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 can't read the article, but out of 1 million 160 went to charity? Why did they have to consult and manage and all that BS when they could have just gone straight from one pocket to another? It does seem hard to stomach

I was disappointed by the Barbados trip which I didn't feel was in the best interests of a very elderly man before people had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated. It was kept very quiet until he became ill.

I'm sure his family loved him dearly but I think what started as a great initiative may have gone too far.

@lemongrasstea

I can't read the article, but out of 1 million 160 went to charity? Why did they have to consult and manage and all that BS when they could have just gone straight from one pocket to another? It does seem hard to stomach

NO.

The £33m Capt Tom raised went to the Association of NHS Charities and formed part of £150m raised that year. £50m was spent/donated to its members.

The £1m was raised by the separate Capt Tom Foundation, of which £160k has been given to charity and more than £200k spent on costs.

It was really clear at the beginning that, for her, this was about her business. If I remember correctly, the go fund me was set up in her business name.

There may have been some good Intensions from her, but her main focus was her business. That's why she was appearing in so many interviews. Evern dragged her kids into one who looked quite uncomfortable. Anyone who thought she was just doing this to nice, didn't really look into properly.

@Berengaria1

I was disappointed by the Barbados trip which I didn't feel was in the best interests of a very elderly man before people had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated. It was kept very quiet until he became ill.

I'm sure his family loved him dearly but I think what started as a great initiative may have gone too far.

Well it's up to him that he fancied a holiday

I hadn't been aware his daughter was involved in this but that's because I opted out of news on it

Agree with pp about tins etc. I have worked for a big well known charity and the waste of money is amazing. I no longer donate to most charities unless I know the structure a bit.

Most registered charities are businesses.

They were better off starting a business such as a cafe and hiring people.
That would've generated more money and secure income for vulnerable people who need work.
If you give me 1 Million pounds in sure I could fund some causes to give 125000 to and keep the rest.

@WouldIBeATwat

Thanks plenty of people give via sites like JustGiving that cream off a big %. How come that’s okay but not this?

Why on earth would you think that Just giving is free to run?! Should the staff do it for free? Should the tech people? The banks sure as hell aren't.

Apparently his grandson appeared on Celebs Go Dating recently. I don't think he appeared as a 'celeb', but as the potential date of one of the celebs. But the fact he's using his grandfather's name to appear on reality tv seems tacky to me.

I just found her quite distasteful from the start. I've worked in and for charities for most of my life and a lot of this just seems a huge personal profit for her and her snooty family.
The Barbados holiday was really quite unpleasant to witness. Poor Tom being wheeled out for publicity looking so frail and poorly. Yuk

Why on earth would you think that Just giving is free to run?! Should the staff do it for free? Should the tech people? The banks sure as hell aren't.

I don’t. (Having set up a charity I’m well aware of what everything costs, thanks.) 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh that's a shame. I had an uneasy feeling about the family too.

Professional fundraisers being paid is one thing but talking a cut of your father's sponsorship money? Where were the costs?

@CrinklyCraggy

Oh that's a shame. I had an uneasy feeling about the family too.

Professional fundraisers being paid is one thing but talking a cut of your father's sponsorship money? Where were the costs?

It wasn’t his sponsorship money?

I honestly don't know why people are shocked at this. Maybe I'm just cynical, but while Captain Tom always seemed lovely, the whole situation that evolved seemed like a cash grab.

@ChiefWiggumsBoy

I honestly don't know why people are shocked at this. Maybe I'm just cynical, but while Captain Tom always seemed lovely, the whole situation that evolved seemed like a cash grab.

Oh I'm not shocked I just didn't look at detail because I was just so sick of hearing about it.

Bread and circuses.

@AlDanvers

It was really clear at the beginning that, for her, this was about her business. If I remember correctly, the go fund me was set up in her business name.

There may have been some good Intensions from her, but her main focus was her business. That's why she was appearing in so many interviews. Evern dragged her kids into one who looked quite uncomfortable. Anyone who thought she was just doing this to nice, didn't really look into properly.

Of course when anyone dared say anything of the sort on here they had their heads stamped on and threads deleted. It was pretty obvious what type of person she was.

There is a question mark over the family being trustees and paid staff which needs to be ironed out but fundraising itself doesn’t come for free and nor should it
Potential conflicts of interest such as this have to be declared to the Charity Commission when trustees are appointed. None are recorded on the CC website entry so presumably they are satisfied.

@ChiefWiggumsBoy

I honestly don't know why people are shocked at this. Maybe I'm just cynical, but while Captain Tom always seemed lovely, the whole situation that evolved seemed like a cash grab.

I know this will be seen as sacrilegious but I didn't really like Captain Tom much.

@gamerchick yep. I was once told I must hate women, in general, because I posted what I did here.

I always felt the situation was being manipulated to promote a commercial business but that the family values came ultimately from Sir Tom (and possibly his late wife). The other DD was more in the background. I always felt then that he was OK with some of the more dubious decisions such as the trip overseas.

But the figures do not make good reading. Hopefully some narrative or explanation will be forthcoming.

@StartingGrid

Reminiscent of the Azalyia Foundation, at least here a decent sum of money has been given out...

What's wrong with the Azaylia foundation? They seem to be helping people that are in the awful situation that they were in.

CeleriacOfTheNight

ChiefWiggumsBoy
I honestly don't know why people are shocked at this. Maybe I'm just cynical, but while Captain Tom always seemed lovely, the whole situation that evolved seemed like a cash grab.
I know this will be seen as sacrilegious but I didn't really like Captain Tom much.

I watched him on that Piers thing and didn’t warm to him. Sort of glad I’m not alone.

@Canyoujustgotobedplease they collected over £1.5m and have only given out at most a couple of hundred k last time I looked a couple of weeks back, time is of the esence for the sort of appeal they made (over a mill in 24 hours) yet anyone who wants funds from them has to go through hoops, Ashley and Saffiya have no jobs yet flash cars, clothes, and are the sole trustees which as above could be a potential conflict of interest..

The foundation is basically funding their lifestyle, while he does "bike rides" to raise undisclosed sums to try desperately to top it up.

It’s completely normal to have to go through hoops to be allocated money from a foundation. They’ll have criteria and The requests will need to meet the needs of that criteria. I’m addition it’s likely the plan for the money is that it will be distributed over a period of time. It may be that they’ve earmarked specific amounts to be allocated for different causes over a period of several years. Perfectly reasonable. They just need to show they haven’t spent the money inappropriately in their accounts. Paying staff etc perfectly reasonable if you want to run it properly

[quote StartingGrid]@Canyoujustgotobedplease they collected over £1.5m and have only given out at most a couple of hundred k last time I looked a couple of weeks back, time is of the esence for the sort of appeal they made (over a mill in 24 hours) yet anyone who wants funds from them has to go through hoops, Ashley and Saffiya have no jobs yet flash cars, clothes, and are the sole trustees which as above could be a potential conflict of interest..

The foundation is basically funding their lifestyle, while he does "bike rides" to raise undisclosed sums to try desperately to top it up.[/quote]
FFS Ashley Cain was a professional footballer. He played championship level, at Coventry where the average wage was £5k A WEEK. I think he can afford a flashy car 🙄

@WouldIBeATwat

Why on earth would you think that Just giving is free to run?! Should the staff do it for free? Should the tech people? The banks sure as hell aren't.

I don’t. (Having set up a charity I’m well aware of what everything costs, thanks.) 🤷🏻‍♀️

So why on earth are you using inflammatory language like 'cream off' when JustGiving revolutionised fundraising in the UK and is significantly cheaper than each of the 180,000 charities developing their own platform?