Blogs

Charities, government and self-proclaimed experts 5

Fundraising | Andrew Scadding | 3 Mar 2009

When I am in grumpy mode, one of the things I most like to grumble about is the number of people and organisations who, whilst apparently devoid of talent, knowledge or relevant experience, nonetheless consider themselves experts capable of telling charities their business. 

I have been away for a few weeks, and lo, there is another such bursting onto the scene thanks to the sometimes dubious blessing of the world wide web.  This one is called fakecharities.org and its mission is to spread suspicion and gloom about the relationship between charities and government, taking the view that any charity which accepts government cash is hopelessly compromised thereby.  Trouble is, that is all of us, at least all of us who claim gift aid.

Fakecharities.org should not be taken too seriously: its analysis is hopelessly partial.  Where it suits the authors to put the government contribution into the context of total income, they do: but often they simply list the government funding without mentioning the total of which it is part.  They make no attempt to discriminate between gift aid, project funding and general funding.  The allegation that Christian Aid is a ‘fake’ charity, made on the basis that just 18 per cent of its income comes from UK, EU, Irish and other governments, is patently absurd.  The biggest fake exposed by fakecharities.org is fakecharities.org itself.

Genuine issues lurking

‘Should not be taken too seriously’, though, is not the same as ‘will not be taken too seriously’.  There are a couple of genuine issues lurking.  First of these is that the public are not necessarily comfortable with the close and developing relationship between charities and government, and the blurring of lines which results.  It is one thing for charities to take money from the government in order to fulfil objectives of the charity which the government also supports.  Fakecharities.org argues, and it is hard not to sympathise, that it is another thing entirely for the government to set up charities to deliver government policy – especially when, by doing so, they can escape scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act. 

Retired diplomat Charles Crawford makes a related but even stronger point when he complains that Oxfam receives 35 times the budget of the UK Embassy in Warsaw each year, so why shouldn’t he have the same right to know exactly how his tax pound is spent?  He wants every charity with 10 per cent of its income from government, or £10m from government in any financial year, to be brought within the scope of the FOI Act.

The second serious issue is that charities, particularly fundraising charities, are sooner or later going to have to address the need for a proper association to defend our interests and our standards.  If we do not take steps to protect the concept of charity, it will be eroded, albeit by creative government or by the constant nibbling of the ill-informed and the malicious: our weakness is their strength. 

Michael Naidu made a very clear call in his blog here some months ago for standards to be maintained throughout charities' activity, not just in fundraising.  The time has come to hear that call and do something about it!

Tweet

Directory: Christian Aid | Oxfam
Who's Who: Andrew Scadding