A disqualification order against the two founders of a children’s education charity has been held after an unsuccessful appeal at tribunal.
The Charity Commission opened a regulatory compliance case into the Dot Com Children’s Foundation in 2021 after an investigation by the Times uncovered governance concerns at the organisation.
The Times previously reported allegations of mismanagement of funds at the linked MissDorothy[dot]com company, including the misuse of donations for personal luxury purchases, such as designer clothing.
Following its investigation, the commission barred Sharon Evans and Neil Evans, founders of the charity, from holding positions as trustees or senior managers of any charity.
Doughty and Evans subsequently appealed against this decision last year.
Reasons for upholding disqualification
In Judge McMahon’s decision to uphold the Evans’ disqualification, he noted that the tribunal had concluded that the Evans were “the persons primarily responsible for the proven mismanagement in the administration of the charity, due to a lack of understanding on their part on the proper management of charities”.
The tribunal also concluded that the most significant issue which first led to the regulator’s findings of mismanagement was the “inappropriate” relationship between the charity and the Evans couple.
This in turn led to a “lack of operational separation”, which was exemplified by there being, “putative at least, arrangements for re-charge of services between the two appellants and their private businesses and the charity”, which the judge ruled was “clear misconduct” and brought DotCom into significant reputational risk.
McMahon added that the tribunal opted to uphold the disqualification order as it considered both orders – of 4.5 years for Neil Evans and 3.5 years for Sharon Evans – to be proportionate, noting that the tribunal considered that any lesser period of disqualification, in either case, would only serve to pose an “unacceptable level of risk to the charity sector” by the Evans couple.
Regulator ‘pleased’ decision has been upheld
Helen Earner, director of regulatory services at the Charity Commission, said: “The actions of Mr & Mrs Evans fell well below standards we’d expect of anyone participating in a charity.
“Their conduct amounted to misconduct and was damaging to public trust and confidence in charities.
“The pattern of behaviour over many years which went beyond just this charity, led us to use our most serious powers to disqualify them both. We are pleased our decision was upheld by the tribunal.”
Civil Society has tried to reach Dot Com for comment.
