Archived: Youth With A Mission (Perth) Inc, charity review

This is a charity review, a review for those with an interest in the Australian charity Youth With A Mission (Perth) Incorporated (YWAMP).

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

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.

Reviewer’s note

In the course of checking this review for publication, after receiving YWAMP’s response (see immediately below), two unusual things happened:

1. I was unable to find YWAMP on the Register, and
2. I discovered another charity controlled by them, Youth With A Mission (Perth) Incorporated as the operator of a PBI. This charity is seven months overdue with its 2014 Annual Information Statement, and there is no mention of it or its fund in the YWAMP materials reviewed.
3. I am not suggesting that the two things are related. I suspect that #1 was an accident, and #2 is my fault.

Ministry response

Prior to publishing this review, I sent my observations to the charity, on 18 May 2016, and invited them to comment. This was their response:

Thank you for your review. All of our reports are publicly available and up to date according to the requirements of the ACNC. To note: “YWAM Training Perth” is a recently registered trading name. YWAM Perth has also been trademarked recently by our organisation. Under the “responsible persons” category on the ACNC website, we have only listed one of our public officers, not our whole board. Please find more information on our organisation via our website: www.ywamperth.org.au 

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:
  • For each heading in the register entry, first read the information under that heading.
  • 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.
• YWAMP’s website.
• Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Google+, all accessible in the website footer.
• LinkedIn
• State government fundraising licence registers.
• No reviews on Glassdoor.   But two on Indeed.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Entity Subtype

• Not a subtype consistent with the constitution.
• The No. 1 object in the constitution is
  • To advance the Christian Faith (sic) in all parts of Australia and the rest of the world; (sic) By such means as the committee of the Association may determine being in its opinion in accordance with the statements, values and principles embodied in the following seven declaration of principle (sic) documents….
    • Why not Advancing Religion as the subtype then?

CHARITY DETAILS

Legal Name

• YWAMP is a West Australian incorporated association (A0822268A).

Other Name(s)

• There’s both a trading name and a business name missing here. The first is of no consequence, but the second allows them to trade under the name YWAM Training Perth. (This is their Registered Training Organisation (RTO)).
  • They also have a trademark (No. 1585510), but it is in a slightly different name again: Youth With A Mission Perth.
• YWAMP does not have, however, licence to use the name it uses on social media, YWAM Perth.  The website also uses a name not strictly allowed either.

Charity ABN

• Tax deductibility: You can only claim a tax deduction if you give to their fund, Youth With A Mission Western (Perth) Inc School Building and Maintenance Fund.
  • However, there is no mention of this fund on the website.

Charity Street Address

• Postal address, from the website: PO Box 8501 Perth Business Centre, Western Australia, 6849.

Email

• I have reason to believe that this doesn’t work.

ANNUAL REPORTING

• The AIS 2014 is YWAMP’s compulsory Annual Information Statement 2014 (AIS 2014).
  • The only problem is that it is for the year ended 31 March 2014 and today is 28 May two years later. Even when it was lodged on 7 December 2015 it was extremely dated. That was partly due to the fact that it was lodged over two months late, but was mainly due to the fact that the ACNC made it due 12 months later than is normal.
• The Financial Report 2014 is also for the year ended 31 March 2014.
• The age of this information means that you would be better sourcing your information direct from the charity.
  • Their membership of Missions Interlink requires them to have ‘‘have available for its members and supporters a clear and appropriate financial statement which has been approved by its auditor [Standards Statement, 4.1].
    • In this case ‘appropriate’ would mean something much more up-to-date.
    • You might look first at the audit report to see if it still says that YWAMP thinks it impracticable to implement internal controls to ensure that all the ‘cash donations’ (however they are defined) actually make it into their bank account.

ABOUT THE CHARITY

• Statement of Faith
  • There isn’t one on the website.
  • The constitution says that YWAMP’s ‘values and principles’ (are) embodied in the following seven declaration of principle documents (sic):
    • Youth With a Mission Statement of Purpose International
    • The Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission
    • The Christian Magna Carta
    • Founding Principles of the University of Nations
    • The Manila Covenant 1988
    • The Lausanne Covenant 1974
    • YWAM Justice of Appeals.
      • There are no sources given, but I’m sure that an internet search would find them if you were interested.

Date Established

• The history can be seen on the Facebook Timeline.

Who the Charity Benefits

• Vision
  • None found.
• Mission
• Activities (What did YWAMP do?)
  • In the AIS 2014 there’s this unhelpful response:
  • As per previous Years (sic) Statement.
• The typical and upcoming activities are described on the website.
• Outcomes (What did YWAMP deliver?)
  • YWAMP did not respond to the request in the AIS for a description its outcomes.
  • Nothing systematic found.
• Impact (How were people’s lives improved?)
  • Nothing systematic found.

Size of Charity

• YWAMP’s revenue was $4.63 m in 2013-14, well over the threshold for this size, the largest.

Financial Year End

• This year end means that the next financial report is due by 30 September 2016, but it will, if the ACNC’s current requirements for this charity remain unchanged, only cover the year ended 31 March 2015, not 2016. Talk to the charity direct instead.

WHERE THE CHARITY OPERATES

Operating State(s)[i]

• It is not possible to tell from the Financial Report whether or not YWAMP fundraises in this state. It doesn’t have a fundraising licence.
• YWAMP invites donations via a main menu item.
  • It does not have a fundraising licence in any of the other six states that have a licensing regime.
    • Apart from exemptions, whether it needs a licence depends on whether those states think that YWAMP, by calling for donations publicly, is ‘fundraising’ in their territory.

Operates in (Countries)

• No grants were made for use outside Australia, plus there’s nothing obvious on the website to support this list of 11 countries.
  • Perhaps they made ‘missions trips’ to these countries in 2013-14?

CHARITY’S DOCUMENT (SIC)

• An Annual Report/Review can be lodged on the ACNC Register, but YWAMP hasn’t done this.
• Nor is there one on the website.

RESPONSIBLE PERSONS

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

Caleb Brownhill     This function was not working at the time of publication

• If the board consists only the Public Officer, then YWAMP is contravening its constitution. It requires a Director/President, a Treasurer and a Deputy Director, plus the additional number decided by the members.
• And unless elected to the board, the Public Officer is not a responsible person.
• The directors are not shown on the website.

(End of review)

[i] 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.’

[ii] 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.