Hillsong College Put On Court-Enforced Probation By Australian Regulator

Hillsong College has failed to meet multiple compliance standards, according to the recently published findings of the ACNA (Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission), a national regulatory body that oversees large charities and has been put on court-enforced probation.

Hillsong College, which has been registered as a charity since 2017, and the ACNA agreed to an Enforceable Undertaking, which is an “action or a series of actions that a registered charity has agreed to take, or refrain from taking, to comply with a provision,” and is backed by and enforced by the courts.

If breached, it is a criminal offense.

The Christian Post summarizes their compliance concerns relating to the following:

The investigation found issues with matters such as reporting obligations; compliance with financial and operational record keeping; governance standards; and compliance with ACNC’s External Conduct Standard, which covers things such as 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.

The ACNA first started an investigation after public allegations arose over how Hillsong handled their finances when a member of the parliament shared thousands of financial documents obtained by a whistleblower from the storied church, showing that the darling of the evangelical world was spending money like drunken pirates. This included everything from spending $6156.07 for a single meal at the Nobu restaurant to $23,256 for a night stay at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel hotel and more:

Hillsong shut down their USA-based college earlier this year.

Responding to the investigation, Hillsong insists that they’ve been cooperating with inquiries by the ACNC since March of 2022 and that:

As part of those inquiries, and to demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvement in governance, Hillsong Church and its ministries have agreed to resolve the inquiries of the ACNC by entering into compliance agreements, and for Hillsong College by providing an undertaking. The compliance agreements and undertaking incorporate a range of actions that Hillsong Church and its ministries committed to earlier this year.

The matters are resolved without findings of a contravention or any noncompliance with the Act.

We recognize that this is an important step to follow the governance improvements which we have set out in our regular church updates. We will continue to work with the ACNC and look for other ways to improve our practices – so that we can continue to serve our community.

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