Archived: World to Christ International (Australia) Inc, charity review

This is a charity review, a review for those with an interest in the Australian charity World to Christ International (Australia) Inc (WTC).

It is structured according to the charity’s entry on the ACNC[i]Register, and its purpose is to supply some information extra to what is there, information that may be helpful in your decision about WTC.

It is up to you to decide whether any or all of the information presented here is what you need in order to make that decision, and whether you should seek any other information, either from the charity itself or from other sources.

Ministry response

Prior to publishing this review, I sent my observations to the charity, on 4 March 2016, and invited them to comment.  On 9 March they said “Thank you very much for sending your review and observations of World to Christ International (Australia) Inc.  We are contacting the relevant authorities to ensure that we are compliant.”

Organisation of this review

• The review is organised according to the headings in the Register entry.
  1. For each heading in the register entry, first read the information under that heading.
  2. Then check if that heading is included below. (Headings for which there is no comment are not included.)

Sources

• ACNC Register (including links)
• Google search on the charity’s name.
• WTC website. FaceBook. Not on LinkedIn.
• State government fundraising licence registers.
• No reviews yet on Glassdoor.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Entity Subtype

• A subtype consistent with sharing the Gospel.
• There are no objects in the constitution, merely a tangential reference to a Statement of Purposes, a document that is not included.
  • Nor is it, I think (no search function) on the website.

CHARITY DETAILS

Legal Name

• WTC is a Victorian incorporated association (No. A0054699X).
• The organisational and legal relationship between WTC and the Hong Kong WTC is unclear.

Other Name(s)

• Because it has no business name registered, WTC is required by law to use its full name. Not ‘WTCI’ for instance.
• And not another name: Jesus’ Healing Of the Whole Person.

Charity ABN

• Tax deductibility: Your donation to WTC will not attract a tax deduction.

Charity Address for Service

• I have no reason to believe that this doesn’t work.

Charity Street Address

• Postal address, from the website: PO Box 520 Bentleigh East 3165

Email

• I have no reason to believe that this doesn’t work.

Phone

• From the website: 0409 076 176

Website

• From a Google search: http://jhwp.org.au/

ANNUAL REPORTING

• AIS 2015
  • This is WTC’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2015 (AIS 2015).
  • It was submitted three months after year end.
• Financial Report 2015
  • Because WTC said it was a Basic Religious Charity when completing the AIS 2015, it was allowed to submit it without disclosing any financial information.
  • Clause 30(4) of the constitution requires WTC to produce annual accounts compliant with the Australian Accounting Standards and have them audited
  • Although there is nothing on the website, WTC is a member of Missions Interlink[ii].
    • One of their requirements is that members ‘have available for its members and supporters a clear and appropriate financial statement which has been approved by its auditor [Standards Statement, 4.1].
    • I asked WTC, as a potential supporter and somebody who reviews charities, for this ‘statement’. However, they did not reply. I have therefore been unable to review the latest report.

ABOUT THE CHARITY

• Statement of Faith

 Date Established

• Not registered until 7 July that year.
• Here’s a brief history.
• And the founder’s story.

Who the Charity Benefits

• Vision
• Mission
• Activities (What did WTC do?)
  • From the AIS 2015:
    • Training Christians in healing prayer ministry, taking short-term teams to overseas locations to train and equip national Christians.
• Outcomes (What did WTC deliver?)
  • WTC did respond to the request in the AIS 2015 for a description of its outcome.
  • Some anecdotal evidence in WTC’s occasional newsletters.
• Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
  • Some anecdotal evidence in WTC’s occasional newsletters.

Size of Charity

• WTC is not registered for GST; if it has understood the requirements, its revenue must be less than $150K p.a.

Financial Year End

• Before the due date for the next report, the financial information on the Register will be up to 18 months out-of-date.
  • You may therefore need to ask for more up-to-date information.

Basic Religious Charity

• This is a mistake. WTC doesn’t qualify.

WHERE THE CHARITY OPERATES

Operating State(s)[iii]

• Not a registered fundraiser in this state.
• WCT calls for donations on its website (at the bottom here).
  • Apart from not being a registered fundraiser in Victoria, it doesn’t have a licence in any of the other six states that have a licensing regime.

Operates in (Countries)

• Presumably this is not because money is sent to Hong Kong, but because courses are conducted there (see, for instance February 2015 on FaceBook, and here).

CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)

• An annual report/review, if there was one, and it had been lodged, would have appeared here.
• There is no Annual Report/Review on the WTC website.

RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

No. of Australian ‘responsible person’ positions[iv]

George Lagwa                  This function was not working at the time of writing

Robert Nichols

Karen Seymour

Frederik Werps

Edward Seymour

Wendy Lagwa

Sophia Hunter

• This listing matches the one on the website.
• Assuming that George and Wendy are related (married?), and similarly Karen and Edward, the board would seem to be too small at seven people.
• Is Sophia Hunter this one?
• And George Lagwa this one?
• Under ‘Position’,
  • WTC is missing its four officers [constitution, clause 19(1)], and
  • What is the difference between ‘Other’ and ‘Board member’?

(End of review)

[i] Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, Australia’s national regulator of charities.

[ii] A valuable membership for some– see ‘What membership means’ here.)

[iii] This is how the ACNC explains ‘operating locations’ in their application guide: ‘You need to give details about where in Australia your organisation conducts (or plans to conduct) its activities.’

[iv] Because of the possibility of two (or more) directors having the same name on the register of responsible persons, it is not possible to be definitive about the number of directorships held.