Link to FinanceCommittee > CouncilAgenda20230313 > CouncilMinutes20230313 > CouncilAgenda20230417 > CouncilMinutes20230417
ACNC external conduct reporting
Dear Church Council, Please find attached correspondence as an important reminder regarding the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission’s (ACNC) External Conduct Reporting Standards and a template to assist with reporting for overseas donations (and the like) that are made in the name of a congregation. We ask that you please pass this information on to your treasurer and/or other relevant people on your Church Council. Grace and peace, Mark Rev Dr Mark Lawrence General Secretary
I know that the ACNC external conduct reporting matter was referred to various people for feedback after the March meeting. That noted, in due course I would like advice that I can present to the congregation at its July meeting on how this might affect choice of congregation outreach projects. I also suggest that it is time to review the http://wiki.gwuc.org.au/gwuc/CopOverallProcedure and http://wiki.gwuc.org.au/gwuc/CopAssessmentCriteria in the light of ACNC external conduct reporting requirements. Given that we no longer have a functioning Community Outreach Group, I would be interested in the views of Church Council on how best to proceed with such a review. Although I did not actively seek volunteers for a COP outreach project selection committee prior to the last meeting of the congregation, there was no-one who responded to help despite this being an advertised agenda item. My personal view is that it is time to change our approach to community outreach and selection of outreach projects and adopt a far simpler approach. I see three options in the short term for distribution of fete proceeds (and possibly other fund-raising proceeds): 1. Allocate all funding to our local community outreach programme overseen by our Welfare committee 2. Allocate: ⅓ locally through our Welfare committee, ⅓ nationally through UCA Frontier Services, ⅓ internationally/regionally through UCA Uniting World 3. Let those who run the fundraising activity (especially the fete) decide. John Snare, Chair of Congregation meetings. 11 Apr 2023.
3 May 2023, our Treasurer KenCoutts wrote:
File note re UCA Financial Return re Overseas gifts etc. David Morgan, Secretary Church council raised the issue of our completion of the Annual UCA Financial Return to completed by 14 May 2023. The Return requires an amended classification to record all items or gifts of payments to overseas bodies in a reworked framework for the 2023 accounts. We had in years prior to the Pandemic usually made gifts or deposits to agencies or Programs overseas because of our Congregation Outreach Program (COP) utilizing funds from the Annual Fete. There have been no Fete activities for the last 3 years. So, no need to include in Financial Return for 2022 I telephoned Jeff Gardener, Presbytery Treasurer to discuss: - He confirmed no activity re the Fete issues for the last 3 years. - He also advised that no need to record any activities with our Indonesian community and their relationship with our sister church for 2022. - Given the planned activity with Riedel in May 2023, we will need to review our actions and records in 2023. However, this depends upon the nature of our support. Actions: 1. Record and file note- as above. And record in Church Council Minutes 2. No Action re UCA Financial Return 2022. 3. Review re 2023 return.