FAQ

Australian Relief & Mercy Services Ltd was first registered as a charity in Canberra Australia on August 23, 1988.

Our ABN is 84 008 643 258 and our ACN is 008 643 258.

Australian Relief & Mercy Services Ltd has been set up to care for the poor and the needy both within Australia and overseas. It is a company limited by guarantee that is a Public Benevolent Institution  and an endorsed tax concession charity (TCC).

Australian Relief & Mercy Services Ltd is also the trustee of ARMS Overseas Aid Fund. (Item 9.1.1)

Yes. Australian Relief & Mercy Services Ltd  is registered with the Australian Tax Office as Deductible Gift Recipient and has tax deductibility through the Australian Tax Office on all its projects within Australia and those overseas projects it registers under its the ARMS Overseas Aid Fund.

Some international projects funded by Australian Mercy may not fit the recommended criteria to attract tax deductibility and therefore cannot be registered under the ARMS Overseas Aid Fund. Donors are encouraged to check which projects are tax deducible before making their donation.

A list of tax deductible and non tax deductible international projects can be found here  and also on our donations page.  (In the giving section, as you enter your details the drop down menu labelled “Donation Target” lists what projects are tax deductible which one are not.) 

The ARMS Overseas Aid Fund (item 9.1.1) is a public fund established by Australian Relief & Mercy Services Ltd that is used solely for the relief of people in countries that have been declared by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to be Developing Countries.

Donations of $2.00 or more that are made to projects registered under this fund are tax deductible to Australian donors.

In order to operate this fund Australian Relief & Mercy Services Ltd has gone through a stringent application process and has been declared to be an approved organization by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The fund was gazetted on August 15, 2012.

The fund is listed on the AusAID website as an approved fund.

Yes. ARMS has full Tax Deductibility in Australia the USA and Canada. Details are found here. 

Australian Relief & Mercy Services / Australian Mercy / ARMS

Australian Relief & Mercy Services is the registered business name, ARMS is simply an abreviation and Australian Mercy is a trading name. In fact they are all one in the same organisation!

Yes. Australian Mercy is the mercy ministry arm of Youth With A Mission Australia. It is also a signatory to the Australian Council For International Development (ACFID) code of conduct. Australian Mercy is a member of Missions Interlink and is also affiliated with the Micah Challenge

Australian Mercy also works closely with many other agencies and government bodies including the United Nations in order to accomplish its goals.

As a Public Benevolent Institution Australian Mercy is required by Australian law to submit to a yearly audit of all its financial dealings.

As a signatory to the ACFID Code of Conduct, Australian Mercy has all its books audited once a year to the standard laid out in the ACFID Code Of Conduct.

All audits are submitted to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and other peak bodies such as ACFID and Missions Interlink for their perusal and comment. A synopsis of our audit is published online as part of our Annual Reports.

Full details are available on the contact page

We use SSL Certificates to offer secure communications by encrypting all financial data to and from the site.

Australian Mercy information is included in the SSL certificate. This enables you to check the site´s validity yourself.

The Australian Mercy Board has stipulated that where an Australian Mercy appeal is oversubscribed; once the appeal has been balanced off, the extra funds are to be passed onto a similar kind of project run by Australian Mercy in another nation; or to an Australian Mercy project in the same country.

This stipulation recognizes that moneys donated for tax deductible purposes must only be used on projects that qualify as tax deductible.

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Very little. As a volunteer organization Australian Mercy pays no wages to its workers. Everyone is a full time volunteer. However, Australian Mercy does take 5% from all project donations and 10% from all grants and sponsorships in order to help cover the costs of its administration.

There are several ways that you can become involved. You can pray for our work. We need all the prayer support we can get.

Secondly you can give to the work of ARMS, support one of our many projects, or send a general donation to help us cover the costs of doing the work that we do amongst the poor and the needy. You could always train with us, do a school that will help you to make a difference in some one else’s life.

Finally you could come on an Australian Mercy team to a location where there is need, we need lots of people with lots of varying skills to help us to serve the poor.