Archived: Power to Change: mini-charity review

Mini charity review of Power to Change (PTC) as an organisation that invites you, on the internet, to give to it. (Including the answers to the questions that the Australian charity regulator, the ACNC, suggests that you ask.)

Is it responsive to feedback?

• When sent a draft of this review, they…did not respond.

Is PTC registered?

• As a charity, yes.
  • You may know it as Campus Crusade for Christ. They changed the name in 2015. This was their reasoning, including why they took ‘Christ’ out of the name.
  • Another charity, Foundation In Religious Education, says it has the same name, but this is a mistake.
    • This charity has the same phone number and email address as PTC, and has lodged PTC’s financial statements as its own, yet there is no mention of it on the PTC website nor in the financial statements.
  • A third charity, Great Commission Foundation, has the same responsible persons as PTC. It has been registered since April 2016, but again there is no mention of it on the PTC website.
  • PTC has not taken advantage of the ACNC’s group reporting concession. This means that these two subsidiaries must report separately to PTC.
• Other registrations:
  • As a public company, a company limited by guarantee.
    • Not, as it says on the ABN record, an ‘Other Incorporated Entity’.
    • PTC operates, per the ACNC Register, in five states, all of which have a licensing regime for fundraisers. It has no fundraising licences anywhere i.

What do they do?

• See here.

Do they share the Gospel?

• Yes

What impact are they having?

• Nothing found.
• There are 109 missionary singles or couples, and 15 projects listed on the website. No report of activities or results was found.

What do they spend outside the costs directly incurred in delivering the above impact, that is, on administration?

• The expenses are not classified to allow this calculation (or even an estimate).
  • For instance, 76% of the expenses are for ‘Personnel’ but without any breakup.

Can you get a tax deduction?

• Not to PTC (nor Great Commission Foundation), but you can for a donation to Foundation in Religious Education.
  • But this is not offered on the PTC site, and the Foundation doesn’t appear to have a website.

Is their online giving secure?

• BPOINT is used, so yes.

What choices do you have in how your donation is used?

• ‘Supporting a Missionary or a Ministry’
  • This does not match the disclosure in the Notes to the financial statements:
    • ‘Donations received’ $4.47m
    • ‘Local contributions for ministries $432K
    • ‘Overseas contributions for missionaries and ministries’ $959K

Is their reporting up-to-date?

• Yes (lodged five months after their year-end).

Does their reporting comply with the regulator’s requirements?

• AIS 2015: No
  • The figures are for an entity said to be a consolidated entity, not for PTC.
  • Two of the figures under ‘Gross Income’ do not match those in the financial statements.
  • Four business names are missing
  • No outcomes are reported
• AIS 2015 of the subsidiary, Foundation in Religious Education: ‘Other name…’ is incorrect and the financial figures are for the consolidated entity.
• Financial Report 2015: No
  • Note 1 says that the financial statements are for ‘Power to Change as a consolidated entity consisting of Power to Change and the entities it controlled, yet
    • The statements are not labelled as consolidated statements
    • The audit report is not on consolidated statements.
    • There is mention of the subsidiaries in the Report.
    • There is no Note giving the parent’s financial figures.

What financial situation was shown in that Report?

• The surplus as a percentage of revenue declined from 5% to 3%.
• 15% of the expenses are for ‘Other operating costs’, without breakup.
• Working capital (current assets less current liabilities) is strongly positive.
• No long-term liabilities.

What did the auditor say about the last financial statements?

He gave a ‘clean’ opinioni

• But see ‘Does their reporting…?’, above.

If a charity, is their page on the ACNC Register complete?

• Almost – some business names are missing.
• The subsidiaries:
  • Foundation in Religious Education:
    • No ‘Responsible Persons’
    • ‘Website’ is blank, there’s postal address instead of a street address, and ‘Other Name(s) is incorrect
  • Great Commission Foundation: ‘Email’ and ‘Website’ are blank.

Who are the people controlling the organisation?

• Not shown on the website, but from ‘Responsible Persons’ on the ACNC Register:
  • Peter Brook
    • Is it this Peter Brook?
  • Rex Campbell
  • Allan Gibson
  • David Harvey
  • Robert Rawson

To whom is PTC accountable?

• To Missions Interlink[1] via their Associate membership.
• To ASIC, as a company,
• And, as an Australian registered charity, to the ACNC.

1. For one opinion on the strength of that accountability, see the section Activities in this review. ↑