About this organisation
Summary of activities
At Life Without Barriers our purpose is to 'Partner with People and Change lives for the Better'. Every person that we work with has their own specific needs and the support we offer is sensitive and respectful to their choices as individuals.Our unique approach has enabled us to provide effective services that transcend traditional sector boundaries and reach more people with disabilities, vulnerable children and families, older people, refugees and asylum seekers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and others who are vulnerable to social exclusion, isolation and socio-economic disadvantage and enable people to live life without barriers, participate in society and live life to the fullest.Further information can be found in our Annual Report, available at the link below: http://www.lwb.org.au/about-us/publications-and-resources/annual-report-2017/
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Group membership
This charity is part of a group: Life Without Barriers_ACNC Group. Other members of the group include:
Outcomes
Outcomes are self-reported by charities
Programs and activities
Name: Supported Independent Living
Classification: Disability services (Human services > Special population support > Disability services)
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- People with disabilities
Name: Lifestyle Support Program
Classification: Disability services (Human services > Special population support > Disability services)
Beneficiaries:- People with disabilities
Name: Foster Care
Classification: Out-of-home care (Human services > Family services > Child welfare > Out-of-home care)
Beneficiaries:- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Early childhood - aged under 6
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Intensive Therapeutic Care
Classification: Family services (Human services > Family services )
Beneficiaries:- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Aged Care Community Support
Classification: Housing services (Human services > Shelter and residential care > Housing services)
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 65 and over
Name: Mental Health Support
Classification: Mental health counselling (Health > Mental healthcare > Mental health counselling)
Beneficiaries:- General community in Australia
Name: Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Classification: Human services (Human services)
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Families
Name: Support Coordination
Classification: Disability services (Human services > Special population support > Disability services)
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- People with disabilities
Name: Homelessness
Classification: Homeless services (Human services > Special population support > Homeless services)
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- Adults - aged 65 and over
- People at risk of homelessness/ people experiencing homelessness
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Youth Justice
Classification: Youth services (Human services > Youth development > Youth services)
Beneficiaries:- Children - aged 6 to under 15
- Pre/post release offenders and/or their families
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Finances
What is this?
This graph shows how much revenue (money in) and expenses (money out) the charity has had each year over the last few years. Charities have many sources of revenue, such as donations, government grants, and services they sell to the public. Similarly, expenses are everything that allows the charity to run, from paying staff to rent.
What should I be looking for?
First off, this graph gives a general indication of how big the charity is - charities range in size from tiny (budgets of less than $100,000) to enormous (budgets more than $100 million). You're also looking for variability - if the charity's revenue and expenses are jumping up and down from year to year, make sure there's a good reason for it.
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want revenue to be slightly above expenses. If expenses is reliably above revenue, the charity is losing money. If revenue is much larger than expenses, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
If a charity receives more money than it spends, that's a surplus (in business, it would be called profit). If it spends more than it receives, that's a deficit. This chart shows surpluses and deficits for the charity over the last few years.
What should I be looking for?
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want a charity to make a small surplus on average. A deficit means that charity lost money that year, which may indicate poor financial management or just a series of bad circumstances. If the charity always has a huge surplus, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
This chart compares the amount the charity receives from various sources, including donations (i.e. money given by the general public or philanthropy), goods and services, government grants, and other sources.
What should I be looking for?
Donations are an important source of revenue for some charities. Others rely more heavily on government funding, or on revenue from other sources. This is an indication of how much they need donors to accomplish their mission. Note that there is no 'good' or 'bad' amount of donations for a charity to have. It might be interesting to look at values over time - are they going up or down? A charity that gets less donations every year may be in trouble.
What is this?
Assets are things that the charity owns that are worth something. This could be anything from a car to investments. Similarly, liabilities are debts or obligations that the charity owes to someone else, like a loan or an agreement to pay for something.
What should I be looking for?
Firstly, in general a charity should have more assets than liabilities. If it doesn't, it implies that the charity might not be able to pay its debts, and you should look very closely at the charity's annual and financial reports to make sure they are taking steps to remedy this. Current assets should generally be above current liabilities - that means the charity can easily pay off the debts that are coming due soon. Beyond that, look for a large stockpile of assets. While a charity should have enough assets to keep it afloat in hard times (a 'buffer') if that stockpile gets too large the charity could be using that money more effectively. As always, if you have concerns check the annual and financial reports.
Transparency
Scoring detail
Details