Quick charity procedure question/opinion wanted please

[jandalsinsummer]

Quick charity question/opinion please? I run a small charity with some friends, think of it as us fundraising through concerts then we offer small grants in our local area for music lessons. This is not the actual purpose of the charity but explains things well so you can understand my question. The grants are supposed to be for local music lessons for those who can suddenly no longer afford them (job loss, divorce etc) we specifically state that we do not fund overseas music lessons.
A couple of us receive applications, so only we know the names, we then collate and try and anonymise them and the others get together as a group and decide who is getting a grant.
This year we received several applications from people who we know are taking overseas music lessons but they didn’t mention it in their application and asked us for local lesson fees. Can we use our knowledge of their overseas lessons to disqualify their application? We are 100% sure they are taking overseas music lessons, they told us they were, as well as it being all over their social media.

It is tricky, obviously someone can benefit from support for their music lessons and still go on holiday but as a group we think differently about how we handle this.

thanks

are you registered as a charity?

concerning you’re asking this was someone who “runs a charity”

presumably you have criteria documented?

Does the form not ask for details of the teacher?

are you in the UK?

What are the grant making criteria? Is the final discretion the committee? Could you contact all applicants and say the overseas element is non negotiable and get them to sign some kind of declaration saying the grant must be repaid if you find out. The of they have the brass neck to carry on and for it it back if they are selected

Yes we are registered, we are also overseas where the structure is slightly different
yes our criteria are documented we say no overseas music lessons we know the people are going overseas for music lessons.
the money is bank transferred to their music teacher here, in some cases the music teachers here are the ones running the overseas trips for music lessons, we have no idea whether ‘our’ money is technically being spent here or on the overseas lessons

Sorry my wifi is slow

Yes committee allocate money at a meeting, it was agreed I wouldn’t go to meeting because I knew everyone’s names.
I am suggesting some changes for next year but I wanted to see what others thought as I put my ideas together.

sounds like no one is experienced enough to be running this charity 🤷

I'd publicise that you are pausing all applications for the time being (ie not accepting applications after 31 October).

Then take that time to get a legal agreement drawn up that outlines your criteria for offering the grant.

All recipients need to sign and return the agreement before you release the funds.
Receipts are needed at the end of the grant period, when the recipient must submit an evaluation to provide evidence of how the money was spent and the impact it has made to their learning (eg passed grade 4 exam or helped with confidence in performing at the Royal Albert Hall, or enabled them to master the tricky triple toe technique).

It's good practice to ask for evaluations so that you can ensure your £ is delivering the impact your charity sets out in its Objectives.

lol are you always so cheerful? We are quite new but since our fundraising is quite labour intensive there are lots of people on the committee who all like to do the fun stuff. Fortunately for some people struggling to afford music lessons we have grown quite quickly and are trying to establish some sensible procedures. It’s great for those struggling to afford their music lessons but second allocation round we ran into this problem and disagree as a group how we should deal with it hence the question.

Thank you, we do application ‘rounds’ not continuous so won’t come across this again until next year. Everyone is taking local music lessons so they can all provide receipts, the money is sent to their teacher not to them BUT what do we do about the people we know are also taking overseas music lessons this year? They can say the money is going to pay for local lessons but if they didn’t spend several thousands taking overseas lessons they would presumably be able to pay for the local ones without a grant? Ie the committee would presumably think the person whose parent lost their job needed the grant more and allocate them differently.

not when people might be donating in a good faith to a shit show of a charity

@Gazelda is spot on. I would really look at your governing documents and who you are set to serve. Also as part of the application process you should have some form of evaluation if nothing else this will help you evidence your good work. I think if overseas music lessons is beneficial to the recipient of the grant then I would bit worry but it feels to me as if this is pushing the boundaries of what you set out to do so you need to ensure that the recipients know that this is not funding for this and if it is used in this way the money would have to be repaid. Have clear criteria and guidelines.

Thank you we love your support. To be clear they are only tangentially donating they are actually voluntarily buying tickets to a concert that they want to go to. They seal us out we don’t go to schools and force everyone to donate a quid or drag them in off the streets to listen or anything like that.

Seak

No support from me for poorly run charities!

seek 😂

They can say the money is going to pay for local lessons but if they didn’t spend several thousands taking overseas lessons they would presumably be able to pay for the local ones without a grant? Ie the committee would presumably think the person whose parent lost their job needed the grant more and allocate them differently.

If one of the grant criteria is need, people can evidence that need in their applications. Some grants to individuals will even ask for bank statements etc to prove expenditure/income.

We have the criteria clearly set out, everyone signs to say they accept these (no overseas lessons is just one of them) there are others. It’s whether we can use personal/outside knowledge to refuse the application.

I don't think you should do anything differently for this round of grants.

The applications are anonymised to those on the panel and presumably the panel are determining awards based on the preset criteria and what those applicants say about their eligibility and need. The panel will make and prioritise awards as they determine according to those criteria.

If the charity determines that they want to prioritise those who will otherwise be unable to have any music tuition at all anywhere over and above those who will use the funds for additional music tuition, then that should be added as a criteria for next round. Applicants sign to say they will not be having music tuition abroad full stop - not just that they won't be using these funds for overseas tuition.

There is quite a bit on our application form another example is all applications need a letter of support from their current music teacher, some include evidence that they are paying off bills with their teacher, some have parent and or child cleaning the studio to cover lessons (evidenced)

Yes you can disqualify if can find out that information through due diligence or compliance procedures.

Also the charity commission has published guidance for "funder" which if you are providing grants you are one.

I work in a vaguely related field if you want more info.