Moore Theological College Council

This is a review^[1] in the series ‘Members of Missions Interlink’, Missions Interlink being the Australian Evangelical Alliance Inc‘s ‘network for global mission‘. We review these charities because their membership means that they must sign up to a set of standards, and this, at least on paper, makes them a better bet for your donations (or other involvement).

‘Moore Theological College Council – Centre for Global Mission – a centre of the charitable entity’ is one such member. It seeks donations on the website linked from Missions Interlink.

COVID-19

Donors

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

Here’s the results for ‘Moore Theological College Council – Centre for Global Mission – a centre of the charitable entity’, with #5 supplemented by the essentials of the ACNC’s What should I consider when deciding which charity to support?^[2]

1.  A search on the ACNC Register for the name of the member, ‘Centre for Global Mission’, gives no result. An ABN search shows that ‘Centre for Global Mission’ is a registered business name of Moore Theological College Council. This is a registered[3] charity^[4] (MTC).

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2.  There is nothing to indicate that MTC uses either door-to-door or street collectors.

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3.  The web address begins with a closed padlock symbol, so the website is secure [the ACNC article above^[5]]. There’s a Comodo Secure logo on the donation page, telling you that your information should be secure.

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4.  MTC’s ABN record says it is not entitled to receive tax-deductible gifts. The donation page is consistent with this.

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5.  The use of your donations

For context, see here.

The audited account of how a charity uses donations is the Financial Report on the ACNC Register.

Directors have a choice between two kinds of reports, special purpose or general purpose. The requirements of the former are less onerous than the latter. The directors of MTC at the time (see below), decided on special purpose. The auditor, Joseph Santangelo, for Nexia Sydney Partnership, agreed with this decision.

This is what his professional body, Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand, has to say about the choice between the two types of reports^[6]:

With 98 employees, donations of $2.25 million (in gross income of $14.72 million) [Annual Information Statement 2019], and hundreds of students, the evidence is against MTC being one of the exceptions. But that is the choice that the directors made^[7].

One of the implications of their choice is that you can ring MTC’s office and request that they prepare financial statements that answer the question or questions you have about the charity. We strongly doubt that they will agree^[8]. And if they don’t then the accounts presented by the directors are not for you^[9].

Where the money went

If you are still happy to rely on the financial statements, here, from the Statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income (and with last year’s figures in the second column), is the expenses they incurred:

Other than a Note on when finance expenses are recognised, there is no further information on any of these items. It is arguable that this lack of information is a contravention of the Australian Accounting Standard AASB 101^[10].

The second last line here is the only information about the entity that Missions Interlink have listed as their member, Centre for Global Mission:

Who’s responsible?

The current board is shown on the website. Which is the same board as is listed on the ACNC Register:

Andrew Killen

Anthony Clemens

Christopher Edwards

Daniel Wu

David Cohen

David Mears

Diane Warren

Glenn Davies

Jason Ramsay

Kara Hartley

Ken Chapman

Kevin Kim

Mark Thompson

Monique New

Robert Tong

William Hurditch

All bar Wu, Mears and New were on the board when the Financial Report 2019 was approved.

The board is accountable to the Governing Council (membership not given). The Council is in turn accountable to the (Anglican) Synod of the Diocese of Sydney:

Impact

There is nothing on the website about the impact of the donations.

Charity response

The introduction to the Mission Interlink standards (see above) includes this statement:

We sent the member a draft of this review. They…did not respond.

End of review.

1. See here for the previous review. ↑
2. A section in the article, Donating and Volunteering:
   • • 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?

   ↑

3. The ACNC implies, therefore, that it is a ‘legitimate’ charity. But this is not correct – as the ACNC itself points out, registration is voluntary. ↑
4. Dropping ‘Council’ from the search reveal two other charities that have Moore Theological College in their name:Although we can’t be sure – both charities have failed to lodge their governing document – they appear to be controlled by The Anglican Church Property Trust Diocese of Sydney. ↑
5. The ACNC’s information (in its article above) is not correct for the Chrome browser; it does not have ‘https’. ↑
6. Enhancing Not-for-Profit Annual and Financial Reporting, March 2013, accessed from their website March 2020.  ↑
7. They contradict this is their Governing Board members’ declaration: ↑
8. The accounting profession says that you are therefore ‘potentially interested in the information provided in general purpose financial reports’, the other kind of report. [From Objective of General Purpose Financial Reporting (SAC2), www.aasb.gov.au]. ↑
9. This is the implication of their choice. The directors, contrary to the law, do not give the reason for their choice. ↑
10. www.aasb.gov.au ↑