The founder and chief executive of children’s charity Kiltwalk, Carey McEvoy, has resigned and the board revealed it was restructuring the charity to cut costs.
McEvoy’s resignation comes after a number of large charities withdrew their backing from the charity’s signature fundraising event after allegations that the Kiltwalk hadn’t properly allocated its funds.
In a statement released yesterday, the charity admitted that “the last few weeks have been incredibly difficult”, and said that the recent furore surrounding “overheads” had forced the board to restructure the charity.
“Therefore, in order to protect the organisation, the board are working on a programme to restructure in order to cut overheads. Certain aspects of the events will need to be scaled back, but centralised costs - including staff - will also be impacted," it said.
“The restructure will affect all levels of the charity and unfortunately Kiltwalk chief executive Carey McEvoy will be departing from the organisation.”
The charity currently has 14 members of staff.
The statement said that despite McEvoy’s resignation and the organisation’s impending restructure, the numerous Kiltwalk fundraising events would go ahead as planned.
McEvoy also released a statement, in which he expressed his disappointment at the likelihood of some of the Kiltwalk staff losing their jobs.
“Personally, I am hugely disappointed that these recent developments are likely to contribute to some of the team losing their jobs. They are incredibly dedicated and passionate about the Kiltwalk and helping Scotland’s children.”
McEvoy also said he hoped that his resignation would help regain trust in the organisation.
“We need to fully restore confidence amongst fellow charities, partners and walkers and I believe fresh leadership of the Kiltwalk can help to achieve that aim.
“We have come a long way in the last three years and I would like to stress we are incredibly proud of our achievements so far. Whilst this has been a difficult period, I am certain the team and Kiltwalk supporters will do everything possible to secure the future for the organisation.”
