bogus charity: Everyone's Children's Trust

PlutoinCapricorn

It seems that each Sainsbury branch likes to encourage local charities. They may make one their "charity of the year" and give them extra support.

I suspect that there are many more charities similar to ECT.

Websites such as Intelligent Giving/New Philanthropy Capital do grade charities, but people who give in the street in response to an appeal to the heart are unlikely to be aware of them.

qetu1357

I have contacted Watchdog, my mp and the Daily Mail...................

ju1i3_2

I went back to my local Sainsburys to see the woman who books the charities and took her a copy of the ECT accounts and the letter from HighChelmer.

1. She was concerned and said she would look into it.

2. The Sains manager I spoke to in May never spoke to her about checking on the charities she books. That was a waste of time.

3. I emailed the local paper explaining everything and asked them to do an expose on questionable charities collecting locally without any vetting.

4. I tried contacting Camden council about charity collections and whether they need a license, etc. Completely useless.

So some good news and some bad news. Thank you Q. for your efforts.

PlutoinCapricorn

That is very public spirited of you both.

I try to avoid supermarkets and shopping centres, so have not seen much of this sort of thing for myself. I do however remember people collecting for the Japanese earthquake, even though Japan is a rich country and had not requested money, just help with logistics.

Raising awareness in this way is good, but it never stops and there are always new soft-hearted people who will give to anyone who asks.

Pollycat

Charity collecting in supermarket doorways is one of my pet hates - regardless of which charity it is.

For example, I will always give to RNLI on their collecting days if it's on the high street (and also do so on an annual basis) but not if someone tries to catch me as I come out of Tesco or Sainsbury's when I've got other things on my mind - such as 'have I forgotten something?', 'where did I park the car?' or I'm trying to check my receipt to make sure they've not overcharged me.

I never give to the small charities like the one that ju1i3 is exposing regardless of where they're collecting - unless it's our local Hospice.

PlutoinCapricorn

I had a quick look at the "Candis scam or not thread " in this board, and saw a post about people being signed up outside their local Sainsbury's. These people were told that Sainsbury would not have let Candis do this without having first checked them out!

Sainsbury seem to be letting just about anyone stand outside these days.

dearymedays

I know somebody that worked for this "charity" and he used to come home with a lot of "commission". The collectors would pocket around 80% of the money that was donated.

He would get a call or email, usually a few days before informing him of where they were going to be sent to.

I believe it is theft to trick people into thinking all the money is going to charity. He would finish the day with £100 plus to keep.

Not a charity

trumpton

You can report non-urgent crime on a new number - 101. If you feel that there is a bogus charity collecting, report it on this number and hopefully they may have a PC or PCSO in the area who can take a look. This doesn't necessarily help if the scammers have actually registered it as a charity but there are plenty who are simply standing there with tins.

sue222

According to a company check website (I am not allowed to post a link) Everyone's Children's Trust was run by a company called CRSA, who appear to keep setting up charities with something to do with children in the title.

On Saturday someone was collecting in my local Sainsbury's and looked a bit suspicious (calling out "support kids in crisis") so I checked on the Charity Commission website and sure enough it is another CRSA charity.

I have only been able to find annual accounts for one CRSA charity (Sunny Days) which seems to have been spending a lot on admin - over 80 per cent of expenditure, mostly on wages.