The Charity Commission is meeting with the trustees of Society Network Foundation this week in an attempt to gather more information for its investigation into apparent misuse of a restricted government grant and payments to trustees and staff.
The Commission opened its investigation in February after Civil Society News alerted it to the apparent transfer of part of Society Network Foundation's unspent Social Action Fund grant into unrestricted funds to reduce the historical £180,000 deficit in its trading arm, Big Society Network.
At the time, the charity’s CEO Steve Moore told Civil Society News that it had been given authority by the funder to transfer the funds across, but the grant administrator, the Social Investment Business, denied it had given permission.
The charity’s accounts for the year to 31 March 2013 also show that Big Society Network paid a total of £76,100 in consultancy fees to its directors Steve Moore and Lucy Windmill and to Martyn Rose, chair of the charity.
The Charity Commission is also examining these payments.
The latest update on the case from the Charity Commission stated: “We have received a response to questions we had relating to connected party transactions and the use of a grant, however this does not fully address our concerns and we are in the process of engaging further with the trustees.
“We are also awaiting copies of documents that explain the grounds on which a grant was given.”
Thomas queries Commission’s independence
This week, former minister for civil society Gareth Thomas MP has questioned how independent the Charity Commission’s investigation can be, given the “politics of key figures” there. The Commission’s chair William Shawcross also has strong links to the Conservative Party.
Thomas tweeted: “Will the Charity Commission publish conclusions of investigation into the Big Society Network?” and “Given the politics of key figures in Charity Commission, Big Lottery Fund and Big Society Network shouldn’t a clearly independent person be appointed to run the Charity Commission investigation?”
In response to these concerns, the Charity Commission responded: "Yes we expect to publish a report on this case once it has concluded. We now report on a selection of our operational compliance cases, and prioritise publishing reports on cases that are already in the public domain.
"The Charity Commission is an independent non-ministerial department. We assess all concerns raised with us about charities against our risk framework and all cases are conducted fairly, in line with regulatory policies and processes. We are confident that our case involving the Society Network Foundation is being handled appropriately by experienced case officers."
The trustees of Society Network Foundation are Conservative donor Martyn Rose, chair; Giles Gibbons, the business partner of David Cameron’s former strategy chief Steve Hilton; Jonathan Brinsden, a partner at law firm Bircham Dyson Bell, and philanthropy adviser Randi Jo Weaver.
The Commission has not confirmed the date or time of this week’s meeting with Society Network Foundation trustees.
