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

@Lifeisaminestrone

I think need to be careful here.

£40m raised and £160k taken for costs - costs will have been required. Nothing in life is free. I think those costs are reasonable.

The independent lists the costs - it is far more balanced than the Times report.

The foundation hasn't raised 40 million.

The foundation is separate to the money he raised. Which was actually raised in her company name.

@OverByYer

The Independent article is very balanced and clearly explains how the money was spent and what the costs were. I thought Sir Tom was lovely but the whole situation spiralled and the family were built up by the media. Now sadly it’s their turn for the media to tear them down. Unfortunately for Sir Tom’s daughter, as a strong business woman then of course, the focus ( misogyny) is on her. I have no further interest in the story.

exactly this and people here will seemingly get on that bandwagon

I mean, if her thought process was, "dad, I've got this great idea for a stunt to raise some cash, you walk around the garden for charity, and I'll cream off a wedge in consultancy fees", it's not a good look, is it? Plenty of people do loads and loads of work for charity completely voluntarily, without expecting a penny, yet for a charity event she dreamed up, she deserves to be paid? It's not like her business was contracted as part of a normal tendering process for a legitimate charity, they didn't win this account, they set it up! It is all very fishy.

The focus is on her because she set the just giving up in her company and name and made sure she was front and centre alongside her father.

I think, business wise, it was extremely clever. However, if you put yourself as the centre of something, you can't the claim misogyny when the situation is questioned and wonder why your husband isn't being questioned as well. I bet most people couldn't pick him out of a line up.

I thought the whole thing was distasteful. He seemed a sweet ol man but the family were milking it for all they were worth.

We made a substantial donation elsewhere, I never thought the Captain Tom fund was trustworthy and was stunned to see so many people falling for the adulation.

I can see most here have no idea how grant making trusts work. It takes time to advertise the grants, screen applications and then award the money, most I apply for take at least 6 months. The trust can only give away according to their trust rules which may require them to keep a certain level of assets so they have something ti give the following year (older funds usually only give away the interest/gains often). You need more than a year of accounts to be fair on assessment

always had the impression the daughter loved the limelight, she was front row at Wimbledon last year and got a standing ovation didn't she ??

@Marchitectmummy

What charities??? I've worked in the sector for 22 years and everyone travels standard class, or on the coach, if you need to stay over it's the travelodge at best, and we even camped once! One badly ran charity doesn't mean all are corrupt!

Not sure if anyone has said this already but there are two different things-

the NHS money that was given to NHS Charity

and the Cpt Tom Foundation which is a different charity with different aims.

Not defending the family but just wanted to point out the difference.

I don't donate to large charities at all now because, rightly or wrongly, my perception is of large overheads.
I make regular donations to a grassroots animal charity serving a poor community, they're extremely transparent about their spending and I certainly don't begrudge the modest staff salaries.

@AlDanvers

The focus is on her because she set the just giving up in her company and name and made sure she was front and centre alongside her father.

I think, business wise, it was extremely clever. However, if you put yourself as the centre of something, you can't the claim misogyny when the situation is questioned and wonder why your husband isn't being questioned as well. I bet most people couldn't pick him out of a line up.

He’s vile too, it was his idea to make Cpt Tom do 100 laps in the garden for £1 each, as a birthday treat

Off topic but the Mencap CEO is paid £200k per year while care workers languish in poverty on minimum wage, not even living wage. It’s a disgrace. The whole thing is corrupt, is there anything that hasn’t been marred by greed?

@Scianel

I don't donate to large charities at all now because, rightly or wrongly, my perception is of large overheads. I make regular donations to a grassroots animal charity serving a poor community, they're extremely transparent about their spending and I certainly don't begrudge the modest staff salaries.

I agree, any charity donations now go to small local charities.

Local cat rescue
Local parenting charity etc

I'm Chair for a local charity and we are fairly small, totally non profit and our expenses are minimal and mostly to buy items for groups we run. We applied for specific funding to pay an admin to help with day to day stuff a few hours a week.

