Annual Report

What we support

Our programs

Ukraine

Christian Medical Association of Ukraine partnership

For over 20 years, CMA has made significant contributions by equipping healthcare professionals with essential tools. Their activities have rapidly expanded to meet pressing needs after the Russian invasion, including:

• Providing vital medical supplies, equipment and medicines to hospitals, NGOs, churches and military units
• Conducting training sessions and hosting foreign doctors
• Volunteer mobile clinics and affordable medical care
• First aid training for civilians and military
• Burns treatment projects and patient rehabilitation
• Joint projects on educating and supporting Ukrainian doctors to provide healthcare during war

Out There Kowanyama (OTK)

Out There Kowanyama community projects

Focused on creating hope for youth and families in a remote Indigenous community. This year we continued to build on our remote community VC project, providing training for community members and supporting our boarders, including two high school students doing particularly well. We also completed the final stages of the projects to provide a public toilet block on the church grounds picnic park.

Ukraine

Support ‘Fortress of Good’ Ukraine

“Banner of Love” church in Kryvyi Rih has a dedicated team of volunteers and chaplains who provide support, humanitarian aid, visiting and children’s programs to the frontlines, bombed de-occupied villages and others in need during this war. Deliveries include food, water (the main water supply dam was bombed by Russia in 2023), clothes, and medicine. Your donations also help with fuel to get to these villages.

Bangladesh

Symbiosis International: Bangladesh

Transforms the lives of Bangladesh’s poorest through education, health, and economic development, focusing on marginalised groups like women, ethnic minorities, and disabled individuals in rural areas. While our support has taken a back seat, we greatly believe in their amazing work and we encourage people to donate directly to them (they are also an Australian tax deductible charity). www.symbiosis.org.au You can also purchase Support Bangladesh items in our online store.

The people behind OPT

Our team

Lara Wieland (Gillespie)

Managing Director

Lara is a rural doctor who has worked most of her career in remote Aboriginal communities and volunteer charity work. She is passionate about accountability and efficacy in charity and showing #loveinaction. Growing up with a Ukrainian activist grandfather has helped her understanding of the challenges Ukraine continues to face.

Ronald Gillespie

Secretary

Ron has around 20 years of involvement with remote Indigenous people. He is passionate about volunteering and serving people in need. Through his wife Lara, Ron has developed a deep connection with Ukraine’s history and current situation.

Melanie Foulkes

Director

Melanie supports OPT’s mission to meet urgent humanitarian needs in Ukraine and empower historically marginalised communities. She works part-time as a lived experience counsellor.

Elizabeth Elliott

Director

When not exploring with her husband and 3 kids, Liz works full time for The Salvos in the homelessness sector. She has a heart for helping those who are disadvantaged or persecuted and she believes the heart of OPT beats the same.

Ukrainian social media & IT team

Part-time team

Our small Ukrainian part-time team who came on board in the last few months does an amazing job of helping with social media, promotions, website etc. whilst often going without power from Russian missile attacks and sustaining explosions, with most of them living in some very dangerous areas under frequent attack. One of our volunteers pays for their time to help OPT and provide support to Ukrainians trying to live and work through war.

Interested in being part of our team? Contact us at opt@passingthrough.net

Want to find out more about being involved? www.passingthrough.net/support

Financial report

Only Passing Thru (OPT) Ltd: financial year 2024–25

Directors

The following persons were directors of the company during the whole of the financial year 2024–2025 and up to the date of this report:

• Lara Gillespie
• Melanie Foulkes
• Ronald Gillespie
• Elizabeth Elliott

Objectives

Short-term objective: To provide immediate humanitarian and medical aid to communities affected by conflict in Ukraine, while supporting Indigenous community development projects in remote Australia and provide some funds to Bangladesh partner Symbiosis International.

Long-term objective: To establish sustainable support systems for vulnerable communities through medical missions, education programs, and community development initiatives.

