Captain Tom Foundation spent more on costs than causes

[KerryWeaver]

This is a disappointing read.

"More than £240,000 of the registered charity’s expenditure went on the costs, while four grants totalling £160,000 were paid out to good causes. Of the foundation’s costs, £125,000, almost one-tenth of its income, went on fundraising consultancy fees, including to a firm run by Captain Tom’s daughter."

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/captain-tom-foundation-spent-more-on-costs-than-causes-z3b9vw0fh

I got the impression that she was probably behind the whole idea of him doing the sponsored laps of his garden.

Without a doubt.
I can't imagine he was the person behind the whole PR stunt.

* A charity set up in the name of Captain Sir Tom Moore tried to appoint the fundraiser’s daughter as its CEO on a six-figure salary before a watchdog intervened to block the move, The Independent understands.*

^From The Independent today. It is all coming out now. Good

Grasping grifters.

There's a big gap between "charities should run themselves" and "a CEO should be paid 15% of the charity's earnings."

I used to be much more naive about this sort of thing. In 2007, someone I knew questioned what exactly the "Find Madeleine Fund" was being spent on. I told him he was being horrible. How could anyone even question it? Of course Madeleine's parents were spending the money on the search for her, and nothing else.

Fast-forward a few months, and the McCanns admitted they had taken thousands from the fund to pay their mortgage. I had to eat a lot of humble pie. Lesson learned.

The Barbados trip was actually donated by British Airways but I was not impressed they flew off for a jolly at that particular time.

I remember seeing him interviewed and him saying something along the lines of when I die I just want a simple quiet funeral and his daughter shaking her head and saying something like oh no dad, that's not going to happen now... I thought eww really? I just wouldn't have spoken to either of my parents like that and I would have said I'll follow your requests

There honestly needs to be some sort of oversight on all these go fund me's
The money needs to go into escrow and have trustees that oversee where it goes.
Once you donate to a go fund me the money is released to whoever set it up and it's theirs to do whatever the hell they want with it.
Working with sick kids I have seen many funds that were abused by people skimming off money for clothes,cars, beauty treatments. It wasn't used for what people believed they were donating too.

Exactly.

Does anyone know when the McCanns took the money to pay their mortgage? If it was at the beginning when maybe they were not at work and not being paid it would probably be acceptable for about 3 months but no longer. Most people who are bereaved have to get back to work to pay their bills and don't have a Fund to dib into

The funeral was what finished them off for me. It all seemed so staged and commercial. I had a thread on here deleted because I dared to question their integrity at the time…

The Find Madeleine fund is not a charity and cannot become one as it is too narrowly focussed. The McCanns used money from the fund to make two mortgage payments within the first 4 months after Madeleine disappeared. They were on unpaid leave at the time. One of the stated objectives of the fund was (and remains) to support the family, including financial assistance.

Food banks still need to pay the electricity bill. You know 'costs'.

I know this is an old thread but interestingly they are now being investigated by the Charity Commission

Thank you Gooseygirl for the update. I hope it is done thoroughly.

Even Niaomi Campbell charity, Fashion Relief spent more than they gave.

The BBC says that "The veteran, who died last year aged 100, raised millions for the NHS but this money is not part of the inquiry." Just to avoid confusion.

Again this fiction that the fund raised millions “for the NHS”. Donors thought they were supporting the NHS itself not what’s largely a staff support organisation. If you donated, we’re you aware that you were refurbishing tea rooms and buying water bottles?

Just stop it. All the funding is clearly detailed on the NHS Charity website. You do the NHS is people don't you?? Why do you feel that those people who do 12 hour shifts aren't entitled to a tea break? It's attitudes like yours that are contributing to the catastrophic loss of staff in the NHS.

'you do know'

I don’t think Atilla was saying they don’t deserve it! Just that the marketing may have meant people didn’t realise that was what it was being spent on.

That's exactly what they were saying. The NHS IS the staff. Not the buildings, or the drugs, or the machines. The staff.

@YetiTeri , I think you’ll find that what I was saying is that while captain Tom was doing his walking, the country was crying out for ventilators, beds and protective clothing / masks etc. When you donate to the NHS, that’s what you think you’re getting, just as donating to eg cancer research, you think your money is going towards the furtherance of scientific research into the causes and treatment of cancers. Lab staff and cancer research’s own staff may be in need of better facilities and water bottles but that’s not what’s on a donor’s mind. This view of the NHS as a cult is not shared by everyone.
It was misleading, and is absolutely not what I meant.
many donors would have thrown money at captain Tom if he was fund raising for the cat’s home. Many more believed that they were helping to buy ventilators, and they weren’t.

@AtillatheHun there were whole buildings of ventilators and beds. They couldn't staff them. How would that be a good use of donations?

The government paid for the PPE - eventually when the staff told them they needed more, correctly fitted PPE. But it was the staff now having to do their job wearing all this.

Why are you ok with buying loads of masks but not ok with staff having somewhere to have a break mid shift before bracing themselves to go out again? And you know full well £150m wasn't spent on water bottles. It was also spent on bereavement counselling and studies into long Covid. And many many more.

But regardless this is nothing to do with a cult, this is about how the NHS staff deserve to be treated - and about attracting new staff when the pay is shit. Staff well-being SHOULD be valued. The same for CR scientists. It is exactly better facilities that they need to do their jobs. Go and have a look at the Francis Crick Institute, the facilities are amazing. Experts from all over the world are drawn to work in it and they'll probably find cures there. Donations to Cancer Research UK did that.

His daughter ram the charity the money went to

Interesting to see this reactivate given the recent news! Dodgy AF in my view…