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 said “sites like” JustGiving. Because there are others. And people may not know how much goes to the donation site when they give. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We moved from JG to Virgin Money whose % was far lower. No need to create our own donation tools.

They certainly are flogging the Captain Tom brand as far as it can go.
Captain Tom Day? Giving hope to the world?
Give me strength.

I thought Captain Tom seemed like a pleasant elderly man. Thought the daughter came across as though she was trying to milk it for all it was worth. Made me feel a bit uneasy.

Very little in life breaks even in year 1. Fundraising is one area where this is true. 125k to raise 1m is bloody amazing. I wish my ratios were that istrong in the small charity I'm a fundraiser for. I can only imagine what my trustees are going to expect me to pluck out of my arse now they've seen that.

travail you don't happen to have an elderly war veteran relative you can exploit & manipulate do you?

I didn't have a problem with Captain Tom himself, although having known many veterans of both World Wars (some highly decorated) I was rather less impressed than seemed to be expected at the time.

The family (much) less likeable and I was horrified by the Barbados trip where he looked so frail and ill and was being wheeled out for photo ops. Not at all surprised by the most recent developments, sadly.

I expressed my misgivings about the publicity machine behind Captain Tom (and the motivation) long ago on here but was roundly shouted down. The amount of trading the entire family has done on the name (especially the grandson on Celebs Go Dating) is pretty grim. I'm not in the least surprised the charity has a lot of admin costs to Hannah Moore's PR firm.

As for the utter carcrash that is the Azaylia foundation, anyone who thinks that money is not being skimmed from that is living in Dreamland. (C)Ashley Cain only played pro football for a couple of years, almost a decade ago. Anything he earned from that is long gone and certainly isn't financing his current lifestyle nor Safiyas plastic surgery.

@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.

My thoughts exactly.

@Grenlei

I expressed my misgivings about the publicity machine behind Captain Tom (and the motivation) long ago on here but was roundly shouted down. The amount of trading the entire family has done on the name (especially the grandson on Celebs Go Dating) is pretty grim. I'm not in the least surprised the charity has a lot of admin costs to Hannah Moore's PR firm.

As for the utter carcrash that is the Azaylia foundation, anyone who thinks that money is not being skimmed from that is living in Dreamland. (C)Ashley Cain only played pro football for a couple of years, almost a decade ago. Anything he earned from that is long gone and certainly isn't financing his current lifestyle nor Safiyas plastic surgery.

I've long thought the whole thing was dodgy and for me, the lavish funeral (apparently paid for with charity donations) and constant photos of her ill in her hospital bed were very unseemly to me.

@Mookie81 absolutely. Poor Azaylia's illness and death was incredibly sad, she was a beautiful little girl and clearly loved. However I felt very uncomfortable with all the filming of her final days when she really was incredibly unwell, it felt horribly intrusive - I get the point was to raise awareness but it went too far imho. Also all the music and dancing her around when surely her poor body would have been in pain and needed rest. A lot of it felt more for the benefit of the adults than for her. Likewise the full on rave that was her funeral.

@Mookie81

That's why I prefer doing things like donating to food banks- they can't siphon off tins and packets of food for 'costs'.

But the supermarkets that have places to leave food for the food banks get you to play full price for the goods so they are making a profit on your purchase to a charity. And you have paid tax on it too . I'd rather the money go direct to the good cause and would pick a reputable well established charity to do this

I was always a bit dubious about this one. Charities do have running costs, which include paying staff (to administer a big charity is a full-time job which needs certain skills, and it is not at all unreasonable to pay people to do it). But his immediate elevation to secular sainthood always came across as fucking dodgy. There was bound to be some grift in there.

In terms of actual charitable work, £160k spent from a million raised is a perfectly good granting amount.

Charities are set up for the long haul. If they raised a million and spent a million, they would have to rely on raising another million next year. This is probably the most publicity they'll ever have, and thus the best year for fundraising.

The responsible thing to do is to invest the money and make small disbursements from the proceeds every year.

Again, to simplify Plan A is to raise a million and spend a million. Next year, you raise 200k and spend 200k. Ten years from now you raise 10k and spend 10k.

Plan B is that you raise a million, invest it, and spend 75k a year every year on grants in perpetuity. Any additional funds are added to the endowment.

