Last year Dominic Nutt surprised the charity world by talking about what he saw to be corporate fundraising creating conflicts of interest at big charities. The charity world has since surprised him with its support and sympathy.

Some fundraising directors, I believe, are letting their charity’s marketing swallow its mission.

Last year, on BBC’s Panorama, I drew attention to what I believe is a drift by some UK charities towards a corporate culture - beguiling and attractive in a world of austerity and falling income - which, if it continues, could ultimately seriously damage charity brands.

My fear was (and remains) that by striking deals with corporations, by taking the money they offer in order to detoxify their own brand images, charities will taint their own brands and will lose their independence, because they will not want to criticise bad corporate behaviour.

I focused on Save the Children not because it is the worst or the only charity to take the corporate shilling. Far from it. It is simply because I was head of news at Save the Children and have an insight into its operation.

It is a charity I still care for, that does excellent work, saving and building lives in the world’s toughest places. I do not for a second say that donors should take umbrage and cut their ties. Quite the opposite. But a correction is needed, I believe. NGOs are – or ought to be – forged and founded in the furnace of unmet human need, to fight for justice, to care for the vulnerable and speak up for the voiceless.

To do this they need money and that’s why they put in extraordinary efforts, paying for press teams and marketers to persuade us to support them. Money saves lives.

But some NGOs, in their desire to boost income, have begun to contradict their founding principles.

When I was at Save from 2007 to 2009 running the press team, there was big pressure to focus hard on child poverty in the UK. So when British Gas put their prices up, our policy colleagues asked us to send out a press release condemning them – on the premise that poor families with children would be forced to make choices between heating their homes or feeding their children. This wasn’t a mere rhetorical line. Our people on the ground worked with some of the UK’s poorest families and saw daily and directly how an increase in fuel prices would immediately force families to cut back on food for their children, or leave them to become sick in cold, damp and substandard accommodation.

I wrote the release, got it approved by the policy experts and prepared to press ‘send’.

But the release was spiked because, I was told, it would upset British Gas who were Save the Children donors. This happened the next year too and continued after I left.

There are other examples at this and other charities.

Companies only want one thing: good PR. And that’s why they come to charities, to spray perfume on some of their businesses and to buy the silence of their critics.

Corporates are stuffing the mouths of some British NGOs with gold, and it is wrong. In the end, I believe that the public will notice that their charity champion is no longer speaking out about justice and instead is becoming an operational arm of government and a CSR mask for corporations.

That will be the end of independent charities as we know them.

When I set out on this route I was concerned that I was a lone voice. I was worried that I might well be wrong. But even before Panorama aired I was contacted by many charity staff who gave me information about similar cases and encouraged me to continue.

After Panorama was broadcast I was contacted by many more – some I knew and many I didn’t - on Twitter and by email who said they agreed with what I had said but didn’t want to rock the boat.

I don’t have a monopoly on truth. I am only expressing an opinion – albeit an informed one, I hope. But I am encouraged to continue by those who have taken the time to contact me.

My message to UK charity fundraisers? Take a long, cool look at your corporate fundraising strategies. And don’t shoot the messenger.

Dominic Nutt is director of communications at the Saatchi Cancer Initiative. He was head of news at Save the Children between 2007 and 2009, and has held similar roles at several large charities.