Facts and Figures

Already before leaving Switzerland, Peter Ochsenbein had made sporadic contributions to various charities. He continued to do so after his migration to the Gold Coast in January 1992. After he was granted Australian Citizenship in June 1997 (becoming a "Swaussie") he decided to establish his own private charitable foundation, and to build a hall for yoga and other recreational activities. After much research he came to the conclusion in early 1999 that it would be best to own the land on which the hall would be built.

In June 1999 he acquired a vacant block in the centre of old Mudgeeraba. Almost simultaneously the legal framework for his private foundation was finalized, and on 17 June 1999 the foundation's Deed was signed and the trust account opened. Obviously at that time such private, independent and not family related charity trusts with small start capital were rather unusual. In hindsight he is pleased that the 1st tax declaration was for 1998/99 and therefore fully fell in the "last century".

On the 26 June 1999 he wrote to Council about his intention. In a prompt reply he was informed that because the site was zoned 'Residential A' an 'application for Material Change of Use' (re-zoning) would be necessary. In this specific case of a (rather symmetric) corner block this meant that the main entrance would have to be shifted around the corner to School Street where all adjoining lots were zoned commercial. When he lodged the application for re-zoning in December 1999 he had no idea about the obstacles such a process would involve (incl. a petition signed by numerous opposing residents). In July 2000 Council's decision was deferred in view of the "complex nature" of the matter, but in October 2001 re-zoning was accepted by a small majority.

The Council had overruled the "bureaucrats". However, it had always been Peter’s intention to have a Centre with a heritage look. He expected particularly strict Council "benchmark" guidelines and adhered to them. After delays due to some major but farsighted changes in the planning phase, the building application was approved in March 2003. There followed 4 months of thorough studies about structural details. In July the building contract was signed and construction began instantly. In December 2003 an application for rate reduction was approved by Council. In March 2004 the certified building was opened. It was called the "Mudgeeraba Foundation Centre" (MFC). An experienced caretaker was found and moved in quickly. Soon it became clear that architect Mathew Jones and builder Bruce Bell had done an outstanding job.

Since then 27 users have made bookings for various lessons, classes, sessions, workshops and other events. About half have moved on through teachers retiring or leaving the Gold Coast. Currently there are 13 regular users, some of whom have been with us since the start. Our users benefit from low hourly fees, and the hall is nearly booked to capacity. However, we do not want the MFC to become a "closed clubhouse", and we are often able to find a timeslot for newcomers.

Any surplus resulting from running the Centre goes back into the trust fund which contributes towards the cost of overheads (mainly office material and communication fees). Management is voluntarily done by Peter who is responsible also for upgrading the MFC and in particular, the annual donations allocated by the Mudgeeraba Foundation. The first two "donation ceremonies" took place in June/July 2001 and 2002 in Mudgeeraba's Old Post Office. In 2000 and 2003 there were no donations because all attention had to be focused on application and building issues.

In 2004 the donation ceremony took place in the completed Centre and was combined with the opening ceremony of the art exhibition sponsored by the Foundation and taking place in December. This was the case also in 2005-2008, and the evening ceremony has become a major local event.

March 2009 marked the 5^th anniversary of the Centre, and June 2009 the 10^th anniversary of the Foundation. In view of this historical background an overview of the foundation's contributions (deadline 30 June 2009) is given below. All figures mean thousand dollars (for instance 12,34 = $12,340.00)..

It should be noted that in many cases the figures include GST which could/can be reclaimed in case of a charity organization as ours. The total of GST refunds (December 2000 – December 2007) is 57,90.

In the early years the Foundation was dependent only on the endowments from the founder which were mainly used for the above mentioned activities, goods and services, but also for building up a reserve. Due to continuous and regular endowments bank investments were and are significantly growing, and so does the interest on capital. Its total is 106,91 (June 1999 – June 2009). Because of the rather intensive use of the MFC there is (irrespective of the low hourly fee of $10 per hour) also an income from rental, namely 79,00 (April 2004 – June 2009),.which clearly exceeds the operating cost.

The Foundation is in a strong financial position. It should be mentioned, however, that except a low monthly contribution of $200 for out-of-pocket cost no monies have been (or are presently) paid to the founder who also acts as the sole director of the trustee and administrator of the MFC. With the growth of his task it became increasingly important to maintain complete records, to prepare annual financial statements and to make annual declarations clearly showing that the requirements of the tax office to retain the status as a tax exempt organization are fully met.

(P.O., July 2009)