Not So Innocent - Misuse of Charitable Status
There was a very interesting article in the Independent on Sunday last weekend about the mess that is currently this country's charity sector. The local aspect was the mention of Innocent Drinks which I know was based here (but may now have moved away?). They claim on their bottles to donate 10% of profits to charity but its foundation has not seen any funds since 2008 and Innocent are hanging onto over half a million that should have been given to charity.There were several other examples of organisations with charitable status paying senior staff six figure salaries and giving a fraction of their total income to the causes they are supposed to be supporting. The Charity Commission seems more interested in harassing genuine charities it doesn't like for political reasons than tackling this problem. Many of these charities get less in donations than they do in Government grants and I tend to agree with JSP's main point that if this sector is seen as a vehicle for the Big Society it is really a massive con perpatrated on the rest of us by the 'great and the good.'
Paul Corcoran ● 5078d3 Comments