Youth With A Mission Byron Bay Incorporated

This is a review^[1] in the series ‘Members of Missions Interlink’, Missions Interlink being the Australian Evangelical Alliance Inc‘s ‘network for global mission‘. We review these charities because their membership means that they must sign up to a set of standards, and this, at least on paper, makes them a better bet for your donations (or other involvement).

‘YWAM Bryon Bay’ is one such member. It seeks donations on the website linked from Missions Interlink.

COVID-19

Donors

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 organisation’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 ‘YWAM Bryon Bay’, 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 for ‘YWAM Bryon Bay’’ gives no result. Another go using ‘Youth With a Mission Bryon Bay’ (from the COVID information page above), gives a charity in that name but with the addition of ‘Incorporated’ (YWAMBB).

The proper name is not used on the website. The name they use still hasn’t been registered.

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2.  Nothing on the Register or the website indicates that YWAMBB uses door-to-door or street collectors.

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3.  The website has “a closed padlock symbol next to the website’s URL in the address bar” [the ACNC article above]. PayPal is used, so your information should be secure.

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4.  The ABN record says that no tax deduction is available for a donation to YWAMBB, but that one is available for a donation to its fund, Youth With A Mission Byron Bay Building and Maintenance Fund.

There is no mention of tax, or this fund on the website^[3].

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5.  The use of your donations

The audited account of how a charity uses your money (donations or otherwise) is the Financial Report on the ACNC Register.

Nothing on the Register for YWAMBB though. And over eight months overdue:

You can see that last year’s was nearly a year late by the time it was lodged – it appears that they don’t care. And that their membership of Mission Interlink, with their Standards, makes no difference.

Directors

Here are the people responsible for this situation:

Katja Virolainen

Tiffany Stickly

Kevin Stickl (meant to be ‘Stickly’?)

Steven Clark

Susan Clark

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Impact

YWAMBB does not address the impact of its work.

Charity response

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

YWAMBB does not invite feedback or complaints via its website.

We sent a draft of this review to the charity. The email was received, but they chose not to respond.

1. See here for the previous review. ↑
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. In the 2018 accounts, the last lodged with the ACNC, these two bank accounts were under ‘Cash Assets’ [Note 2, Notes to the Financial Statements], but with no further information given: ↑