Complaining about a charity

cepheus

Due to the number of Emails between us, the charity are fully aware of my feelings and have been given every chance to deal with them already.

It takes time to formulate a letter correctly to cut off the numerous excuses, 'escape channels' and reiteration of contract and advice which seems to give them the right to play God.

It's a complex situation with sheets of contract and advice mails they have sent me. I've complied with the former but not all of the latter due to the specific circumstances. It's taking up a lot of my time for no private gain. Only the poor people who might subsequently use it will benefit from them being told their behaviour was unsatisfactory.

By complaining, I'm effectively running my own charitable good cause!

cepheus

I assumed the rules governing charities would be similar to corporations expect their responsibilities would be focused on the cause rather than shareholders or profits. Are there no such rules? The fact that the ASA take up unresolved complaints suggest to me they are similar.

ThumbRemote

cepheus wrote: »

I assumed the rules governing charities would be similar to corporations expect their responsibilities would be focused on the cause rather than shareholders or profits. Are there no such rules? The fact that the ASA take up unresolved complaints suggest to me they are similar.

Charities are very poorly monitored. Just look at the number of fake charities around collecting for 'sick children' etc. I know of a group that claims to be a charity but is unregistered, even though their income is far higher than the threshold they must register at - and there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it.

While the ASA have some powers over advertising, the charity commission are the only people with power over how charities operate, and they seem very reluctant to get involved.

cepheus

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Charities are very poorly monitored. Just look at the number of fake charities around collecting for 'sick children' etc. I know of a group that claims to be a charity but is unregistered, even though their income is far higher than the threshold they must register at - and there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it.

While the ASA have some powers over advertising, the charity commission are the only people with power over how charities operate, and they seem very reluctant to get involved.

Indeed I was coming to exactly the same conclusion. Unless the charity is involved in terrorism or fraud they don't want to know.

Bantex_2

What is your complaint?

cepheus

In part the problems escalated due to asking too many questions on internet forums such as this, so for obvious reasons I'm not prepared to elaborate further at this stage, and prefer general advice. However, I probably have enough to go on, and they have been warned in advance they will receive a complaint. At the very least it should make them think again, before jumping the gun.

kazzah60

if you are unhappy with the way the charity is being run, then perhaps you should seek election onto the board of Trustees and try and improve things from the "inside"

Please try to remember that a good many charities are run entirely by volunteers who may have little or no training and as such may be doing a difficult job to the best of their abilities.

As chair of a charity I would be very upset if I thought that someone was questioning our ethos and actions - could it possibly be that the initial reaction from the charity is one of defensiveness rather than a wish to cover up?

notanewuser

This is a very small, very new charity where the trustees are also the ones doing the doing.

I don't think the OP has a valid complaint about them as a charity, to be honest. There's been a disagreement on both sides over handling of a situation but with no formal adjudicator all the OP can do is voice his concerns on public forums.

notanewuser

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

We've discussed the issues privately, rather than publicly. Didn't you take the dog back after 2 days? How much support could you have given in that time?!

One of the things you must do as a charity is keep your list of trustees up to date. One left in November 2013 but is still listed with the Charity Commission.....

gik

notanewuser wrote: »

We've discussed the issues privately, rather than publicly. Didn't you take the dog back after 2 days? How much support could you have given in that time?!

One of the things you must do as a charity is keep your list of trustees up to date. One left in November 2013 but is still listed with the Charity Commission.....

Are you representing cepheus?