Gospel for Asia – Page 44 – Warren Throckmorton

Gospel for Asia's President K.P. Yohannan and Indian Courts Seem to Disagree About His Status With Indian Charities

Listening to the May 14, 2015 Gospel for Asia staff meeting, I heard K.P. Yohannan say he doesn’t have control or sit on any boards of GFA organizations in other countries. Listen:
Click this link: K.P. Yohannan tells staff he is not on any boards in India
Transcript:

And by the way, just so you know, I am not legally on any boards, any trusts, anything in any of these countries. I have no powers to make decisions or sign money, or release money, or make decisions, I am completely legally…why? Because anybody who work in the United States or overseas countries have a board membership or have legal membership should not be part of their legal entities in India. It’s a conflict of interest and therefore we send the funds and it is immediately under the government watch care and the government of India is responsible and investigative agencies and tax divisions to make sure that is carried out within the time frame or whatever they do, that is a public thing.

I found this to be an odd declaration since the 2013 financial audit seems to point to a common board member of GFA in the United States and GFA affiliates in India, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. From the 2013 audit:

If this board member isn’t K.P. Yohannan, then who is it? No matter who it is, by Yohannan’s reasoning, being on both boards would be unethical since Yohannan says having an American board member on the board of an Indian charity which allocates American funds is a conflict of interest.
However, it certainly seems as though it is Yohannan. For instance, Yohannan is referred to as a plaintiff in a court case brought by Gospel for Asia in India (click the link to read the case notes). He is also described as the “managing trustee and president” of Gospel for Asia based in Kerala. From the Indian website:

This document is dated February of 2015, just three months before Yohannan told his staff he wasn’t on any boards. There are many other court cases which list him as “mananging trustee and president” of Gospel of Asia (link, link, link, link).
In another lawsuit, Yohannan is listed as the managing trustee of the Carmel Education Trust of the Believers’ Church.

3. Caarmel Education Trust, (Believer’s Church Trust) Represented by its Managing Trustee, Dr.K.P.Yohannan, Caarmel Engineering College, Perunadu,Pin – 689711 (R1 by Adv.K.Venugopalan Nair) (R2 & R3 by Adv.Anilkumar.A.S) APPEAL No.897/2012

In this publication by the state of Kerala in India, Yohannan is referred to as the “Managing Trustee” of the Believers’ Church.

G . O. (Rt.) No. 448/2011/LBR. Thiruvananthapuram, 17th March 2011. Whereas, the Government are of opinion that an industrial dispute exists between Dr. K. P. Yohannan, Managing Trustee, Believers Church India (B. C. I.), Thottabhagam P. O., Thiruvalla and the workman of the above referred establishment Shri Joseph Kizhakkedathu, Manipara P. O., via Uliyikkal, Kannur District-670 705 in respect of matters mentioned in the annexure to this order ; And whereas, in the opinion of Government it is necessary to refer the said industrial dispute for adjudication…(emphasis added)

Yohannan is listed as the patron of the Believers’ Church Medical Cente, the Residential School and the Mahatma School. Why would he be listed as patron if he has nothing to do with determining their funding?
It seems clear that the legal system in India believes that K.P. Yohannan is on the boards and has responsibility for these entities.
Additional Information:
An alert reader posted a link in the comments that K.P. Yohannan is listed as the chairman of the Believers’ Church trust on a page of one of BC’s schools; and of course he is the Metropolitan Bishop of the church. He is president of GFA-US, a group which sent nearly $20 million to Believers’ Church in the FY ending in March 2014. In addition to K.P. Yohannan, Yohannan’s son Daniel sits on both boards (GFA-U.S. and Believers’ Church).

Thanks to another alert reader, we can see that Yohannan and his son are listed as board members of the Believers’ Church Seminary, with K.P. Yohannan being listed as president of the Governing Board. Yohannan is also listed on the Caarmel Engineering School as the chairman of the Believers’ Church trust.

All of these listings are current.

Gospel for Asia's 2014 Audit is Late

Member organizations with of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability with are supposed to file renewal documents each year. When those documents are due depends on when the fiscal year ends.

The renewal information is due by January 31 if your fiscal year ended on April 1 through September 30.
The renewal information is due by July 31 if your fiscal year ended on October 1 through March 31.

Gospel for Asia in the U.S. operates on a calendar year schedule so their renewal was due July 31. As a part of the renewal, an audited financial statement is required. However, I have learned that GFA’s audited statement for 2014 is not complete. Those who inquire about the 2014 audited statement are getting this reply:

Currently, we do not have 2014 finance reports ready yet, as our auditors are in the process of auditing GFA’s 2014 year.

This means that GFA’s renewal is incomplete. However, not to worry, the ECFA gives member organizations an automatic two-month extension.

Financial Statements Policy

Current members should submit financial statements with the Annual Membership Renewal (AMR) by the due date. However, occasionally members are unable to supply the financial statements on a timely basis for a variety of reasons. ECFA will evaluate the reason for the delay, balancing a desire to help an organization through a possibly difficult situation not of its own making, and the necessity of maintaining standards to protect the integrity of ECFA, through the timely submission of information.
Policy

Financial statements.Financial statements should accompany the AMR when it is due. (This provides the member a minimum of four months from the end of their fiscal year end to obtain the required financial statements.)

Two-month extension.If all other AMR materials are submitted on time, an automatic two-month extension to submit the financial statements will be granted.

