Archived: World Hope International Ltd: charity review

This is review in the series ‘Members of Missions Interlink’, Missions Interlink being ‘the Australian network for global mission^[1]’.

‘World Hope International Ltd’ is one such member, an Associate, and an organisation that invites donations in the ‘Pay’ menu.

Both Members and Associates have to accept a set of standards, the introduction to which includes this statement:

World Hope International Ltd chose not to respond to a draft of this review.

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 World Hope International Ltd’, 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 of charities reveals a charity with that name (World Hope hereafter).

The website drops the ‘Ltd’ though. World Hope is allowed to do this because it has the necessary provisions in its constitution.

2.  NA

3. The “web address begins with ‘https’ and there is a closed padlock symbol next to the web address in the address bar”, so the website is secure [the ACNC article above].

There is mention of security on the giving page.

4. The Australian Business Register (linked from World Hope’s ACNC Register record), says that World Hope is entitled to receive tax deductible gifts.

5. There is no mission given on the website. Nor in the Annual Report.

This is how they describe what they do:

World Hope International is a Christian relief and development organisation working with vulnerable and exploited communities to alleviate poverty, suffering, and injustice.

Which translates into this list on the website:

• Anti-Trafficking & Gender-Based Violence
• Clean Water & Sanitation
• Education
• Emergency Response
• Health & Nutrition
• Social Ventures

No activities for 2018 are reported in the AIS 2018, but there is report on the second to fifth of these, plus ‘Rural Development’ and ‘Agriculture’, in the Annual Report (on the ACNC Register).

The audited account of how the donations are used is the Financial Report 2018 on the ACNC Register. Within that there are two statements that give information on how the donations were used. Most donors think in terms of cash, so if that’s you, you might turn first to the Statement of Cash Flows. What you might now know though, is that you first should turn to the Notes to the accounts (Notes to the Financial Statements in this case) to check out the ‘Basis of preparation’.

Do you provide or give things to, receive things from, or have oversight of, or review, of the World Hope^[3][vii]? Perhaps you intend to donate or are one of the donors who gave $119K last year [Financial Report 2018]? If so, can you ring World Hope’s office and request that they prepare financial statements that answer the question or questions you have about the charity? Doubtful. You are therefore ‘potentially interested in the information provided in general purpose reports^[4]’.

You are therefore in the wrong place – I only have access to the published accounts of World Hope, and the directors^[5][ix], with the approval of the auditor^[6], have again declared that you don’t exist:

Instead, the directors chose accounting policies ‘appropriate to meet the needs of the members of the Company’.

If World Hope is still in the running for your business, here’s what they told the members about how your donations were used:

1. Cash: Payments to suppliers $219,909.84
   1. This is 100% of the cash outflows for operating activities, and, for World Hope this year, 100% of all cash outflows.
2. Accrual (expenses): Project Payments:

This listing does not match the six types of activities given on the website (see above).

There is no information given – anywhere – on what steps, if any, are taken to ensure that these monies get to their intended destination and are then used for their intended purpose.

This is the only comment on the impact of the activities:

Please contact me if you need a more in-depth review.

1. https://missionsinterlink.org.au/about/ ↑
2. 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? [A section in the article, Donating and Volunteering]. ↑
3. [vii] From Objective of General Purpose Financial Reporting (SAC2), www.aasb.gov.au:   ↑
4. From Objective of General Purpose Financial Reporting (SAC2), www.aasb.gov.au ↑
5. [ix] The people shown under ‘People’ here. ↑
6. Jason O’Connor CA, Registered Company Auditor. ↑