Strategy for achieving the objectives

OPT achieves its objectives through:

• Strategic partnerships with on-ground organisations including Christian Medical Association of Ukraine (CMA Ukraine), Fortress of Good NGO, Disciples Church and Symbiosis International.
• Funds for direct humanitarian aid and medical supply distribution to Ukraine
• Medical mission teams providing surgical and medical care
• Support for Indigenous education and community programs (OTK project, Out There Kowanyama programs: www.otk.org.au)
• Community fundraising and donor engagement programs

Principal activities

During the financial year 2024–2025 the principal continuing activities of the company were:

• Collection and distribution of donations for Ukraine humanitarian aid
• Medical mission coordination and support in Ukraine. Indigenous community support through the OTK Community Church Videoconferencing project in Kowanyama and completion of the church/public toilet and volunteer accommodation project in Kowanyama.
• Fundraising through merchandise sales and community events and accommodation

Performance measures

The company measures its performance through:

• Program expense ratio: 91% of total expenses
• All donations distributed directly to the programs they were donated for. Total donations distributed: $113,085 direct to Ukrainian aid organisations (see www.cmaukraine.com for reports on their programs and humanitarian aid warehouse distribution), with a further $42k+ earmarked for upcoming medical missions and Ukraine support projects and $16,574 spent directly on medical equipment and programs in Ukraine, a further $10,950 spent on projects in Kowanyama.
• Medical mission to Ukraine April 2025: Participated in six mobile clinics across Ukraine with partners, conducted two Advanced Life Support Trainings, provided education at 3 medical universities, provided 6 tablet devices to mobile clinic volunteers, conducted teaching to doctors and students at a medical conference.
• Community reach: Completed construction of church/public toilet and volunteer accommodation in Kowanyama community. Continue to support, train and upgrade the Community church videoconference setup. Training provided to 12 community members.
• Increase in website and social media traffic and engagement. 3173 visitors in 2024 up from 1675 visitors in 2023. Raising awareness of the issues facing Ukraine.
• Increase in regular donors from 22 last financial year to 27 this financial year.

Key financial highlights

*Donations are expressed as net of merchant fees like Stripe fee and PayPal fee.
**Program expenses: 91% of total expenses went on direct aid and support and advocacy (2024: 94%).

Information on directors

Meeting of directors

The number of meetings of the company’s Board of Directors held during the year ended 30 June 2025, and the number of meetings attended by each director were:

Statement of financial position

As at 30 June 2025

^Transition in accounting practices and asset register adjustment. At the end of the 2024–2025 financial year, there was some internal uncertainty regarding whether the organisation was operating on a cash or accrual accounting basis. This was further complicated by our transition to a new accounting system at the start of the 2025–2026 financial year (see note 2). Opening retained earnings have been adjusted by $27,528 to correct an error identified during our accounting system transition. Physical assets that remain in use were incorrectly written off in the prior year and have been reinstated. This correction has been made in accordance with AASB 108. These assets include items that remain in use such as a vehicle, caravan and large screen and they have been reinstated in our current asset register. We remain committed to transparency and accountability. If further clarity is required, for example to support a donation decision, we welcome requests to review our financial records or to arrange for a formal audit.

Statement of profit or loss

For the year ended 30 June 2025

¹ Operating expenses include depreciation $6,012.60. Depreciation is a non-cash accounting adjustment and is excluded when calculating cash outflows. As the assets depreciating are used for programs they are included in operating expenditure when calculating ratios.

Statement of changes in equity

For the year ended 30 June 2025

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 30 June 2025

Notes to the statement of cash flows. Cash and cash equivalents comprise: Operating account $16,682; Cash saver account (including restricted funds) $42,470; Total $59,152. Restricted funds of $42,459 included in cash balance are reserved for future medical missions and projects. Non-cash transactions: Depreciation expense of $6,013 has been excluded from operating activities. Prior period asset reinstatement of $27,528 was a non-cash adjustment.

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2025

1. Legal status & operations

Only Passing Thru (OPT) Ltd is a not-for-profit entity which is not a reporting entity because, in the opinion of the directors, there are no users who are dependent on general purpose financial statements. This special purpose financial report has been prepared to satisfy the reporting requirements of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Act 2012. The financial statements have been prepared on an accrual basis of accounting.

