Archived: Youth With A Mission Darwin Inc, charity review

This is a charity review, a review for those with an interest in the Australian charity Youth With A Mission Darwin Inc (YWAMD).

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 YWAMD.

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 YWAMD observations to the charity, on 7 April 2016, and invited them to comment. They did not respond.

Organisation of this review

• The first part of this review is organised according to the headings in the Register entry. This is how to use this section of the review:
  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.)
• Then there is a section Membership of accountability organisations claimed.

Sources

• ACNC Register (including links)
• Google search on the charity’s name.
• YWAMD website.
• Three FaceBook pages: (1) a Places page for YWAM Outback, with a last post on 22 June 2015, (2) an official page in the same name, with a last post on 10 June 2014, and (3) a DTS Outback page, with a last post on 15 December 2015.
• YouTube. Twitter (last tweet was in 2011). Blog (last post was in 2010).
• Not on LinkedIn.
• State government fundraising licence registers.
• No reviews on Glassdoor yet.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Entity Subtype

• A type consistent with sharing the Gospel.
• As is the prime object in the constitution:
  • To advance the Christian Faith (sic) in all parts of Australia and the rest of the world: by such means as the committee of the Association may determine in its opinion in accordance with the statements, values and principles embodied in the following seven declaration of principal documents. (sic)

Youth With A Mission Statement of Purpose International

The Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission

The Christian Magna Carta

Founding Principals (sic) of the University of the Nations

The Manila Covenant 1988

The Lausanne Covenant 1974

CHARITY DETAILS

Legal Name

• YWAMD is a Northern Territory incorporated association (No. 01556C).

Other Name(s)

• The trading name Youth With A Mission Darwin is missing here; however, YWAMD needs a business name in order to continue to operate under any name other than the full name.
• The name it uses on the website and elsewhere, YWAM Outback, is not so registered.

Charity ABN

• Tax deductibility: No, you cannot claim a tax deduction for a donation to YWAMD.
  • But you can if you donate to the Youth With A Mission Darwin Inc School Building Fund.

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 290 Darwin NT 0801.

Email

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

Phone

• From the website: 08 8981 2424.

Website

• From the Google search: www.ywamoutback.org.au.

ANNUAL REPORTING

• AIS 2014
  • This is YWAMD’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2014 (AIS 2014).
  • It was lodged nine months after year end, three months late.
  • It gives basic financial information:
    • The zero for ‘Employee expenses/payments’ matches the report of no employees elsewhere in the AIS.
    • ‘Donations’ only make up 6% of the income. (See Operating State(s), below).
    • Does the zero for ‘Grants and donations made…’ mean that, contrary to the information under ‘Activities’ in the AIS (see Activities, below), nothing was sent to Timor Leste this year?
  • Unfortunately, this is the only financial information that you’ve got:
    • Because of its size YWAMD doesn’t have to lodge a Financial Report.
    • Although YWAMD is a member of Missions Interlink[ii], and 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], they
      • did not choose to lodge one with the ACNC voluntarily, and
      • did not respond to my request for a copy of this ‘statement’.
    • I have therefore been unable to review the latest report.

ABOUT THE CHARITY

• Statement of Faith
  • None on the website.
  • Nor in the constitution. (But see Entity Subtype, above.)
  • YWAMD, like other YWAMs, promotes the The Seven Spheres of Influence (or Seven Mountains of Culture). Dominionism is the theology.

Date Established 

• The YWAM Australia site has ‘a little history’.

Who the Charity Benefits

• Vision and Mission
  • None found.
• Activities (What did YWAMD do?)
  • From the Description of charity’s activities and outcomes in the AIS 2014:
    • Our charity engages in partnership with the local community and also with more remote communities or overseas communities with volunteers who provide positive interaction and various support in response to expressed felt needs. We have volunteers join us for 1 – 3 month placements from overseas to participate in our programs. Our charity has regularly sent various donations of educational supplies to schools in Timor Leste, and to a lesser extent other overseas ophanages or projects.
      • Not particular to 2014.
• Outcomes (What did YWAMD deliver?)
  • YWAMD did not respond to the request in the AIS 2014 for a description of its outcomes.
  • Nothing found on the website.
• Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
  • Nothing found.

Size of Charity

• YWAMD is $90K under the threshold for the next size up, Medium.

Financial Year End

• The next AIS (including Financial Report if they choose to include it) is due by 30 June 2016. Before that 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.

WHERE THE CHARITY OPERATES

Operating State(s)[ii]

• YWMD doesn’t have a fundraising licence in any of the seven states that have a licensing regime. (No licence is necessary in their home state.)
  • Apart from exemptions, whether it needs such a licence in a particular state depends on whether that state thinks that YWAMD, by calling for donations publicly, is ‘fundraising’ in their territory.

CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)

• There is no Annual Report/Review available on the ACNC Register.
• Nor on the website.

RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

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

Jennifer Keatch            This function was not working at the time of publication

• There is meant to be, according to the constitution, at least another three names here.
• There is no mention of the directors on the website.
• Australian Mercy says that David Skeat is a director.

(End of review of the ACNC Register information)

Membership of accountability organisations claimed

• None claimed. YWAMD is, however, a member of Missions Interlink.

(End of review)

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

[ii] 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.’

[iii] 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.