Category Archives: Charities

Naomi Campbell claims she did not know of financial misconduct at charity

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Supermodel alleges ‘concerted deception’ by fellow trustee kept her in dark over running of Fashion for Relief

The supermodel Naomi Campbell has claimed she knew nothing of the extensive financial misconduct and mismanagement at the anti-poverty fashion charity she created and sat on the board of for more than five years.

Campbell was disqualified from running a charity in May 2024, before the publication of a devastating watchdog report that revealed a trail of administrative chaos, misuse of charity funds, and chaotic record-keeping.

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Naomi Campbell taking legal action in attempt to overturn charity trustee ban

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Supermodel has alleged she was victim of ‘systematic fraud’ by fellow trustee at Fashion for Relief

Naomi Campbell has launched legal action in an attempt to overturn an order banning her from running a charity, claiming she was the victim of a “systematic fraud” perpetrated by a fellow trustee who set up a fake email account to impersonate her.

The supermodel was disqualified from being a charity trustee for five years in May 2024 after a Charity Commission inquiry found widespread evidence of financial misconduct at Fashion for Relief, the poverty charity she created.

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Environmental groups in UK ‘still very white – especially at the top’

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Greenpeace co-director responds to report finding fewer than one in 20 working in sector identifies as non-white

Environmental organisations “are still very white, especially at the top”, the co-director of Greenpeace has said as research showed little to no improvement in the ethnic diversity of their workforces.

Areeba Hamid’s comments came as the third annual racial action on the climate emergency (Race) report into diversity among environmental charities found fewer than one in 20 of those working in the sector identified as people of colour or as other racial or ethnic minority groups.

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Charities forced to ‘evict’ adults in their care to stay solvent, survey finds

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Annual sector review says tax and wage rises and council funding cuts have left services in ‘state of acute precarity’

Charities providing specialist care to thousands of vulnerable adults with learning disabilities and severe autism are having to “evict” residents to avoid insolvency because of tax and wage rises and local authority funding cuts.

Non-profit providers say their work is in a “state of acute precarity” with many preparing to cut services, close doors to new residents and effectively evict tenants because the fees councils pay no longer meet the cost of care.

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UK charity steps up campaign against child hygiene poverty

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The Multibank, founded by Gordon Brown, receives boost with Amazon-led drive for 250,000 items this month

A charity founded by the former prime minister Gordon Brown is to increase its campaign efforts against child hygiene poverty this year.

The Multibank, which was founded by the former Labour leader, is working with a number of sports clubs across Britain and the Hygiene Bank charity. Over the Christmas and new year period it collected thousands of hygiene products at sporting fixtures.

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Guardian and Observer readers raise £1.25m so far in charity appeal

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With just over a week to go, more than 11,200 people have donated generously to support victims of conflict and war

With just over a week to go, an incredible £1,250,000 has been raised by generous readers for the 2024 Guardian and Observer appeal in support of victims of conflict and war.

Three charities will benefit from the appeal: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and War Child, which carry out frontline medical aid work in war zones, and Parallel Histories, which helps schools teach sensitive and controversial histories such as those of Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine.

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Counselling charity Relate set to be rescued from insolvency

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Deal under which Family Action takes over Relate’s counselling services will save up to 185 jobs, say administrators

Britain’s biggest relationship counselling charity looks likely to be rescued from insolvency under plans for it to be taken over.

Last month, Relate was put into administration after a collapse in its funding from NHS, school and local authority contracts.

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Counselling charity Relate set to be rescued from insolvency

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Deal under which Family Action takes over Relate’s counselling services will save up to 185 jobs, say administrators

Britain’s biggest relationship counselling charity looks likely to be rescued from insolvency under plans for it to be taken over.

Last month, Relate was put into administration after a collapse in its funding from NHS, school and local authority contracts.

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Band Aid 40 fails to reach UK Top 40 in opening week

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All-star version of Do They Know It’s Christmas?, spliced together from previous versions, falls short of the No 1 success of those earlier hits

The 40th anniversary version of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? has failed to enter this week’s Top 40, reaching No 45.

The new version of the song was made up of performances spliced together from three previous versions, in an arrangement by producer Trevor Horn. But despite featuring the unusual A-list juxtaposition of George Michael, Sinead O’Connor, Chris Martin, One Direction and more, the new version has not yet matched the success of its predecessors, which each went straight to No 1 in 1984, 2004 and 2014.

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As Band Aid marks 40th anniversary critics take aim at Africa stereotypes

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Latest version of Do They Know It’s Christmas fundraiser reignites debate about ‘problematic’ lyrics and imagery

Forty years ago this week, a group of pop stars gathered at a west London studio to record a single that would raise millions, inspire further starry projects, and ultimately change charity fundraising in the UK.

Do They Know It’s Christmas, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s festive charity behemoth, would go on to raise almost £150m for famine relief and development in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa. To mark the anniversary, on Monday a new version of the single – its fifth – will be released under the name Band Aid 40.

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Captain Tom’s family personally benefited from charity they founded, report finds

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Watchdog’s highly critical inquiry finds Hannah and Colin Ingram-Moore culpable of ‘serious and repeated’ misconduct

The family of the NHS charities fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore personally benefited from the charity set up in his name through a series of lucrative deals worth more than £1m, the charities watchdog has ruled in a highly critical report.

