Captain Tom's daughter

There's a good podcast on BBC Sounds about the whole debacle, from start to finish

Large charities haven't had my money for some time I'm afraid - I prefer to give locally. Yes, I know there is probably even less accountability with smaller ones - they could go straight to the pub with it - but my experience has always been that someone who devotes 24 hours a day to hedgehogs uses the money to help hedgehogs.

Charity shops who have staff that don't say thank you and moan about the donation being too late in the day or storage space for your donation don't get repeat visits from me. Those that are genuinely grateful get loads of stuff in the future.

And gurning Z-listers on telethons who think riding a child's bike is somehow deserving of donations can fuck right off. Give your own cash or lobby the government to actually pay for some services.

And one final one - charities need to stop taking everything over. Want to wear a Christmas jumper? You must be sponsored or you are a kitten killing scrooge. Want to eat sensibly after Christmas? Join our charity programme or its the the metaphorical Gulag for you. Sod off and leave us alone.

Exactly!

It’s all very well being critical, but most of us couldn’t provide the skilled support that charities provide in times of need.

It's just arrogant rich people. It's the norm for them to do stuff like this ...probably didn't even think it was wrong because everyone else in their circle does dodgy stuff like this too.

Charities cannot do the good work they do without paying staff - including boring admin roles, cleaners, and senior executives. You can’t fundraising and manage millions without well trained senior staff who deserve decent wages and adequate remuneration (I don’t mean £100k+)

Pure greed. They’ve utterly disgraced their father.

Seems like he had good intentions, raised a bucketload for the NHS, and the family saw pound signs and cashed in.

I don’t think anyone would have cared if they’d openly taken a cut from the book or whatever, but they’ve acted with pure greed and contempt of the charity commission and everyone who donated/bought a book. Pure selfish greed.

This is a shit newspaper and an apology should always be made when a link is given to it.

💯

It bothers me that so many posters are worried about their donations being misspent on things like staff and the cookie jar.

Private donations are the lifeline of so many charities. They come without the strings ( and sometimes extra costs) that can be attached to corporate donations and grants.

Me too, utterly nauseating.
The who thing smacked of self-interest and exploitation from the start and I reckon Capt. Tom was fully invested.
The whole sickening thing is that so many people were sucked into donating while H I-G was probably rubbing her hands together in glee. It’s very noticeable how her sister stayed right out of the limelight while the children were dragged in to boost the coffers.
The Barbados holiday was a freebie after apparently it appeared on Capt. Tom’s so-called bucket list.
The Ingram-Moores were on the grab from the very start.

The worst thing about all this is how the media enabled her to get so far with her con. Utter madness.

Corporates are very keen on CSR these days and I would imagine the expectation was that most if not all was going to the foundation

What sort of mug organisation pays £18k to get an appearance by such a no-mark?

Who would have thought it?

Lots of us.

And many of us posted on MN about it at the time and got shot down for being nasty NHS hating granny killers.

Not the first time something like this has happened and sadly, will not be the last.

Agree with whoever said that we need a regulator with more bite and more scrutiny into the "why's". The flag went up for me when the family decided it needed its own foundation rather than working with one already established.

Mostly I hate that this has hit the news just as christmas appeals get underway. Don't get me wrong - it's news that needs to be reported. However there's no doubt it will have an impact on public confidence in charitable giving.

Whilst the Tories, the Ingram-Moores of this world, are exactly what we expect. Throw in every Tory we ever hear about- business or politics or many on MNet- they are selfish, grasping, insensitive, greedy, in everything for the money they can get out of it and don't give a bugger about anyone else or ripping people off.

Johnson
Clarkson
Cameron
Truss
Zahawi
Hunt
Rees-Mogg
Badenoch
Tugendhat
Mone
Mansour
Bamford
Green

All greedy multi-million and billionaires, buying their way to titles and positions of political influence (from our money)while delivering lies and rubbish to the public

To be honest, I would really presume that any of the staff members concerned would be buying themselves food with any vouchers given. But I'm talking staff here, not volunteers. People who are paid a certain rate and continuously going above and beyond and do not, in fact, have the full means to support themselves.

And if you want to view it cynically, I've never found a small bonus to be wasted when it comes to productivity and effective work.

But people expect charity workers to possess a different psychology to other humans, to not need praise, job satisfaction, motivation etc - just doing the work is supposed to be enough. That might apply to some volunteers, but I find that it never works to treat someone as not having normal human impulses.

Good staff and volunteer retention saves an enormous amount in the long term, meaning that the charity can do more of the good that donors want to achieve.

And believe me, most beneficiaries do not want the people that are helping them to feel guilty about getting a little thank you.

Again, why do you think that small local charities are immune to this? Unless you're a forensic accountant or have actually observed their operations, you have no idea whether a local charity is better than a national one.

In my "small local" charity work, I've been pressured by the Chair of Trustees to drop a bullying allegation against another trustee, and seen patronising and derogatory comments aimed at frontline staff. Trustee roles were dished out to rich mates of the rich trustees, not those representative of the community being served. Oh, and some horrendous misogynistic behaviour against a junior member of staff who was actually at risk, which I had to flag as safeguarding when no one else recognised it, and force them down the proper routes when they were acting with gross irresponsibility as an employer.

When I left, several staff contacted me with diatribes about how badly they were treated and that they wished they could leave too.

In my national level charity work, I've been emphatically told by the CEO themselves that they want to face up to any internal issues, and that I must not let any fear of damage to the reputation of the charity impede my work to improve things. They noticed that they didn't know me personally when I came back from Mat Leave and took the time to introduce themselves and chat about my work. It's not perfect, but it's streets ahead in terms of working environment.

Before Covid I used to volunteer for a charity 2 days a week. I helped people access the food bank, and other services. People on the bones of their arse in debt, with small DC, many with shot to bits MH.

Having seen what I’ve seen, I’d be really embarrassed if someone came along and said “Merry Christmas, here’s your £50, thanks for your support”. I’d be mortified that some of our clients were using food banks and I’ve got a nice £50 voucher to buy myself a luxury.

The least financially effective charity I've ever been involved with was a small, local one. They had an unpaid volunteer directing the whole thing, for some unknown reason. The value of the damage he caused well outweighed what it would've cost to just pay someone the going rate. Fucked up the grant applications, drove experienced staff out causing increased recruitment costs, it really was quite the shitshow. But the charity made a big thing of how it reduced staff costs, for the period he was in post. Once he finally fucked off, they were much less keen to publicise how much their freebie had cost them!

Personally I think the sweet spot is often the middle sized ones. The sort of teeny, volunteer heavy setting so beloved by some MNers can have extremely varied results!

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole scam started with Hannah Ingram Moore getting a part time job as a cleaner at a factory in Wuhan!

I'm a 'lefty' and do not read the Mail so not entirely sure why you are making things up. I don't know anyone who reads the Mail.

Sheer greed fortified with lies
At first I thought it was admirable until I saw an interview with Captain Tom and his daughter sat next to him and it felt off. She spoke for him and he just meekly agreed with her
Vile family

All these worthy upper middle class people, saying all these lovely things and behind that grubby and rotten to the core.
I am shocked that they are not being FORCED to repay it, it seems they are seemingly being appealed to do so?