2. Material accounting policies

Only Passing Thru (OPT) Ltd is a not-for-profit small charity. The directors have determined that OPT is not a reporting entity as there are unlikely to be users who are dependent on general purpose financial statements for making economic decisions. This special purpose financial report has been prepared solely to meet ACNC and Corporations Act obligations.

Basis for preparation of special purpose financial statements: The decision to prepare special purpose financial statements was made because:

• The charity is small with limited resources
• The primary users (donors and ACNC) have specific information needs that can be met through special purpose statements
• No users have been identified who would require general purpose financial statements

Compliance with Australian Accounting Standards:

• These financial statements comply with the recognition and measurement requirements of all applicable Australian Accounting Standards
• The charity has no interests in other entities requiring consolidation or equity accounting
• All disclosure requirements of AASB 101, 107, 108, 124, 1048, and 1054 have been applied

Significant accounting policies. Accounting basis: These financial statements have been prepared on an accrual basis of accounting for the year ended 30 June 2025. While the organisation’s transactions are predominantly cash-settled with minimal timing differences, accrual accounting has been applied to ensure: all income earned during the period is recognised; all expenses incurred during the period are recorded; assets and liabilities are appropriately stated at year-end. The directors confirm that all material transactions have been recorded in the appropriate period, and the financial statements present a true and fair view of the organisation’s financial position and performance.

• Currency: Australian dollars; figures rounded to the nearest dollar
• Cash and cash equivalents: cash at bank
• Property, plant & equipment: items under $3,000 expensed; others depreciated on a straight-line basis over 3–10 years starting from the date of purchase to date of disposal or end of useful life.
• Income tax: OPT is exempt under Sub-division 50-5 of the ITAA 1997

3. Critical accounting judgements, estimates and assumptions

The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions. There are no critical accounting judgements, estimates and assumptions that are likely to materially affect these statements.

4. Revenue presentation

Revenue figures in the financial statements represent net amounts received after deducting these processing fees, while the fees are also shown as expenses to provide transparency on the total cost of processing donations.

5. GST refunds and accounting treatment

Only Passing Thru (OPT) Ltd is registered for GST and operates under cash GST accounting. As a tax-exempt charity, we do not charge GST on our income but are entitled to claim back the GST component of our eligible purchases.

In the past financial year, GST refunds received from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) were mistakenly recorded as income. However, GST refunds are not income but represent a recovery of GST paid on expenses, and should be treated accordingly. For this financial report, we have corrected this by reclassifying GST refunds as an asset (tax paid on purchases) and not including it in income. We remain committed to transparent and accurate reporting and are happy to provide more detailed breakdowns on request to assist with donation decision-making.

6. Non-current assets

7. Cash and bank

8. Trading activities

Include online shop sales, market stall sales, book sales and garage sales.

9. Merchant fees

This refers to fees charged by different fund processing platforms like Stripe and PayPal. The significant increase in merchant fees reflects the growth in online donations and the shift to digital payment platforms but mostly represented by a Chuffed advertising campaign where they advertised and helped us raise significant revenue in exchange for much higher transaction fees.

10. Program expenses

Program expenses comprise expenditure incurred solely for activities that deliver direct benefit to OPT’s intended beneficiaries. Beneficiaries being the recipients of medical and humanitarian aid in Ukraine, the landless poor in Bangladesh and disadvantaged youth and community in Kowanyama, either directly or through our partner organisations.

Direct program expenses that went to our beneficiaries, partners and programs were 91% of total expenses, well above most suggested benchmarks and in alignment with the ACFID Code of Conduct.

Summary of suggested benchmarks:

Indirect (as opposed to direct) program expenses are costs that are necessary to run programs but do not directly reach or serve beneficiaries, though they still support the charity’s mission. Examples might include: training materials for volunteer staff, translation services, software licences for medical record keeping. Direct program expenses could include things like fuel for mobile clinics, medicines delivered to patients, purchase of medical supplies. These are referred to in our chart of accounts as Client Support Services.

