A.F. Downer Memorial Scholarship Trust · Education
30 / 100
Next grade: D- (10 points away)
Financial
Governance
Transparency
The financial score is a 3-year weighted blend (60% latest / 30% prior / 10% prior-prior) for operating charities, so single-year anomalies don’t dominate. Efficiency here is based on manually-categorised program vs admin expenses. Methodology →
80% complete
Cash reserves significantly exceed operational needs. Deploy surplus toward mission activities or document a formal reserves policy explaining the rationale.
The charity's expense breakdown has not been manually verified. Submitting an accurate program/admin/fundraising expense split from audited financial statements unlocks the efficiency score and restores full financial weighting.
Boards with 5-15 members score highest for governance. Consider appointing additional trustees or restructuring the board.
An independent chair strengthens governance oversight and demonstrates separation of management and governance.
Term limits ensure regular board renewal and prevent entrenchment. A typical policy is 3 terms of 3 years.
An audit committee provides financial oversight and strengthens accountability. At least 2-3 board members with financial literacy.
A finance committee improves budgeting, investment oversight, and financial planning.
A documented conflict of interest policy protects the charity and its beneficiaries. Required for good governance.
A whistleblower protection policy encourages reporting of misconduct and demonstrates transparency commitment.
A formal remuneration policy ensures fair and transparent pay decisions for staff and executives.
Listing board members on the website or in annual reports improves accountability and donor confidence.
Publishing executive pay bands or total compensation demonstrates accountability and builds trust with donors and funders.
The charity holds 346.1 months of reserves, above the 18-month threshold. Consider deploying surplus funds toward programs or establishing a documented reserves policy explaining the rationale.
Holding 346.1 months of expenses in reserves ($0.6M) — above the 18-month threshold
-20 points
Data sourced from Charities Services register and annual returns. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. Scores are calculated using disclosed methodology and are analytical tools, not investment ratings or recommendations. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@charitydata.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.