Plan A is splashy and makes an immediate impact that soon fades. Plan B is sustainable and makes a smaller, long-term impact.

Ideally, in my mind, a charity should contract out consulting work so as to avoid a conflict of interest. But it's not a bad ROI and it's not inherently a bad long-term plan.

You could tell he had a professional PR team behind him. At the time 5 other men his age were also doing similar sponsored walk / run type things but Captain Tom, the youngest of them, got the acclaim because he had the PR team. Her services were probably worth far more than £125k

To me it wasn't just about the money to be made though. She is in PR. She proved she was good at her job. I would guess that was worth it's weight in gold to her business.

Wether it technically makes sense or not, it doesn't sit well.

The go fund me being in her business name. Not his, or even, her own name. Her ensuring she, and her business, was front and centre. Them now making money from it. Her using him as the ultimate business presentation etc.

It was obvious her kids would start appearing places, the minute she dragged them on TV mid interview while they looked uncomfortable and just said some pre rehearsed words.

The holiday was a bad idea. But anyone who pointed it out were accused of being awful and denying an old man a holiday. Anyone who pointed out that she was spinning a business opportunity were called misogynist, nasty, miserable etc.

But ultimately, she proved she was good at PR and raised a hell or a lot of money. There could be issues if they less that transparent going forward. I would have thought, she would have anticipated that.

If not, the whole thing could backfire, which she will be aware of. I would be surprised if there is anything less than a full & transparent response. I am surprised, though, she didn't ensure there was impartiality.

I don't know why on earth people gave money to an old man pushing a shopping trolley around his garden for the NHS. Just stop voting Tory.

Surprised nobody has picked up on the part in the interview where she says after cancelling Sir Toms 100th birthday party, they offered him a pound a lap of his garden. Wow. Party us cancelled so we've saved a mint on that but you can have some money if you work for it.

As an aside, volunteers within an Ambulance service have all had a commemorative coin for working through the pandemic, paid for by Sir Toms foundation. Interested to know If this is what you donated for?

@WouldIBeATwat

But the money he raised was largely generated for free, he was walking around his garden with a zimmerframe and it was a go fund me people donated to. The resultant publicity wouldn't have been paid by the charity, they didn't really need expertise to be brought in as his daughter is an expert in this field- but surprise she paid herself a nice fat wedge of the money donated. Outrageous.

Hmmm. Didn’t the £33m raised walking the garden go to NHS Charities (who would have running costs too)?

This is different money, isn’t it?

How much dud go fund me cream off that £33 mil or did they waive their charges ?

I thought I was the only one who secretly didn’t feel much for Captain Tom?
I think it was great for getting children to see an elderly person as doing something challenging and positive. But he clearly had a nice life with luxuries. Yes walking around his garden showed determination but there are other elderly people who do amazing things that haven’t lived such a comfortable life and are not courting the press.

That's charities for you. I only give physical items after my brother worked in accounts for 2 large charities and came back with tales of wasted money. Charities seem to attract middle managment and over who will only travel 1st class on trains and stay in 5 star hotels. Really its sickening.

Speak to the school, hospital, hospice dog home whatever end user you wish to support and ask what thry need and donate those. Or give your time to someone who needs a break or needs help. Much more affective.

I'm not remotely surprised. Lots of charities seem to have gigantic running costs that are difficult to explain when you start looking closely.

I'm very careful about who I donate money to.

I never contributed and had zero intention to.

I give to charities that I do my own research on, not on what Captain Tom’s family would like to donate to

Speak to the school, hospital, hospice dog home whatever end user you wish to support and ask what thry need and donate those. Or give your time to someone who needs a break or needs help. Much more affective.

Agree 100% with this. Have also worked at larger charities and would never donate to the big names now, having seen the waste of funds. I stick to local grassroots charities now, knowing my small donation isn’t being swallowed up on admin and expensive lunches.

As far as I recall, he was doing the daily walk as part of his post-op rehabilitation, where the idea for turning into a fund raising activity is anyone's guess, but it was very clear that the daughter quickly jumped onto it.

Meh, people like that don't get rich from having good morals...... Creaming off 125k from a relatively small sum of money is just wrong.