BGF claims ‘misguided’
The Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing (OLGR) officer who looked into complaints against the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation (BGF) found claims the charity only provided a benefit of $469,333 to clients were “misguided” because they failed to take into account the cost of services provided by the charity.
In a report seen by Sydney Star Observer, the officer found the total worth of services provided to clients during the 2009 financial year to be closer to $1.2 million.
“Claims about the limited assistance provided by BGF are misguided,” the officer wrote.
“Apart from the direct financial assistance of $469,33 you have to consider the direct salaries of caseworkers and financial counselors of $718,011 and other costs associated with the provision of client services.
“Costs incurred in employing counsellors and caseworkers and associated costs like phone costs for counselling services are not considered an admin expense.
“All this is expenditure in pursuance of objectives and forms a substantial part of total expenditure.”
Complainants had suggested that BGF “stop collecting money in the name of the HIV+” for providing “little or no benefit to the HIV+ of this state”.
The officer also found BGF had been “fully cooperative throughout the inquiry and displayed a genuine desire to meet their statutory obligations” and had “exceptionally good governance and records”.
“The controls … for cash handling and receipting both in house and at events are robust and meet standards established by legislative requirements and recommended best practice,” the report states.
“All invoices and claims for payment are checked by BGF staff before being authorised by a senior staff member. Payments are signed off as authorised … and source documents batched and sent to [accountants] PKF for payment and recording in the accounts. All payments are signed by two staff of PKF.
“No major concerns were evident other than the failure to include notes to the accounts as required by authority condition 7(2) which resulted in the complainants claiming a lack of transparency and accountability.
“Following our intervention BGF had its auditors prepare the required notes in the desired format for 2009 which will be used as a template for [financial year] 2010 and beyond.”
BGF president Martin Walsh said in future the charity would ensure the amount of money it spent in pursuance of its objectives was made clearer in reports so members of the public and donors could understand “the full cash value of the range of assistance that we provide to our clients”.
The organisation also expected to deliver savings of around $300,000 a year after making five positions in its administration and fundraising departments redundant.
Anthony, Look about for it is well past last centuary and it’s all moved on. There all dead!
Well well well.
I am glad the Officer spoke up/against the campaign by a few people who have plastered their complaints on every forum available to them.
Just because a Charity doesnt work the way these few boys think it should they go out of their way to slander everyone.
Move on boys, you lost this one.
Sounds like another unrealistic beatup against our community services sector by the usual vexatious suspects who think they know better. At what point does critical inquiry cross the line into dogma, spin and ideology?
Even if the complainants failed to take into account the cost of the direct salaries of caseworkers and financial counselors and other costs associated with the provision of client services, on BGF’s own admission less than 60 cents in the dollar was spent on clients, meaning more than 40 cents in the dollar was spent on administration, which falls way short of the charity benchmark of spending less than 10 cents in the dollar on administration!
Apart from that, the complaints have been that BGF is providing services such as financial counselling and back to work encouragement rather than its original mission of helping pay clients’ bills.
This current community debate is important and perhaps BGF should revert to its original useful mission rather than force services onto clients which the clients complain they don’t need or want.
BGF was set up to help HIV/AIDS clients, not to provide cushy jobs for the gay community.