All five board directors of the City of Logan Charitable Trust have resigned from their positions after raising a controversially low $1000 over the course of a year.
Logan City council has, however, chosen not to axe the trust and instead elect a new board “focused on fundraising”.
In July, council gave the trust three months to prove its ability to raise funds for local charities, otherwise it would face being “wound up”.
At a city governance meeting last week where a report was put forward highlighting council’s options for the future of the trust, it was revealed all five board directors had resigned.
This adds to the growing list of resignations from the trust, with an additional five directors leaving their positions since late 2023.
Three options were put forward: wind up, wind up and replace, or continue with the trust.
Council opted for the latter, which also included a review into the trust.
Mayor Jon Raven said the trust was important because it was able to fundraise, which council otherwise couldn’t do.
“There’s a really strong philanthropic push within the city – there are people who are prosperous, they want to contribute back to the city,” he said.
“Some of those people are business owners, some are just wealthy people who have moved to Logan and want to see it go places and help charities.
“But they want to know the place where they donate their money is going to be well-managed with good governance, which is something council does really well.”
He said the review would prevent the next board of directors from falling into the same bad spending habits.
“I identified that there was nothing in the charter, constitution or any documentation of the trust that compels [the board] to fundraise,” Cr Raven said.
“So of course they were taking all the money they were being given and handing it out to people.
“But we can do that without the charity – the point of difference for a charity is that they take the money they’ve got and use it to raise more and do good with it.”
Earlier this year the trust handed out $65,000 of grants to seven local charities delivering cost-of-living and domestic violence services across the city.
According to council, up to $18,000 of the total funding it gives the trust each year is spent on expenses, “leaving only 60-80 per cent to disburse to grant recipients”.
Over the last three years alone, the trust has received almost $200,000 of council funds.
Council will determine the trust’s interim directors at an ordinary council meeting on Wednesday.
“When we get a new board in place, and it’s full of local people, then they will be able to focus on the fundraising efforts and helping people who need it most,” Cr Raven said.