10.1 This category refers to items used to conduct an activity for our NGO partners or equipment used on a mission and then donated to our NGO partners for their use for their charity’s activities, e.g. solar panel, batteries, camera etc.

10.2 The videoconferencing project in the community church hall continues to serve as a vital communication hub for Kowanyama residents. Multiple community groups regularly access the large screen television, high-speed internet, and videoconferencing facilities for meetings, educational programs, and social connections. The technology has proven particularly valuable for enabling families to participate remotely in important cultural events, funerals, and celebrations when distance prevents physical attendance. We have conducted training sessions for community members to build local capacity and ensure sustainable use of the technology. Our ongoing provision of satellite internet service maintains this critical digital lifeline for the community, reducing isolation and expanding opportunities for connection and participation.

10.3 We successfully secured and utilised grant funding to address critical infrastructure needs in the Kowanyama community. The grant enabled us to completely rebuild and replace the deteriorated ablution block located outside the Kowanyama church, which serves as the primary public toilet facility for community members. This essential infrastructure also supports the family picnic area that we established in previous years, creating a more functional and dignified space for community gatherings. Our dedicated volunteers completed the construction work during this reporting period, demonstrating our commitment to hands-on community development. The project directly improves sanitation access and quality of life for residents in one of Australia’s most remote and disadvantaged Indigenous communities.

11. Restricted funds in equity

As at 30 June 2025, Only Passing Thru (OPT) Ltd holds restricted funds that have been received for specific purposes, including medical missions, medical aid and education programs in Ukraine. These funds are included in the total cash balance but are reserved for their designated purposes and are not available for general use and are held in a separate cash saver fund. The movement in restricted funds during the year is as follows:

12. Related-party transactions

On July 17, 2025, the Board resolved that directors’ equity contributions of $15,000 previously recorded as a liability to director Lara Gillespie would be treated as non-repayable donations to the charity. This represents working capital advances. No other related-party transactions occurred in 2025.

13. Key management personnel remuneration

All personnel are volunteers; no KMP remuneration was paid or payable in 2025 (2024: nil).

14. Contingent liabilities

Nil

15. Events after the reporting period

After the reporting period it was clear that we had been using a hybrid cash/accrual basis accounting and a decision was made by the board to proceed with accrual basis accounting and report on this basis (see note 2).

16. Bangladesh donations

We don’t actively seek donations for Bangladesh although we provide the option to do this. This is because we encourage people to give directly to our Bangladesh partner Symbiosis International who can also offer a tax deduction. Our aim is to raise some funds for Bangladesh through shop sales.

The statements have been prepared on an assumed hybrid cash/accrual basis of accounting. This approach provides users with a faithful representation of the charity’s financial operations and aligns with the size and complexity of the entity.

The financial report has been prepared to support accountability to members, donors, and regulatory bodies, and to ensure appropriate stewardship of charitable funds.

The directors are committed to transparency and accountability and are willing to provide more detailed financial information on request to assist potential or existing donors in making informed decisions.

17. Fundraising activities

OPT conducts fundraising activities such as market stalls and an online shop to support its charitable purposes. During 2024–2025:

18. Volunteer contribution

OPT’s activities are made possible by dedicated volunteers who contributed thousands of hours of service. If valued at minimum wage, this contribution would exceed $150,000 annually.

20. Economic dependency

The company is dependent upon ongoing donations from the public to continue its charitable activities. The directors believe there are reasonable grounds to expect continued support.

Directors’ declaration

For the year ended 30 June 2025

The directors of Only Passing Thru (OPT) Ltd declare that:

• the accompanying financial statements and notes present fairly the financial position of OPT as at 30 June 2025 and its performance for the year then ended;
• there are reasonable grounds to believe OPT can pay its debts as and when they fall due;
• the statements have been prepared as special purpose financial statements that comply with applicable Australian Accounting Standards and the ACNC Act 2012;
• the company is not a reporting entity because there are no users dependent on general purpose financial statements.

Signed in accordance with a resolution of directors made pursuant to section 295(5)(a) of the Corporations Act 2001.

On behalf of the directors
Chair / Director
Date: ____ / ____ / 2025   Tarzali, QLD