Archived: The Council of St. Andrew’s Cathedral School: mini-charity review

Mini-charity review of The Council of St. Andrew’s Cathedral School (SACS), an organisation that invites the public to donate to it, and that is connected, through a director, Marcus Judge, to the organisation that is planning to accredit ‘Christian organisations against a set of standards of good governance, financial oversight, and fundraising ethics.’

(Including the answers to the questions that the Australian charity regulator, the ACNC, suggests that you ask.)

Are they responsive to feedback?

• When sent a draft of this review, on 27 March, they did not respond.

Is SACS registered?

• As a charity, yes.
• SACS controls two other charities, St Andrew’s Cathedral Gawura School (Gawura) and St Andrew’s Cathedral School Foundation Ltd (the Foundation)
  • SACS hasn’t taken advantage of the ACNC’s group reporting concessions.
  • There is also a third entity, The trustee for The St Andrew’s Cathedral School Choristers, which is not a registered charity.
    • You would expect that SACS produces consolidated financial statements, but there are no financial statements in the public domain, so I can’t check.
• Other registrations:
  • Although its ABN record says that it is an ‘Other Incorporated Entity”, SACS is not incorporated in the usual sense; it is ‘incorporated’ by an Anglican church law (‘ordinance’) passed by The Synod of the Diocese of Sydney.
  • SACS doesn’t have any fundraising licences^[1].

What do they do?

• A kindergarten to Year 12 school.
  • That’s different in this way.
• Gawura: ‘a campus for boys and girls from Kindergarten to Year 6 who are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background’
• The Foundation: ‘The sacs foundation (sic) is the organisation through which financial support for our school is directed’.
  • But as the trustee for various trusts, not in its own name. (Which explains the all the zeros in its financial statements on the Register.)

Do they share the Gospel?

• Yes
• Gawura: Yes
• The Foundation: NA

What impact are they having?

• Nothing systematic found.
• Gawura: Nothing systematic found.
• The Foundation: Nothing systematic found.

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

• No financial statements are publicly available.
• Gawura: No financial statements are publicly available.
• The Foundation: Financial statements for the trustee are on the ACNC Register, but not for the trust.

Can you get a tax deduction?

• Yes, but only if you give to one its two funds, The Council of St Andrew’s Cathedral School Building Fund and St Andrew’s Cathedral School Library Fund.
• Gawura: No
• The Foundation: Yes, but only if you give to its fund (unnamed on the ABN record, but most likely The St Andrew’s Cathedral School Choristers Public Fund.)

Is their online giving secure?

• If security is mentioned it is not until after you have entered all the information required for the donation.

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

• On this page, three choices:
  • ‘The SACS Foundation – Gawura Scholarship Fund’
    • Said to be a tax-deductible fund, but this was unable to be confirmed.
  • ‘the St Andrew’s Cathedral School Building Fund’
  • ‘The Phillip Heath Scholarship Fund’
    • No mention of a tax deduction here, but if it is the PJH Scholarship Fund below, then deductibility is claimed but unable to be confirmed.
• On this page, many choices are offered by The Foundation, all offering a tax deduction:
  • The Building Fund (above)
  • ‘Gawura Foundation’. The link goes to the first page above.
  • ‘PJH Scholarship Fund’. No link.
    • Unable to confirm tax-deductibility.
  • ‘SACS Sports Foundation’. No link when first mentioned but in a later section there is a link to the Australian Sports Foundation.
  • ‘The SACS Rugby Committee’. The link also goes to the Australian Sports Foundation.

Is their reporting up-to-date?

• Yes (lodged six months after their year-end, a month later than last year.)
• Gawura: Yes (lodged six months after their year-end, a month earlier than last year.)
• The Foundation: Yes (lodged a little over five months after their year-end, two months earlier than last year.)

Does their reporting comply with the regulator’s requirements?

