Archived: Logoslife International Incorporated, charity review

This is a charity review, a review for those with an interest in the Australian charity Logoslife International Incorporated (LI).

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 LI.

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 25 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.)
• Then there is a section Membership of accountability organisations claimed.

Sources

• ACNC Register (including links)
• Google search on the charity’s name.
• LI website.
• Not on FaceBook or LinkedIn.
• State government fundraising licence registers.
• No reviews on Glassdoor yet.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Entity Subtype

• A subtype consistent with sharing the Gospel.
• As are the objects in the constitution:
  •  To advance the Christian Faith (sic) throughout the world.   To promote preaching, teaching, training, welfare programs and general activities so as to further the cause of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and to work for the building up, extension and renewal of the Christian faith.

CHARITY DETAILS

Legal Name

• LI is a NSW incorporated association (No. INC9896528).

Charity Address for Service

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

Charity ABN

• Tax deductibility: No, you cannot claim a tax deduction for a donation to LI.

Charity Street Address

• Postal address, from the website: PO Box 1425 Baulkham Hills NSW 1755

Email

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

Phone

• The closest I can find is the number for one of the directors, Josh Cocks: 07 5541 1346

Website

• From the Google search: www.logoslifeinternational.org.

ANNUAL REPORTING

• AIS 2015
  • This is LI’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2015 (AIS 2015).
  • It was lodged four months after year end.
  • It gives basic financial information:
    • The only income was $77L in ‘Donations and bequests’.
    • The only expense was $75K for employee expenses.
    • LI reported that its accounting method was ‘Cash’, a method that doesn’t generate assets (or liabilities); therefore they had to record assets ($18K ) outside the double entry system.
  • Unfortunately it’s all you’ve got:
    • Because of its size AO doesn’t have to lodge a Financial Report.
    • Although AO is a member of Missions Interlink[ii], 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, and
      • did not respond to my request for a copy of this ‘statement’.
    • I have therefore been unable to review the latest report.

ABOUT THE CHARITY

• Statement of Faith:  None found.

Date Established

• No history found.

Who the Charity Benefits

• Vision and Mission
  • None found.
• Activities (What did LI do?)
  • From the Description of charity’s activities and outcomes in the AIS 2015:
    • Receiving donations for the support of missionaries working in Botswana.
      • Not particular to 2015.
  • LI has only one project only, their missionary couple.
• Outcomes (What did LI deliver?)
  • LI did not respond to the request in the AIS 2015 for a description of its outcomes.
  • Nothing found on the website.
• Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
  • Nothing found.

Size of Charity

• If there was a size smaller than ‘Small’ LI would no doubt qualify.
• LI is not registered for GST, but is well under the revenue at which it has to register.

Financial Year End

• The next AIS (including Financial Report) is due by 31 December 2016 (or a month later if the ACNC again gives its generous extension.) 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.

WHERE THE CHARITY OPERATES

Operating State(s)[ii]

• NSW is its home state; there is no information that explains why Queensland has been included.
• Given that it operates interstate, LI, as a registrable Australian body, needs an ARBN. It doesn’t have one.
• Although a little hidden, LI does seek donations on its website.
• It has a fundraising licence only in NSW.
  • Apart from exemptions, whether it needs such a licence in a particular state depends on (a) whether fundraising is part of what LI does in that state, and (b) whether that state thinks that ACAS, by calling for donations publicly, is ‘fundraising’ in their territory.

CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)

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

RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

No. of Australian ‘responsible person’ positions[iii]Sandra ConnollyJohn FreemanJohn Pring

Douglas Sands            This function was not working at the time of publication

Elizabeth Groves

Vonda Copleston

Joshua Cocks

• The website has the same names, and a little biography for each.
• The constitution shows that, under Position, there should be a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer and a Secretary.
  • And what is the difference between ‘Committee member’ and ‘Other’?

(End of review of the ACNC Register information)

Membership of accountability organisations claimed

• A very large Missions Interlink ‘Accredited Member’ logo on the website. Membership 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.