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Refund Policy

REFUND POLICY

  1. BACKROUND

Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) is the overseas aid and resettlement agency of the Lutheran Church of Australia. It operates under a constitution approved by the General Synod of the LCA and is consistent with the objects of the LCA Constitution.

ALWS is committed to fairness and transparency and respects the financial contributions that are made towards our humanitarian, development and advocacy programs.

We recognise that ALWS is blessed to have generous and committed supporters, and never wish to take this for granted.

We acknowledge that it is possible for a supporter to make an error when making a gift. We also recognise the potential for administrative or technical errors to occur. A request for a refund of contributions already donated to ALWS by a supporter will be considered and determined on a case by case basis in a timely and efficient manner.

  1. RATIONALE

This policy exists to provide guidance on how ALWS treats refunds. It serves as an easy reference for those involved in refunds.

This policy applies to all those who make financial gifts to ALWS, the organisation’s employees and volunteers responsible for processing and managing financial donations.

  1. DEFINITION

Refund – to pay back (money) to a supporter, who has mistakenly donated an amount of money to ALWS

  1. GOAL

To identify situations where refunds may be given and ensure that those refunds are processed in a timely and consistent fashion.

  1. IMPLEMENTATION

5.1 ALWS is under no obligation to provide a refund for gifts but where necessary will endeavour to rectify genuine errors.

5.2 Should an error be identified, the supporter has 30 days from the date the gift was received, to make a request for refund. All requests must be made in writing and forwarded as follows:

Email: alws@alws.org.au

Mail: Australian Lutheran World Service

        PO Box 488

        Albury NSW 2640

5.3 Requests for refunds must include the details of the initial transaction including date, amount, supporter’s full name, supporter ID number (if known) and the nature of the error.

5.4 All requests will be examined and approved at ALWS’ discretion.

5.5 A refund, once approved, needs to be authorised by a member of the Finance team before it can be processed. A request for a refund for a donation which exceeds $5,000 must be approved by the Executive Director or their delegate.

5.6 Should a refund be approved; a new receipt will be issued where applicable. Any original receipt previously issued will immediately become void and invalid. Where a Tax Receipt is issued, it is the supporter’s responsibility to inform the ATO if tax deductibility has already been claimed. ALWS will not be held responsible for the supporter’s personal tax matters.

5.7 Refunds will be made within 5 working days of a decision and returned as a credit into the supporter’s account. The supporter is to provide the details of the account in which the credit should be deposited.

5.8 Should an administrative or technical error be made by ALWS, a full refund will be made immediately upon notification of the error.

5.9 Details of any refund requests should be recorded in the supporter’s record including the date, a copy, the nature, and the outcome of the refund request.

5.10 While we will always endeavour to identify donations which seem to be incorrectly sent to ALWS, it is ultimately the responsibility of the supporter to ensure their donation is sent to the correct recipient.

  1. REVIEW

This policy will be reviewed at least every three years.

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