• AIS 2015: Almost – their business name is missing.
  • Gawura: Almost – no outcomes are reported.
  • The Foundation: Yes
• Financial Report 2015: Yes
  • Because it is a non-government school, neither financial statements nor financial information need be supplied by SACS to the ACNC:
    • The ‘Due Date’ for the AIS 2015 is ‘Not required’.
    • Section E in the AIS 2015 has this message:
      • Financial Information for this charity has been populated through a streamlined reporting arrangement with the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. It therefore may not contain the charity’s complete Financial Information. Further information is available at: acnc.gov.au/nongovschools.
    • Despite the message, there is no financial information. The ACNC will eventually insert figures into the AIS when they are supplied by the Department of Education and Training (DET), but due to a policy decision of the ACNC, the Register will always lack the charity’s financial statements.
    • It’s not as if the SACS doesn’t have audited financial statements. Both their constitution and DET require them. It’s just that the ACNC, unlike for nearly all other charities, doesn’t require them, and SACS has chosen not to publish them voluntarily, either on the ACNC Register or on its website.
    • You can see what DET considers SACS’s key financial figures on the ‘My School’ section of DET’s website.
  • Gawura: Yes
    • The situation is the same as for SACS (above).
  • The Foundation: Yes
    • The statements on the Register are for the Foundation in its own right, not as a trustee. The statement of the trusts that it administers have not been lodged, and are not available publicly.

What financial situation was shown by that Report?

• NA
• Gawura: NA
• The Foundation: NA

What did the auditor say about the last financial statements?

• No audit report is available to the public.
• Gawura: the report is not publicly available.
• The Foundation: He issued a ‘clean’ opinion. (But they had no transactions, and held no balances, in their own name.)

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

• Not quite:
  • ‘Phone’ is blank (but this information is optional) [Parenthetical information added 14.04.17].
  • Their business name, Kirrikee Outdoor Education, is missing.
• Gawura: Almost – ‘Phone’ is blank (but this information is optional) [Parenthetical information added 14.04.17].
• The Foundation: Almost – ‘Phone’ is blank (but this information is optional) [Parenthetical information added 14.04.17].

Who are the people controlling the organisation?

• The people on the website here.
• The list of ‘Responsible Persons’ on the ACNC Register is missing Caitlyn Hurley and Glenn Davies:
  • Brazel Felicity (sic)
  • Andrew Ford
    • This profile says that he finished on the Council in 2017.
  • Catherine Grant
  • Ray Jarratt
  • Marcus Judge
    • Marcus is a member of the ‘Standards Panel’ (or is it the ‘CMA Standards Council’?), a committee of Christian Management Advancement Ltd, an organisation that believes that
      • Christian organisations should be the standard-setters in terms of impeccable corporate behaviour.
        • The Panel’s mission is to ‘help build faith and trust in Christian organisations’, including by allowing organisations who are compliant with a set of standards, formed by the Council, to display the Council’s seal of approval.
  • Ray Minniecon
  • Kanishka Raffel
  • John Scott
  • Kathryn Thompson
  • Ben Waterhouse
  • Jillian Wheeler
    • Is it this Jillian Wheeler?
  • Michael Winram
  • There are 386 (yes 386) directorships recorded for the name ‘Glenn Davies’, 12 for ‘Andrew Ford’, and nine for ‘Kanishka Raffel’.  And the register only covers charities, not all not-for-profits, and no for-profit organisations.  Therefore, if after eliminating the charities that don’t belong to a SACS director, you are left with his total being more than a handful, it would be legitimate for you to question whether his ability to discharge his fiduciary responsibilities is threatened.
• Gawura:
  • The same people as above, except with the addition of John Collier (twice!).
• The Foundation:
  • Felicity Brazel
  • Grant Catherine (sic)
  • John Collier
  • Martha Fetner
    • Is it this Martha Fetner?
  • Robert Laurie
  • Alex Lynch
  • Powell Rodger (sic)
    • Is it this Rodger Powell?
  • Peter Warne
  • Christine Williams

To whom are SACS accountable?

• Department of Education and Training
• New South Wales Education Standards Authority
• And the ACNC.
• The Synod of the (Anglican) Diocese of Sydney

1. The law in this area is not straightforward – is an internet invitation ‘fundraising’ for instance? – and advice varies, so check with the charity before drawing any conclusions. ↑