Beyond that we are all volunteers giving our time freely and willingly. The funding we got during lockdown allowed us to support loads of local families who were struggling. We didn't set the world alight but just made a difference to several families in terms of shopping vouchers and food parcels.

I am wary of huge charities who have massive overheads to meet before they can even begin to do what they set out to do.

And while I don't much like Tattle I have to say that they called this a year ago.

Controversial but I was never into the whole captain Tom thing, nothing against the bloke and great that people donated to the nhs through it but there was just something that didnt sit right. The daughter seemed to be lapping up the attention doing all the interviews with him, getting where water can't, no surprises to be honest that she'd see pound signs. I wasn't impressed when they jetted off on a luxury holiday and then we had pictures rammed down our throats when we couldn't even see my family down the road!! I always said to my husband if it'd been a war veteran who lived in a small council house doing laps around his house they'd have never got the attention.

@lollipoprainbow

always had the impression the daughter loved the limelight, she was front row at Wimbledon last year and got a standing ovation didn't she ??

I have no problem with this kind of thing

Hmm. I too have a very uneasy feeling about this.

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

Used to switch channels when he & his daughter came on, found the whole thing very distasteful.
One reason why this countries public services are in such a mess, people seem to think its ok to fund them using charity.

I think this is normal for smaller charities
It is why I prefer to donate only to established charities where even though they are paid well they have an infrastructure in place and processes that mean less consultants are used

No point kicking them when they are down, I suppose, but I didn't give any money to Sir Tom because the whole walking around with war medals on thing didn't appeal to me in the first place, and I hate the use of 'old people' on TV in this patronizing way- I mean, he was just a man who happened to be very old, not some type of latter-day saint sent to save the NHS. It wasn't my thing then and it's not my thing now. It clearly is some people's thing though as they raised 33 million for the NHS (apart from this foundation).

At the same time or just prior to this, the government were sending covid positive older people back into care homes, seeding a deadly pandemic within them that they literally couldn't escape as they weren't allowed to leave and no-one was allowed in. Absolutely horrific and cost so much more in terms of money and lives than Sir Tom's raising 33 million sadly could do. That and the Track and Trace scandal, these are the things that we need to be shining a spotlight on because they vastly outweigh the small amount of money raised for charity, even if you overlook the human cost.

Eh?

Why is everyone getting distracted arguing about this when our actual fucking government is shamelessly siphoning off huge amounts into fake companies for goods and services never received?

@OnwardsAndSideways1 And the £6 billion unusable PPE, IIRC

@SomePosters @AutomaticMoon agreed, this is just a diversion really. Which Sir Tom was in his turn.

[quote OnwardsAndSideways1]**@SomePosters* @AutomaticMoon* agreed, this is just a diversion really. Which Sir Tom was in his turn.[/quote]
Covid-19: Government writes off £8.7bn of pandemic PPE

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60176283

This all must only be shocking to people who think that every penny they give to charity must be spent on the cause, and not understand that it is an industry in which people deserve to be paid for work that they do.

I find the comments saying they liked captain Tom but not his daughter a bit patronising to Capt Tom. People seem to treat old people like they’re children, without any agency of their own. Surely he can’t have been unaware of the work to promote him. Maybe he even requested the holiday?

I also didn’t donate to him at the time. It felt like a manufactured distraction from all the terrible mistakes that the government were making. Blowing sums way larger than he could raise and costing the NHS I don’t know how much. But then I’ve got a bit of a problem with charities anyway… isn’t tax collected by the government done so for the purposes of providing fair services to society? I also always feel a bit uncomfortable adding gift aid to things because it takes money out of the tax pot, used to fund education etc.

Wouldn’t it be better to vote for a kinder government? Some of the money raised to look after donkeys could definitely be used by state schools.

This never sat right with me. The NHS is not a charity. I think people who donated thought it was going straight to the NHS.

I think he was used by his daughter and her husband. Of course they took money off the top. She could have donated her time.

In my experience charities always want money which I do understand but there is absolutely no control what happens to it then.