Additional extensions.Members unable to meet the two-month extended deadline will generally be granted an additional two-month extension if the extension does not exceed 12 months from the end of the fiscal year. A request for this extension must include an explanation of the status of the audit, the reason for the delay, and the expected date of completion.

However, renewals can still be processed and that seal can still be displayed as long as the fees are paid.

Our financial statements are not complete. What should we do? Although your financial statements are due along with your renewal form, if they are not available, complete the renewal form without them (we understand the financial section of the renewal form will be incomplete). You will be asked to provide an approximate date the financials will be available and also to estimate your total cash contribution in order to estimate your membership fee. Once financials are finalized, please forward a copy to ECFA or to href=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]. We will complete the financial section and refund or invoice for any payment difference. If the financials are complete but the Form 990 is not, please submit the renewal form and financials and send the Form 990 when complete.

Last year, the audited statement was dated June 13, 2014.
Regular readers can probably guess about why the audit is late.
While I appreciate that the ECFA’s audit requirement puts some pressure on an organization to disclose important information, at the same time, I believe the ECFA should flag those organizations which have not turned in the documentation. If donors rely on ECFA, they won’t know that after months of not answering legitimate questions, GFA hasn’t turned in an audited statement of their 2014 finances, even though GFA has had over 7 months to do so.

Gospel for Asia Canada Gets C- From Canadian Charity Watchdog Organization

Charity watchdog Charity Intelligence Canada has given Gospel for Asia Canada a C- “based on the charity’s public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.” Beginning in 2012, CIC rated 453 charities operating in Canada on the following dimensions:

Charity Intelligence scored charities on answers to 26 questions covering strategy, activities, outputs, outcomes, and learning. We modeled the scorecard on charity sector resources developed by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, New Philanthropy Capital in the UK, Global Reporting Initiative, and Queen’s University Centre for Governance.
Charity Intelligence used a matrix of questions focusing on how well a charity reported:
1. The problem it addresses (Problem/Need)
2. The programs and services it provides to fix the need (Activities)
3. Quantifying its programs and services (Outputs)
4. The results it achieves (Outcomes)
5. The reliability and clarity of reporting (Quality)
6. The learning and changes made (Learning)
Ci scored charities in these six areas and covered seven indicators: timeliness, balance, consistency, clarity, reliability, forward-looking, and accuracy. The final score is a measure of the charity’s social reporting. This scoring does not assess the strategy, the quality of activities, the level of outputs or the impressiveness of outcomes. All it does is assess if enough information has been disclosed, such that any reader would have the opportunity to make those assessments.

I have been asserting since May of this year that Gospel for Asia has refused to disclose basic information regarding their operations and financial dealings. As this rating demonstrates, GFA doesn’t rate well on providing donors with sufficient information to assess the accuracy of GFA’s claims.
According to CIC, the C- rating puts GFA in the bottom 20% of organizations rated (for the sake of comparison, World Vision gets a B+).

Weeks have gone by and no one from Gospel for Asia has explained why GFA India auditors have not disclosed Canadian donations on government reports. In Canadian reports, GFA Canada disclosed that it sent $15 million dollars (CAD) to India but this is not disclosed as required on Indian reports. Donations from other countries (e.g., United States, Germany, Australia, etc.) are disclosed but the funds sent from Canada are not.

Gospel for Asia Changes Bridge of Hope Website, Raises More Questions

Yesterday, I posted the following image from Bridge of Hope’s Indian website (Bridge of Hope is Gospel for Asia’s child sponsorship program):

This was what was on the website as of late afternoon yesterday (see today’s Google cache for the page as it appeared on August 8).
Today, it looks like this:

Shades of Mars Hill Church and Mars Hill Global! GFA won’t respond to questions from me but they will alter a website in an apparent response to my post. Mars Hill Church did the same thing when I pointed out issues related to solicitations for missions.
While the children one may sponsor do not appear to be the same on these pages, the program is the same. This new wording could still lead a reader to think only Indians are funding Indian children. According to figures I have seen, Americans donated about $14 million in 2012 toward BoH related work (the latest year I have available). Clearly, donations from sponsors outside of India are accepted for the BoH program. However, if one wants to sponsor a child and doesn’t live in India, one must go to the GFA BoH page to do so.
Given that American donors are putting so much money into this program, it seems pointless to try to obscure it — if indeed that is what GFA intends by the answer to this frequently asked question.

According to Gospel for Asia's Indian Website the Bridge of Hope Program Doesn't Accept Foreign Sponsorships

In May of this year, I pointed out that Gospel for Asia requests $35/month to sponsor a child in Asia through the Bridge of Hope program but much less per month in India. Thanks to an alert reader, I was made aware that the Indian website for the Bridge of Hope program tells potential Indian donors that Bridge of Hope doesn’t accept foreign sponsors.

According to the Indian website, Bridge of Hope is a program of Believers’ Church. The American website doesn’t mention Believers’ Church and advertises the program as Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope. Gospel for Asia’s Indian website hardly mentions Bridge of Hope. GFA-US sent around $30 million to Believers’ Church and two other K.P. Yohannan controlled NGOs in 2013. Ultimately, some of those funds support the Bridge of Hope program in India. At least that is what GFA tells donors in the U.S.
GFA-U.S. says donors are sponsoring children through Bridge of Hope. Bridge of Hope in India is managed by Believers’ Church which tells donors in India that sponsorship is not accepted from outside of India. Which message is correct?
Add this question to the growing list that GFA isn’t answering.