About this organisation
Summary of activities
-Individual food relief packs for families struggling due to loss of income 50 per week. -Provided five local schools in the Macarthur region with produce and food hampers approx. 500 people benefit from this program -Provide families and vulnerable people with Care-19 Packs. approx 250 ppl received the packs -Provided one on one support for families with children living with a disability. -A new program for women was created to address the needs of the community and individuals. Women from all walks of life attend once a week make new friendships and learn new skills
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Outcomes
Outcomes are self-reported by charities
Programs and activities
Name: Social Services
Classification: Adult and child mentoring (Human services > Youth development > Youth mentoring > Adult and child mentoring)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Early childhood - aged under 6
- Families
- Females
- Financially disadvantaged people
- General community in Australia
- Males
- Other charities
- People at risk of homelessness/ people experiencing homelessness
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- People with disabilities
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Meraki Playgroup
URL: www.merakifoundation.org.au
Classification: Community service organisations (Community development > Community service organisations)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Early childhood - aged under 6
- Families
- Females
- Financially disadvantaged people
- General community in Australia
- Males
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- People with disabilities
Name: Meraki Pantry
Classification: Community food systems (Agriculture, fisheries and forestry > Food security > Community food systems)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Families
- Females
- Financially disadvantaged people
- General community in Australia
- Males
- Other charities
- People at risk of homelessness/ people experiencing homelessness
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- People with chronic illness (including terminal illness)
- People with disabilities
- Unemployed persons
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Disability Service
URL: https://merakifoundation.org.au/services/ndis/
Classification: Community recreation (Sport and recreation > Community recreation)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Early childhood - aged under 6
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- People with disabilities
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: She Shed
URL: https://www.facebook.com/merakifoundationaus/
Classification: Women's services (Human services > Special population support > Women's services)
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Adults - aged 65 and over
- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Early childhood - aged under 6
- Females
- Migrants, refugees or asylum seekers
- People from a culturally and linguistically diverse background (or people from a CALD background)
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Finances
What is this?
This graph shows how much revenue (money in) and expenses (money out) the charity has had each year over the last few years. Charities have many sources of revenue, such as donations, government grants, and services they sell to the public. Similarly, expenses are everything that allows the charity to run, from paying staff to rent.
What should I be looking for?
First off, this graph gives a general indication of how big the charity is - charities range in size from tiny (budgets of less than $100,000) to enormous (budgets more than $100 million). You're also looking for variability - if the charity's revenue and expenses are jumping up and down from year to year, make sure there's a good reason for it.
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want revenue to be slightly above expenses. If expenses is reliably above revenue, the charity is losing money. If revenue is much larger than expenses, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
If a charity receives more money than it spends, that's a surplus (in business, it would be called profit). If it spends more than it receives, that's a deficit. This chart shows surpluses and deficits for the charity over the last few years.
What should I be looking for?
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want a charity to make a small surplus on average. A deficit means that charity lost money that year, which may indicate poor financial management or just a series of bad circumstances. If the charity always has a huge surplus, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
This chart compares the amount the charity receives from various sources, including donations (i.e. money given by the general public or philanthropy), goods and services, government grants, and other sources.
What should I be looking for?
Donations are an important source of revenue for some charities. Others rely more heavily on government funding, or on revenue from other sources. This is an indication of how much they need donors to accomplish their mission. Note that there is no 'good' or 'bad' amount of donations for a charity to have. It might be interesting to look at values over time - are they going up or down? A charity that gets less donations every year may be in trouble.
What is this?
Assets are things that the charity owns that are worth something. This could be anything from a car to investments. Similarly, liabilities are debts or obligations that the charity owes to someone else, like a loan or an agreement to pay for something.
What should I be looking for?
Firstly, in general a charity should have more assets than liabilities. If it doesn't, it implies that the charity might not be able to pay its debts, and you should look very closely at the charity's annual and financial reports to make sure they are taking steps to remedy this. Current assets should generally be above current liabilities - that means the charity can easily pay off the debts that are coming due soon. Beyond that, look for a large stockpile of assets. While a charity should have enough assets to keep it afloat in hard times (a 'buffer') if that stockpile gets too large the charity could be using that money more effectively. As always, if you have concerns check the annual and financial reports.
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