Church collecting money for orphanage that doesn’t exist!!

[Vanessaandjamie1]

So my church has been collecting money from us and helping/supporting an orphanage in Ukraine since 2007.

food, shoes, toys, building work was done, money for kids days out, tv, new beds and furniture etc one church member travelled there regularly and worked closely with the orphanage director.

They stopped in 2022 due to war.

i google this orphanage today and it says it closed in 2017!

I asked my Ukrainian friend to translate and she confirmed it and said the kids were sent to be with their families (they weren’t really orphans, it was more like foster care) and some were sent to different places. It was replaced by military building.

charity commission page says that they kept working closely with the orphanage till war started, including building work and furniture and church member regularly visiting them.

I am very confused. I donated a lot of money over the years.

Before I ask them, could there be an explanation?

There's an interesting flurry of threads about churches and financial issues. 🤔

same church

i name changed for privacy reasons

This is just a bit weird for me.

I was just worried at first posting these two issue as one thread would be too identifying.

I'm not sure what you want people to say?
Not happy? Challenge it, give elsewhere, change church.

What kind of church is it? I would ask whoever who is in charge of the church first of all and, if not satisfied, would go to whoever has overarching responsibility to make them aware. For our church, that would be the priest in the first instance and then the archdiocese.

It’s a non denominational church

This really.

Nailed it.

I guess I’m asking if anyone experienced this. Or something like this.

I am just very shocked, I attended this church my whole life.

I called to ask them and they hang up on me. And now I’m getting some vague story about how they continued helping these kids families, but it’s all very vague. And saying how dare I not trust the pastor.

And if this can be reported to anywhere ( other than charity commission )

and if it’s normal/legal/dodgy for church to loan money £65k to pastors son construction business.

@Vanessaandjamie1 There's not a lot more that can be said. If what you say is true then the activity is illegal/fraudulent, regardless of any religious labels. @FuzzyPuffling nailed it in a previous post. I do not understand why you have not already reported it to the Charities Commission and why you are surprised why they (whoever 'they' are) hang up on you, and why you also want somewhere else other than the Charities Commission to report it? Gossiping about it here and in your other thread about the same church will not change anything. Just report it!

No, i have never experienced anything like this at all. Not even close.

Is this the UK Charities Commission you're referring to?

Is it possible that the foundation that ran the orphanage still provides support to the kids in their homes?

Nor me. You've had some good advice though.

That's the most likely explanation.

I have contacts with two similar charities and the orphanage in both cases is only part of the charity. They support children in their own homes and to attend school too.

That’s what I thought at first

but every year in their annual charity commission accounts and website they specifically say a missionary regularly visits the orphanage, and building work was done in the orphanage

Also They update also that kids were moved to different places in 2023 due to war but why not orphanage closed and we continue helping the families.

That’s what I thought at first. but every year in their annual charity commission accounts and website they specifically say “this year” and “a missionary regularly visits the orphanage” and “building work was done in the orphanage”

Also They update also that kids were moved to different places in 2023 due to war but never said that orphanage closed and we continue helping the families. In 5 years they never wrote or says that anywhere.

You’ve asked them about it and they slammed the phone down on you. Give up on trying to find an innocent explanation (if they had one, they’d happily give it to you) and find another church.

They told another church member that they continued helping kids families and that they hang up on me because they were just upset I was “insinuating something evil about them”

I know, I left this church but other members are now asking me about this discovery, trying to figure out if if this claim about kids families is true and considering reporting because they also donated large sums over years

Glad you’ve left. Did you find another church that you feel is right for you? Hope so.

That sounds very manipulative, trying to make you feel like you’re in the wrong for daring to ask a question. I hope the others do report them. It’s really horrible to abuse people’s trust in that way. They sound like bad people.

This sounds like fraud so report it to the charities commission.

I agree. I would probably contact the Charities Commission and say 1. what you believe (no orphanage) and 2. why you know it (the basis for your belief e.g. translated website). 2 is important if you want your concerns to be taken seriously.

It may be worth asking whether you would be in a position to reclaim your donations.