Admin costs soar as wildlife charity yet to spend bushfire money

The nation’s largest wildlife rescue charity is yet to spend the vast majority of more than $100 million raised to care for burnt and injured animals during the Black Summer bushfires, and is now trying to reduce oversight of the remaining $69 million.

WIRES collected $102.5 million in donations from all over Australia and the world during the 2019-2020 fires, in a fundraising campaign promoted by former United States president Barack Obama and TV host Ellen DeGeneres.

Now the fur is flying between the management of WIRES and a substantial part of its member base over control and oversight of the funds, and the rights of members within the organisation.

A WIRES volunteer with a koala joey in Sydney.Credit: Nick Moir

One member, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said: “Within WIRES, we’re not seeing any of the benefits of bushfire donations. All we can see is that their head office is getting bigger and bigger, and there’s more and more staff.”

She added that carers were being “harassed” over petrol bills, food claims and vet bills, even when local branches did their own fundraising.

The NSW Department of Fair Trading has required WIRES to change from an association to a company limited by guarantee, and the organisation must adopt a new constitution approved by 75 per cent of members.

A WIRES volunteer carer holds a baby brushtail possum.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Members have already voted down two earlier versions of the constitution prepared by WIRES. At a special general meeting next month, members will choose between a third iteration put forward by WIRES or an alternative put forward by 172 members, 5 per cent of membership.

The WIRES version proposes to downgrade the public gift fund, which requires a separate bank account and clear accounting procedures, to a gift fund. The law permits but does not require an environmental charity to operate a public gift fund.

The public gift fund is overseen by five responsible people who are independent of WIRES management. In the charity’s proposed constitution, the gift fund will be instead overseen by three people appointed by the charity’s directors, and become part of company accounts.

The rebel members are also unhappy with clauses in the WIRES version of the constitution that require members to reapply for membership every year, and allow directors to refuse membership without giving any reason.

The WIRES-proposed constitution also says that four of the nine board directors will be chosen by a nominations committee rather than members.

Professor Sandra van der Laan, an accounting expert at the University of Sydney Business School, said the changes seemed to be about control.

“I’m concerned about its governance,” van der Laan said. “The fundamental purpose of WIRES [is something that] everybody’s going to support … but it looks like the way it’s being run is of particular concern.”

Van der Laan said the gift fund should remain in a separate bank account, and she was concerned about “administrative expenses absolutely going through the roof”.

In the year ended June 30, 2023, WIRES revenue was $19.9 million. Most of that came from WIRES taking $15.5 million from the public gift fund, up from $12.1 million the year before.

Expenses were $16.5 million in the 2023 financial year, up from $15.6 million, including large hikes in accounting bills and employee benefit expenses. Yet, the money spent on wildlife rescue and branch support went down.

An estimated 1 billion animals perished in the Black Summer bushfires, and the WIRES fundraising campaign went viral around the globe. Obama posted on social media a link about how to help Australia during the catastrophic fires, which named WIRES as one of four recommended charities.

The WIRES fundraiser was also promoted by DeGeneres on her television show, on an electronic billboard in Time Square in New York, and by Formula 1 champions Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, and British food critic Tom Parker Bowles.

Few other wildlife rescue organisations were able to raise money during the bushfires, and many are struggling. Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, which was knocked back for a WIRES grant, is on the brink of closure. RRANA (Rescue and Rehabilitation of Australian Native Animals) Broken Hill disbanded in March, and WIRES informed members in June that it was in discussions to start covering the area.

Van der Laan said WIRES should have a plan for how to spend the $69 million in the public gift fund to benefit wildlife, but it was not sustainable to use it to bankroll ordinary operations.

WIRES responded to questions with a statement which said the board had consulted with all members over its constitution, and it had best practice and good governance at its core.

“WIRES willingly invests more money in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation than any other group in Australia – more than the federal, state and territory governments combined,” the statement said.

In 2020, the charity regulator found WIRES had acted legally and responsibly with its bushfire donations. In 2022, a board member quit over the fact that bushfire funds remained unspent.

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