Gloriavale’s $41m business empire
The Christian community is a significant contributor to the West Coast economy, but its young, volunteer workforce is under scrutiny. Amanda Cropp reports.
Running an airline, farming close to 7000 cows and deer, oil and gas exploration, hosting wealthy Americans on hunting expeditions, and selling sphagnum moss to Disneyland.
The Gloriavale Christian Community’s business empire has certainly been diverse, but what would happen if the enterprises that earned the tax-exempt registered charity $21.2 million last year could no longer use volunteer labour?
On top of investigations into allegations of child abuse and a civil lawsuit seeking to remove trustees for allegedly breaching their duties, there is growing unease about the extent of Gloriavale’s unpaid workforce.
The most recent evidence of that emerged when a community company lost a contract to make Moo Chews milk-bites after a backlash from consumers and distributors when they learned a Gloriavale factory made the children’s snack marketed by a cute soft toy cow.
As a registered charity, Gloriavale’s Christian Church Community Trust is obliged to file annual financial statements with Charities Services, and they show its annual income has increased fivefold from just over $4m a decade ago.
Farming has been a mainstay of Gloriavale since it was established near Christchurch in 1969 by Neville Cooper, known as Hopeful Christian, before moving in 1991 to Haupiri on the West Coast where it owns dairy farms carrying 3126 cows, and one of the largest deer farms in the country.
Last year the community bought Lake Brunner Station, a 2365ha property with stands of exotic and native timber, extensive frontage on Lake Brunner and consent for the construction of tourist lodges.
According to the trust’s 2020 financial statement it agreed to pay $6.6m for its share of the joint purchase with Christian Partners, an entity providing labour to all the group’s trading companies and education centres.
The statement lists 15 companies and businesses entities directly under trust control which do not have to pay tax.
Its apiaries produce honey sold under the Forest Gold brand, and bee pollen and deer velvet are ingredients in health supplements and skincare creams marketed by Pure Vitality.
Gloriavale is also into pet food with Value Proteins processing offal and meat into meat meal for export.
Apetiza Ltd is licensed to export pet food but a man who answered the company phone number said it never really took off and was shut down.
The trust’s investment in aviation has also wound down considerably from the heady days when it ran commercial flights from the West Coast to Wellington.
The passenger service was halted by the global financial crisis, and although scenic tourism flights continued, and it still owns three smaller aircraft, the aviation business now largely involves aircraft maintenance and earned just $18,000 last year, well down on $144,000 in 2016.
In the trust’s annual report, oil and gas exploration company Ocean Harvest International is described as ‘‘nontrading’’,
Back in 2010, the business administrator for the community, Fervent Stedfast, told Stuff that oil and gas operations were at an experimental stage, it was too early to say how the resources would be used, and he did not want to discuss how the project was funded.
Gloriavale has not hesitated to divest itself of operations when necessary.
A trophy hunting operation, attracting well-heeled mostly American customers prepared to pay $5000 to $50,000 to bag stag, chamois or tahr, was sold last year after Covid-19 struck.
The community exited the sphagnum moss industry some years ago, but it was once a major player – Stedfast told RNZ’s Country Life programme that its national distribution warehouse in Los Angeles had sold moss to Disneyland.
Government grants of more than $2m contributed to the running of Gloriavale’s school and preschool educational facilities last year, and providing midwifery services earned the community a further $201,000.
However, Gloriavale’s business dealings are constrained by the terms of a trust deed that prohibits charging or receiving interest, borrowing money or taking out mortgages.
Researcher Dr Michael Gousmett has a special interest in tax-exempt charities, and he has perused Christian Community Trust statements going back five years.
His conclusion is that in purely commercial terms, a net annual surplus
Leavers estimate the population has dropped to about 580 in the past couple of years as families quit the community, increasing the work burden on those left behind.
of about $1m on assets worth $41m is hardly making a killing, but as a charity he acknowledges the trust ‘‘has other objectives’’.
