Can you challenge a charity's right to be a charity if it's actively working against the rights of the people it is supposed to represent?
Guardian
'Charities need to stop slide in public trust warns regulator
Groups risking censure, says Charity Commission, citing aggressive fundraising and betrayal of charitable focus'
Registered charities may not survive unless they behave with greater selflessness and stop the slide in public trust, Tina Stowell, chair of the Charity Commission is warning.
Lady Stowell, a former Conservative minister, is to set out a tougher stance over the regulation of the £74bn-a-year sector after a string of scandals, including the collapse of Kids Company in 2015, and the sexual exploitation in Haiti by a senior Oxfam worker, which emerged in 2018.
The UK’s 168,000 registered charities face censure unless they show they are “a living example of charitable purpose”, she will say on Thursday.
In a speech that also attempts to draw a line under criticism of the regulator’s own effectiveness, Stowell will warn that the “concept of charity” is under threat.
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She will single out aggressive fundraising practices, the exploitation of vulnerable people, and single-minded pursuit of organisational growth at the expense of charitable objectives, as examples of bad behaviour that should cease.
The speech is likely to be seen in part as an opening salvo in a negotiation for greater government funding following several years of cuts which have weakened the commission.
Stowell will not mention cases by name but will tell charity bosses: “The public has seen questionable behaviour and concluded – you are not who you appear to be.” (continues)
www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/03/charities-need-stop-slide-public-trust-warns-regulator