YWAM Canberra

This is a review^[1] for those thinking of getting involved with YWAM Canberra, especially as a student or a donor^[2].

If this is you, then please pause and consider the following:

• This is an organisation that has a public invitation to young people^[3] to enter financial agreements likely to be life-changing,
  • that is directed by, if their ACNC Register information is correct^[4], a Committee of just three people, with two of these being a couple
    • and one of them a co-leader^[5] of the charity
  • that has a Committee without any outsiders (even from another YWAM)^[6]
  • that has a membership (to whom the Committee is accountable) restricted to staff of the organisation.^[7]
• This is an organisation, a registered charity, that collected $438K in the 2019 year, but where the responsible persons continue to show their disdain for their legal responsibilities by^[8]
  • not having yet submitted the charity’s annual reporting due six months ago (with that date being a generous six months after the financial year-end)^[9]
  • operating without some of the required registrations.^[10]
• This is an organisation that gives no information on what it achieved^[11] (outcomes, results, or impact) from all that it does^[12], and is doing (using labour funded by donors^[13]).
• This is an organisation that is part of a movement where
  • periodically there are credible reports of abuse of students
  • there is a lack of accountability
    • the external YWAM body that this and many Australian YWAMs constitutions say needs to be involved in some of the important decisions^[14], appears not to exist^[15]
    • the missions organisation of which it is a member, Missions Interlink^[16], although requiring adherence to a set of standards, is historically poor at ensuring compliance.
  • The members resist independent scrutiny of their information.

A draft of this review was sent to the charity. They….did not respond.

1. See here for the previous review. ↑
2. ↑
3. https://ywamtoowoomba.com/: ↑
4. At 17 July 2019, this Committee had 11 members, including the current three [Committee’s Report, Financial Report 2018]:Tom HallasDianne and Kevin ClarkJeannette Montgomery

   Mark and Robin Cockburn

   Wati Savu

   Esther Lee

   Jacob Lee

   Steve and Leonie Watts ↑

5. https://www.ywamcanberra.org/us: ↑
6. Even if we assume that the Committee still consists of the 11 people who signed the accounts, nine are definitely ‘YWAMers’, while the other two probably either are or were. ↑
7. Clause 4, the constitution, ACNC Register. ↑
8. Financial Report 2019, ACNC Register. ↑
9. The last time they submitted on time was for the 2013 year; last year the Committee submitted over a year late. ↑
10. An ARBN for operating interstate, and a registered business name for ‘YWAM Canberra’. ↑
11. Other than some old anecdotal reports under ‘News’. ↑
12. ‘Our Mission’: ↑
13. Because it is hard to read in the link, here it is from another YWAM: ↑
14. For example, clause 13: ↑
15. The only mention of Australia in a long list of ‘global contacts’ all around the world is ‘Pacific & Asia Field Convenor’. ↑
16. https://missionsinterlink.org.au/membership/mi-members-and-associates, 5 April 2 ↑