His main issue is that the accounts lack detail, such as how many children benefited from the early childhood grants, and how many babies the midwives delivered.
‘‘These are taxpayer-subsidised organisations, and they are in my opinion publicly accountable for how they are applying their funds.’’
Gloriavale’s use of volunteers has been under the microscope as a result of former community members speaking up about lack of remuneration, long hours, and workplace injuries.
Infometrics senior economist Nick Brunsdon says the statistical area (SA1) that essentially covered just Gloriavale in the 2018 census showed that out of 243 people over the age of 14, 168 were working full or part-time.
Annual trust financial statements to Charities Services since 2009 have consistently said no one was employed in full or part-time paid work.
The total number of volunteers fluctuated from a low of 25 to a high of 90, and the total average hours they worked per week ranged from 750 to 3446 (30 to 37 hours per person).
Late last year ex-Gloriavale resident
Isaac Pilgrim said most community members aged 15 to 55 worked between 50 and 90 hours a week, and those who were paid signed a partnership agreement giving the money to the trust.
He provided copies of his 2017 bank statements showing regular $300 deposits by Christian Partners, followed rapidly by a withdrawal of the same amount as a donation to the Gloriavale Christian Community Account, which the trust says is used for ‘‘personal donations to overseas entities and overseas excursions’’.
‘‘I had no idea or control over what went in or came out of my bank account,’’ Pilgrim said.
‘‘One of the major points about anyone born into Gloriavale is that you’re raised in a system that schools you from day one to give total obedience to the management, or you will go to hell, and when you have a very religious upbringing this thought terrifies you.’’
Another recent leaver suggests there is nothing ‘‘voluntary’’ about the work.
‘‘If you don’t go to work you end up in trouble, while there is only one option, it’s not a choice.’’
Gloriavale’s trust or volunteer structure is outside the Labour Inspectorate’s jurisdiction because, acting national manager Loua Ward says, it is technically not an employer as defined by the Employment Relations Act.
However, if it was proved that there are workers within such a structure, she says the inspectorate can take compliance action.
Inspectors have interviewed current and former community members to assess whether those working unpaid should actually be treated as employees entitled to minimum wages, holiday and sick pay, and they are awaiting advice from the Crown Law Office on how to proceed.
Brunsdon says the 2018 census showed that almost half the 603 people recorded for the Gloriavale area were under the age of nine, the highest concentration of this age group out of 30,000 statistical areas nationally.
‘‘This explosion in the child population has come with virtually no increase in the adult population, so they have a significantly higher number of mouths to feed with virtually no additional workers to cover these increased costs.’’
Leavers estimate the population has dropped to about 580 in the past couple of years as families quit the community, increasing the work burden on those left behind, and that includes teens.
According to the Ministry of Education website, in July last year the Gloriavale Christian School had no students over the age of 15 or beyond Year 11.
That is a worry for some.
‘‘The biggest concern is the young adults that should be continuing with their education, they are a pretty integral part of the workforce,’’ one recent leaver said.
‘‘Getting up at 4am and doing a 12-hour day. At 14 years old, most people would say that person is still a child and should still be in school, I don’t disagree with that.’’
Concerns about possible exploitation are already starting to hurt the community’s bottom line. Moo Chews NZ Ltd initially suspended its contract with a Gloriavale company until it was ‘‘satisfied with employment practices’’, and it has not explained why it then chose to end the manufacturing arrangement.
Grey District mayor Tania Gibson has visited the Moo Chews factory, but in light of ongoing inquiries by various government agencies, she is reluctant to comment on Gloriavale’s use of volunteer labour.
‘‘It’s a totally different way of thinking to what we think.’’
Trust spending topped $18.5m last year and Gibson is acutely aware of its importance to the wider West Coast economy.
‘‘They don’t employ outside people in their businesses, but they do spend a lot in our community.’’