‘YWAM Perth’: charity review

This is an update of the December 2018 review of the charity YWAM Perth. The previous review (in black) is used as a base, with comment only if the situation has changed or extra information would be helpful.

This is review in the series ‘Members of Missions Interlink’, Missions Interlink being ‘the Australian network for global mission^[1]’ (and a means for a Member to get income tax exemption when it might not otherwise be available^[2], with a consequent accountability regime).

‘YWAM Perth’ is one such Member, and an organisation that seeks donations from the public on its website.

Both Members and Associates have to accept a set of standards  (link updated) the introduction to which includes this statement (see the link for the updated statement):

Our reviews over the past few years do not support YWAM Perth being a member who either values integrity or is open to peer review.

And where is Missions Interlink in all this? As part of their favoured status in tax law, they are meant to be ensuring YWAM’s compliance with the Mission Interlink accountability regime.

COVID-19

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 charity’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 Perth’^[3], with #5 supplemented by the essentials of the ACNC’s What should I consider when deciding which charity to support?^[4].

1.   A search on the ACNC Register of charities gives no results^[5]. The website linked from Missions Interlink is in a different name, ‘Youth With A Mission Perth’.

The website is now in the same name, ‘YWAM Perth’.

An ACNC search on this name still gives no results.

But an ASIC search on this second name shows that the name of the organisation is actually Youth With A Mission (Perth) Incorporated (YWAMP). There is a registered charity in this name.

A search now brings up the registered charity Youth With a Mission (Perth) Incorporated.

One shouldn’t have to go through these hoops to check on an organisation that’s seeking your money.

YWAMP has not registered any of the names it uses instead of its legal name as business names^[6]. Ignore this [6].

A search of the register using the legal name shows that there is another charity that includes ‘Youth With A Mission (Perth) Incorporated’ in its name, Youth With A Mission (Perth) Incorporated as the operator of a PBI. This charity is controlled by YWAMP, but must report separately. Its reports are well overdue.

It’s a ‘Small’ charity, so no Financial Report is required. However, its Annual Information Statement has been overdue since 1 October 2019.

There is no mention of the PBI (public benevolent institution) on the website.

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2. NA

There is no evidence on the website that YWAMP collects donations either door-to-door or in the street.

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3. The (Edge browser) “web address begins with ‘https’ and there is a closed padlock symbol next to the web address in the address bar”, so the website is secure [the ACNC article above].

There is no information about the security of your information credit card and other information on the first page of the ‘Donate’ page.

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4. The Australian Business Register (linked from YWAMP’s ACNC Register record), says that YWAMP is entitled to receive tax deductible gifts, both as an organisation

How does this fit with them being an organisation that sends missionaries?

and as the operator of a fund, Youth With A Mission Western (Perth) Inc School Building and Maintenance Fund.

There is no mention of this tax deduction on the website.

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REMINDER: Green is this review, black the previous one.

5. See ‘Mission’ here for what they do.

There’s no ‘Mission’ on this page anymore, but the page still answers the question. See also ‘Opportunities’ in the main menu.

No report of 2017 activities and outcomes is available because the AIS 2017 has still not been lodged, eight months after their year-end (it is two months overdue).

No Financial Report for 2017 is available because it is also overdue.

There are now no reports available – not even past ones – and there haven’t been since 2017:

We asked the ACNC for the reason for this, but they said that we were not entitled to that information. We then asked YWAMP. They didn’t answer.

The ACNC has left some information about finances though, on the right hand side of ‘Financials & Documents’ page:

This information is from the ‘latest AIS’, but we don’t know how old this is. It shows a not insignificant turnover, and a $1.63 million surplus.

The ACNC Register says that there is but one person who is responsible for this lack of accountability, Caleb Brownhill^[6].

The constitution though – recently uploaded to the Register – requires at least two.

There is no information on outcomes, results or impact on the website.

Charity response

We sent a draft of this review to the charity. They did not respond.

1. https://missionsinterlink.org.au/about/ ↑
2. ↑
3. See here for last year’s review. ↑
4. 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]. ↑
5. It holds only one business name, ‘YWAM Training Perth’. ↑
6. But Caleb is shown as the ‘Public Officer’, so it may be that ‘Responsible Persons’ on the Register is effectively blank. ↑