About the organisation
An organisation applied for charity registration with the ACNC.
Its governing document detailed charitable purposes that included spreading the word of God and working to alleviate poverty.
To further these purposes the organisation said it would undertake several activities, including preaching the gospel and providing food, shelter, clothing and other support to vulnerable people overseas.
About the application
In its application, the organisation sought registration with the subtype advancing religion.
The ACNC reviewed the application and governing document and found that the organisation appeared to meet many of the requirements to be registered as a charity.
About the registration process
In reviewing the organisation’s application, the ACNC noted its intent to support vulnerable people in overseas countries. That meant we needed more information about how the organisation would do this, and how it would comply with ACNC External Conduct Standards.
The ACNC’s External Conduct Standards are a set of minimum standards that a registered charity must meet when managing its activities and resources outside Australia.
If a charity operates overseas, it must comply with the standards as a condition of entitlement to registration as a charity. This is set out in the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth) (ACNC Act).
The External Conduct Standards require charities to take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate standards of behaviour, governance and oversight when undertaking activities or providing funding overseas.
The ACNC does not mandate the specific steps a charity must take – instead, what it does to meet the External Conduct Standards depends on its individual circumstances.
The External Conduct Standards were introduced to promote transparency, as well as provide the community with greater confidence that resources sent – or services provided – overseas by charities reach legitimate beneficiaries and are used for legitimate charitable purposes.
The standards also aim to protect vulnerable people overseas.
The ACNC contacted a representative of the organisation to discuss its overseas activities and to get a better picture of what they involved. The representative described how the organisation worked with trusted partners overseas to help community members who were facing poverty.
The organisation outlined how it identified beneficiaries in need of support, and detailed the measures it had in place to ensure charitable funds would be spent as intended.
The ACNC then requested the organisation provide documentation regarding its overseas activities including if it had taken any steps to address the External Conduct Standards, or had any of the following measures in place:
- procedures detailing how the organisation, its people and third parties, manage conflicts of interest
- a safeguarding policy to ensure vulnerable people were protected
- information on any third parties the organisation worked with, including contracts, partnership agreements or Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs)
- auditing procedures
- policies to ensure compliance with laws in relation to:
- money laundering
- terrorism financing
- international sanctions and taxation
- minimisation of risk of corruption, fraud and bribery.
Provision of these documents would help the organisation satisfy the ACNC it would comply with the External Conduct Standards.
This standard covers the way a charity manages its activities overseas, how it is required to control the finances and other resources it uses overseas and the requirement to comply with Australian laws.
This standard covers the requirements for a charity to obtain and keep sufficient records for its overseas activities on a country-by-country basis.
This standard covers the requirements for a charity to have processes and procedures that work to combat fraud and corruption and identify and document any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interests in its overseas operations.
This standard covers the requirement for a charity to take reasonable steps protect the vulnerable people that it works with when conducting its overseas operations.
The organisation provided the ACNC with its safeguarding policy and a minimising corruption and conflict of interest policy among other documents.
The safeguarding policy outlined reasonable internal control procedures to ensure resources the organisation provided to third parties outside Australia were used in accordance with the organisation’s purposes, and its character as a not-for-profit.
The minimising corruption and conflict of interest policy the organisation provided contained reasonable controls and risk management processes that were compliant with relevant Australian laws relating to:
- money laundering
- financing of terrorism
- sexual offences against children
- slavery and slavery-like conditions
- trafficking in individuals and debt bondage
- people smuggling
- international sanctions
- taxation, and
- bribery.
Outcome
The ACNC determined that the evidence provided was sufficient to meet the External Conduct Standards, and that the organisation understood its obligations in obtaining charity registration.
The ACNC registered the organisation as a charity.