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Royal Institution to repay £3.2m of missapplied funds

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 25 Nov 2010

The trustees of the Royal Institution are in the process of repaying £3.2m of funds which were incorrectly used to redevelop the charity’s building, the Charity Commission has revealed.

The Charity Commission, today, has released a report into the Royal Institution (RI) which was subject to a regulatory investigation last year.

The investigation was triggered in December 2008 by the RI council of trustees who realised they had used money to pay for a redevelopment from restricted funds that were held on particular terms.

The Charity Commission and the Royal Institution worked together to develop a repayment schedule which will see the RI replenish the amounts of endowment and restricted funds invested in the refurbishment at the rate of £350,000 for up to 15 years from 2010/11 and rebuild its reserves at the rate of £150,000 for up to 15 years from 2010/11.

The regulatory report also covered an investigation into an unauthorised lease of charity land to a company in which a RI member had an interest.

The Commission decided not to take any further action as it would not be in the charity’s best interest to enter into a new lease, which is due to expire on 30 November 2011.

The Charity Commission also noted the high level of press interest and complaints about the controversial departure of the RI’s director Baroness Greenfield.

The Commission report said: “As matters of employment are generally the responsibility of trustees, the Commission will not normally become involved in employment issues. As a result, this issue is not covered in this report.”

Earlier this year the RI was embroiled in nearly four months of in-fighting, which began when the trustees decided Greenfield’s director post was no longer affordable in the light of recent funding problems. Their actions resulted in a reported sex discrimination lawsuit from Greenfield and a failed coup by some charity members to expel the board.

In the end, the RI and Greenfield released a joint statement saying “they had reached a full agreement as to the terms for Baroness Greenfield’s departure from the post of director and that neither the RI nor Greenfield would make any further comment on the terms or the circumstances leading up to her departure".

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