The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has managed to raise just $53.6m towards a $357m fundraising target, according to an auditor general’s review of its controversial partnership with the federal government. The report by the Australian National Audit Office, published late Wednesday, examined the design and early delivery of the foundation’s work after the awarding of a $443.3m grant by the Turnbull government in 2018, finding it had been “partially effective”. At the time, the government responded to criticism of the grant – the largest recorded on the Department of Finance’s website – by saying the private foundation would leverage the funds to attract further investment in reef restoration and science from the private sector. But the report said the foundation had raised just $53.6m of its overarching fundraising target of $357m and 99% of these donations were in-kind, rather than cash, contributions. Just $684,100 in cash donations had been achieved. “As interim fundraising targets have not been set, it is difficult to assess whether appropriate progress is being made towards the fundraising targets,” the report states. The auditor general found the foundation had invested the grant money appropriately in various term deposits but recommended it adopt clearer targets for fundraising and more open procurement processes. But it criticised the foundation for not ensuring that bank deeds were always in place to protect the Australian government’s interests. The ANAO also found the foundation had not taken a competitive process to procurement or used a consistent and appropriate selection criteria in many instances. The report found, however, that the general methods the foundation used to deliver reef projects – either through funding grants or procurement – were appropriate. The report made seven recommendations, including that foundation adopt and report against interim fundraising targets to “provide a better indication” of how the $357m target will be reached by 2024 and that it increase its use of open and competitive procurement. The foundation has agreed to all of the recommendations, which also included ensuring a bank deed was in place before taxpayer funds were invested in a financial institution. In a statement, its chairman, John Schubert, said the foundation was pleased the audit had “recognised the foundation’s strong commitment to best practice governance, investment of grant money and major project delivery models”. “We’re determined to take the lessons learned and continue to improve how we deliver on this important mission and responsibility,” he said. “The foundation agrees to, and has commenced the implementation of, all seven recommendations in the report.” The foundation’s target of $357m was to be reached over five years but it has come under scrutiny for the slow progress towards this goal more than halfway through the partnership. The federal opposition last year called for more transparency from the foundation about its fundraising after answers to a Senate committee showed, at that time, it had raised just $21.7m, with most of this in the form of in-kind donations. Labor senators Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher said the report was “damning”. They described the failure to ensure bank deeds were in place as “shocking” and said the $684,100 in cash donations equated to less than half of a per cent of the stated donations target. “Australian taxpayers simply aren’t getting value for money from the Great Barrier Reef Foundation,” they said. Peter Whish-Wilson, the Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, said the report confirmed long-standing concerns about the grant. “The government grant to the GBRF hinged on its capacity to raise funds from philanthropists – which it has categorically failed to deliver,” he said. “This convincingly proves the government’s rationale for providing the GBRF with the grant was a complete farce.”