Trust Operation

The Australian church of Christ Evangelistic Trust is the name of the Trust Deed registered and stamped in the state of NSW, Australia. It must be operated by five Trustees at all times. The Trustees have resolved to establish a Trust for the propagation of the gospel in Australia. In this web site we commonly use the term Trust to refer to the Australian church of Christ Evangelistic Trust.

The Trust Deed states that the Trustees must be faithful members of the church of Christ (non-denominational) at all times during their tenure as Trustee. There is no minimum or maximum tenure for a Trustee, but they must comply with the Trust Deed at all times during their tenure. The Trustees have powers under the Trust Deed to formulate policy, freely invest fund money, and form Advisory Boards, amongst other things, if these things are in keeping with the Trust's purpose.

Operating The Trust

The Trust is simply a legal entity under Australian law that can collect money and resources from donors, invest the money, and then distribute the earnings to beneficiaries as per the purpose of the Trust.

The Trust owns a nominee company - Acocet Nominees Pty Ltd that holds assets on the Trust's behalf. At all times, all the Trustees must be Directors of Acocet Nominees Pty Ltd and all the Directors of Acocet Nominees Pty Ltd must be Trustees. Both the Trust and nominee company are exempt from paying income tax and registered with the Australian Taxation Office as a charitable Trust. Please see the Structure page for more detail on organisational structure.

All strategy, direction, management and policy regarding the Trust is determined by the Trustees who meet on a regular basis. The Trust is not the work of any specific congregation. See the Strategy page for more detail.

The Trust is currently operated by the Trustees. One of the Trustees, David Payne, has donated his time to manage the Trust operations on a day to day basis. David is well qualified to manage the Trust, given his tertiary qualifications and extensive experience in banking and finance.

Operating expenses are currently kept to a minimum, with much of the expense for publications and the construction and maintenance of this web site currently donated. As the Trust grows, the Trustees are obliged to maximise operating efficiencies and keep operating expenses to a minimum.

Risk Management

The Trustees have several policies and reporting standards in place to ensure that any potential risks are mitigated and minimised. One major risk could be the loss of Trust capital. The Trustees mitigate this by having an investment strategy that at all times seeks to preserve Trust capital. In other words the Trustees place security before return. See the Finances page for further details.

The Trust Deed also deals with any conflicts of interest, removing a Trustees voting powers should a matter arise where a Trustee has a personal interest, directly or indirectly. The respective Trustee cannot vote on any such proposal or matter.

Ending the Trust

If the Trust ends, the Trustees must transfer any and all capital and undistributed income of the Trust to a trust or other entity with objects similar to those of the Trust. The Trustees can in no way financially benefit from the Trust in the event of its cessation.