says that they are ‘special purpose financial statements’. And then says in her audit report that they are general purpose statements.
• Even though the auditor says that that it is included, and she audited it, the report is missing the ‘Statement of Cash Flows’.
• Although the information is included at the bottom of the profit and loss statement, and the statement is said to have been audited, there is no separate ‘Statement of Changes in Equity’.
• Potential confusion is caused by the inclusion of three statements that are not required.
  • Although these three statements are not audited they are interspersed with the audited statements and are not marked that they are unaudited.
• All of this is despite the fact that the financial statements were compiled by a professional accounting firm, Parramatta Accountants & Tax Agents.
• IT have included a Compilation Report in the report even though the ACNC doesn’t require one.
  • The fact that one was prepared shows that, if the firm was following the profession’s standards, the statements were prepared by the same person who audited them.
  • Accountants have to be very careful with independence when doing this.
  • The Compilation Report is unsigned.
• There are three statements or reports by the Committee included in the Report. All three are unsigned.
• The audit report, by Michele Glossop, is
  • Unsigned
  • dated seven days before the date of the Director’s Declaration.
• The balance sheet doesn’t have any Notes explaining the figures.
• The profit and loss statement
  • is in a long-outdated format, and
  • there are no Notes explaining the figures.
• The Notes to the Financial Statements contain only one Note.

Membership of accountability organisations claimed

• Missions Interlink. Assuming that this document is still up-to-date, membership is confirmed.

(End of review)

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

[ii] 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.’

[iii] 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.