Hospital Charity Fund

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

I am looking for someone, with the appropriate experience, that may be able to help me understand the financial aspects of a charity fund that is part of the Charities Commission. I am basically wanting to know if everything is in order with the charities finances.

If you might be able to help could you drop me a pm.

Thank you.

Savvy_Sue

For clarification, do you mean that the fund is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission?

If so, first steps would be whether they have submitted annual accounts, which would then be available to view on the CC website.

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

Yes they have completed their annual returns, so these can be viewed on line. That's where I need some help in understanding these.

PlutoinCapricorn

What exactly are you looking for? Is this a grant making organisation or a grant seeking organisation? Are you considering making a donation?Have you given them money and now want to see how it has been spent?

For example, some people check for fraud - they want to know whether the registered charity is actually carrying out charitable activities. If the funds raised are being spent on salaries and expenses only, this is a red flag.

Some people are checking for efficiency: what proportion of income is being spent on admin and fundraising?

Some people are looking for solvency: what are the reserves like?

You may get better responses if you can supply more information.

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

Sorry for providing limited information, but I don't want to disclose to much at the moment.

The hospital has several fund raising activities for various hospital projects. These are all under one charity number which makes it very difficult to see if the charitable fund I am interested in effectively ring fenced.

So I need some help in checking that the money raised, for this specific project, in still there.

The money was raised a number of years ago and has not been spent todate.

I hope this clarifies my request.

PlutoinCapricorn

Money raised for a specific purpose is usually known as Restricted or Earmarked and is usually for a project or capital appeal.

I would expect to see the names and amounts of current Restricted Funds shown separately: see the example on page 29 of this document:

http://www.gsttcharity.org.uk/media/9499/charity_annual_report_2011__financial_.pdf

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

Thank you for the reply. I have looked through the accounts and I am unable to see with any clarity the fund and the restricted amount shown. May I send you via pm the charity number?

PlutoinCapricorn

Ok - I may not be able to help very much though. The Charity Commission has a lot of information about what must be listed, but it is not easy for a non-accountant to follow.

In general, if funds are raised for something specific, they must be used for the stated purpose unless the donors give permission for them to be reallocated. The donors of any size usually request a report on completion of the project, and would expect to be kept informed of any delays. Unreserved funds can be Designated for a specific project/purpose, but this at the charity's discretion.

Some charities may subtly suggest that funds raised may go towards a specific project, but actually they go into the General, or Unrestricted, pool. Things have tightened up in recent years: the wording has been amended to say, for example, "£5 COULD support one child for a week" not that it WILL. There may also be some small print about funds going to where they are needed most. "For our work" usually means the General Fund!

PlutoinCapricorn

Had you thought of asking them about the disbursement of the funds collected under the Freedom of Information Act? The details of who to do this are given on the website of the charity in question; I can see now what the problem is: the appeal is sandwiched between the current and the previous, with no real information. I will investigate some more...

PlutoinCapricorn

I have been looking at the Trustees' Annual Reports/Accounts on the CC Register: these are more 'serious' and in-depth than the Annual Review that goes out to the public/major donors etc.

I see that next to the column that shows the Incoming income for the appeal in question, there is a "resources expended" column. I am not certain whether this refers to the money spent on admin/fundraising, or what has been spent on the unit. It could well be the latter.

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

Todate no money SHOULD have been spent from the specific fund in question. As no work on the facility has been scheduled or started.