Review charity investment laws
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 9:31PM Singapore megachurch City Harvest has finally revealed the reason for their silence over their deal to co-own Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre, and it was pretty simple: it was bound by a non-disclosure agreement that prevented it from sharing details of this transaction other than to the Commissioner of Charities and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
In a two—page notice to its members on Sunday, it explained that it had signed a non—disclosure agreement.
It has to keep confidential all matters and details relating to the Suntec transaction, including the share price and the percentage of shares acquired.
However, the church was entitled to, and did, disclose details of the transaction to the relevant authorities, namely the Commissioner of Charities and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The notice added that when the church tried to give its members some information about the transaction, other shareholders felt that doing so would be a breach of the church’s obligation of confidentiality.
On April 1, the Board of City Harvest Church received a letter from solicitors acting for various other shareholders, reminding the church of its obligations of confidentiality and the need to adhere to them.
The NDA, as far as I know, is typical in sensitive business environments, and I'm not about to moralise over CHC's decision to buy into Suntec; I will leave that to its members and the Christian community. What I worry about is the status of CHC as a registered charity while also being a business operator, as well as the potential effects of affluent religious organisations to dominate the local business scene.
Even though the Suntec deal is run by an CHC-owned investment holdings company and "does not have charity status", it does not dispel the potential conflicts of interest inherent in this arrangement. I am painfully aware that charities are allowed to invest, and I think prudent investment and smart financial management is just as important as fundraising and service for charities, but investments of this magnitude makes me think that our laws regarding charity investment has not kept up with the financial growth of these charities.
It is high time we reviewed the law, and either place a cap on the value of investments by charities, or remove their status as charities when they exceed that cap. This protects small businesses, donors, and the charities, and should also prevent any donor-financed charity from dominating the business landscape with their tax-exempt fundraising muscle.
Reader Comments (3)
"I am painfully aware that charities are allowed to invest, and I think prudent investment and smart financial management is just as important as fundraising and service for charities,"
when you invest monies meant for charitable work, you not only put the monies at risks but more importantly, you rendered the monies in effectual in the hands of fund managers/assets when it could be IMMEDIATELY dispensed to save lives."
there is a moral dilemma here. is like, the money in your hands could pay for a critical operation that might save your mother's life but instead,you gamble with the money hoping for better returns to "help her" or give your mom a better life.
will anyone buy your "good intention"?
charitable organization should remain PURE to its calling. they have to give an account for all the money they hold back(invested somewhere) which could have been used to "save lives". ultimately, they have to account for all the lives lost because they gave in to the SEDUCTION of the business of growing wealth/power with people's monies meant to serve IMMEDIATE needs. and worse, when they self indulged with people's monies.
I don't disagree with you, which is why I suggested an investment cap. Moralising is not I something I want to do, or do particularly well, so I don't do it.
do not complicate or ADULTERATE the nature of charity. it is a straight a narrow path few have been called to tread. let those with ulterior intentions return to the world of making money with THEIR OWN money.