North Canberra Baptist Church: charity review

This is a review of the organisation ‘North Canberra Baptist Church, principally for those who are existing donors, or who are considering donating.

I sent a draft of this review to the church on 15 May 2019. They did not respond.

The charities’ regulator, 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 ‘North Canberra Baptist Church’, 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 name ‘North Canberra Baptist Church’ on the ACNC Register of charities leads to a registered charity in that name (‘North Canberra Baptist”).

2. One would not expect a church to use third party collectors, and there is nothing to indicate that North Canberra Baptist does.

3. The web address does not begin with ‘https’, and there is no “closed padlock symbol next to the web address in the address bar”, so the website is not secure [the first ACNC article above]. However, you will not need to rely on it as there is no online giving facility.

4. The Australian Business Register (linked from North Canberra Baptist’s ACNC Register record), says that the charity is not entitled to receive tax deductible gifts. It is, however, a legitimate charity.

5. Objectives/Mission

Nothing on the website.

From the ‘Constitution and Motions in Effect [Governing document, ACNC Register]:

Activities

See ‘Resources’ in the main menu.

Sharing the Gospel^[3]?

Yes

Locations

North Canberra Baptist operates in Australia, per the ACNC Register, only in the ACT.

No overseas countries are listed; whether this is correct depends on whether North Canberra Baptist sends money overseas, something that cannot be seen from the ACNC Register information (see below).

How the mission and activities translated into dollars spent

North Canberra Baptist’s size for reporting purposes, ‘Small’, means that it is not obliged to lodge a Financial Report on the ACNC Register. And it hasn’t. In addition, the Church has taken advantage of the concessions allowed it as a Basic Religious Charity, and not provided any financial information in the AIS 2018.

The people responsible for this decision (and all decisions) are the members of the ‘Diaconate’ (Governing document, ACNC Register). They are not identified on the website, but the Responsible People on the Register are Dylan Muir, Gordon Carmichael, and Susan Henderson.

Outcomes/impact

Nothing found on outcomes or impact.

1. Focus on the nature of the charity’s work, i+ts 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]. ↑

2. “Good living and social concern are important [to the cause of evangelism], but they are not uniquely Christian graces…I’ve met a lot of fine Hindus, Muslims and atheists. Just living the life is not going to bring someone to Christ. There is much more to it than that. We must help people, certainly, but we must also share with them why we are motivated to do so. We must stand against injustice, poverty and need, but we must at the same time point to the One who brings justice and who can meet the deepest need. Until they know our reasons, how can they come to know our Lord?” [Dan Armstrong, the Fifth Gospel: The Gospel According to You, Anzea Books, pp. 13-14. ↑