A Charity Commission inquiry concluded the late Captain Tom’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, Colin Ingram-Moore, were culpable of “serious and repeated” instances of misconduct, mismanagement and failures of integrity.

Hannah Ingram-Moore “initiated the process to secure her appointment as chief executive” of the charity, suggesting she should be paid a salary of £150,000. The charity proposed paying her £100,000 but this was blocked by the commission and she was eventually hired on £85,000.

Hannah Ingram-Moore received £18,000 from Virgin Media in September 2021 to judge its Local Legends awards when she was chief executive of the foundation. This was unauthorised and a conflict of interest, and there was no evidence it was undertaken, as she claimed, in a personal capacity.

The Ingram-Moores used the charity’s name inappropriately and for their private benefit in a planning application to build a private spa pool in the grounds of their family home. The building was subsequently demolished.

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Captain Tom Foundation inquiry: three key failings

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A book deal, personal appearance and plans for a swimming pool were all criticised by the Charity Commission

The Charity Commission’s report on the Captain Tom Foundation is highly critical of the conduct and actions of its founders, Hannah and Colin Ingram-Moore, who it said had directly and inappropriately benefited financially from their links to the foundation.

Here are three examples of how the Ingram-Moores’ failure to manage conflicts of interest – not least between the foundation and their private company – constituted misconduct, mismanagement and what the commission called failures of governance and integrity.

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Public’s understanding of paedophiles has not improved, says charity boss

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Rev Harry Nigh, who set up Circles in 1994 to support sex offenders, says it is easy for politicians to say ‘lock them up’

Public understanding of paedophiles has not improved over the past 30 years, according to the founder of the pioneering charity Circles, which offers support to some of society’s most reviled offenders.

While the Rev Harry Nigh says child protection must always be paramount, he stresses the importance of breaking the isolation and shame that often leads people who commit child sexual abuse to reoffend, arguing that “anything that drives people underground even further endangers the community itself”.

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Ed Sheeran: I wish I wasn’t on 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid

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Singer says his ‘understanding of the narrative’ around Do They Know It’s Christmas? has changed since 2014 appearance

Ed Sheeran has said he would rather not be on the forthcoming 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, aligning himself with criticism of it as dehumanising and damaging to Africans.

Sheeran is one of an all-star cast to be drawn from three previous recordings of the song, in 1984, 2004 and 2014 – he appeared on the latter version. Producer Trevor Horn has mashed up three sets of performances into a new “Ultimate Mix”, which will be released on 25 November, and also features George Michael, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O’Connor and many more.

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UK charity declares ‘refugee homelessness emergency’ as numbers hit record high

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Naccom report says gaps in state support have led to more than 1,940 refugees having no accommodation

Homelessness among refugees has doubled in the last year to reach record levels as charities hand out tents and sleeping bags to those forced to live on the streets for the first time, according to research.

The No Accommodation Network (Naccom), an umbrella organisation for 140 frontline organisations working with asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants across the UK, has collated the data and shared it with the Guardian.

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Man’s will written on back of food boxes is valid, UK high court rules

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Malcolm Chenery left estate to Diabetes UK charity when he died in 2021, writing will on fish and mince pie boxes

A will written on the back of cardboard food packaging has been found to be valid by the high court, meaning a charity stands to inherit £180,000.

Malcolm Chenery, who died in 2021, left his estate, including a three-bedroom house, jewellery, cash and an extensive collection of ornaments and pottery, to Diabetes UK.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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UK disability charities say NICs rise will cause ‘life-changing’ cuts

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Groups providing vital services say impact of tax and minimum wage rises will lead to cutbacks

Charities have warned of “life-changing consequences” for a million vulnerable children and adults as a result of cuts to state-funded disability services driven by tax changes and wage rises announced in the budget.

The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), which represents 100 charities in England, said Rachel Reeves’s decision to raise employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) had been “ill thought through” and would put many local charity services at risk.

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Services for most-vulnerable people at risk after NICs rise, charities say

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Care providers, GPs and pharmacists warn increased costs will cause cuts and job losses

Services that support some of England’s most vulnerable people have warned that tax increases in the budget will lead to cuts and closures that could devastate the charity sector.

Although the NHS and councils are protected from the impact of the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) announced in Wednesday’s budget, charities that provide services say the increase means they will face “existential” financial pressures.

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Colin Farrell’s Dublin marathon run raises €774,000 for charity

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Actor ran last part of course pushing friend Emma Fogarty who has genetic condition known as butterfly skin

Colin Farrell has raised €774,000 (£644,000) for a charity supporting people with a rare skin condition by running the Dublin marathon while pushing one of the oldest survivors of the disease in Ireland around part of the course in her wheelchair.

The actor, who was born in the Irish capital, raised the money for Debra Ireland, an organisation that supports people with the incurable genetic condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB), or “butterfly skin”, which causes people to have very fragile and blistering skin.

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Naomi Campbell admits failures at fashion charity but denies misconduct

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Campbell ‘accepts her accountability’, says spokesperson after watchdog’s scathing report about Fashion for Relief

Naomi Campbell has admitted she failed in her duties as a trustee at the Fashion for Relief charity she founded – but has insisted she never engaged in financial misconduct or used the charity for personal gain during its chaotic nine-year existence.

Campbell was last week banned from running a charity for five years after a scathing report found she and her two fellow trustees were culpable for multiple incidents of serious misconduct and financial mismanagement.

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