The Captain Tom Foundation: Tarnishing a legacy
In April 2020, Captain Sir Tom Moore captured the hearts of the nation.
The then 99-year-old ex-serviceman raised an incredible £32.8 million for NHS Charities Together by walking around his garden a hundred times.
His efforts ignited a media frenzy, which ultimately saw him knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Sadly, the WWII veteran contracted COVID and died in February 2021. But he left an incredible legacy in the form of The Captain Tom Foundation, which his family set up to support "causes close to his heart".
However, just four short years later, the Foundation is set to close down.
What went wrong?
In February 2022, the Charity Commission launched an investigation into the Foundation after concerns were raised over its finances.
According to the Foundation’s accounts, four charities received grants of £40,000 in year one, but £209,433 was spent on ‘costs’, including £162,336 on "management".
Three days later, it emerged that the foundation had paid £54,039 to two companies owned by Captain Tom’s daughter, Hannah Ingraham-Moore, and her husband; one of which was registered days before the charity was incorporated.
Response
In response to the controversy, Ms Ingram-Moore insisted on ITV’s This Morning that she was devoted to safeguarding her father’s memory. You can see the interview, in full, here.
Profiting
By June 2022, a formal investigation was opened after the Charity Commission received evidence of ‘possible serious misconduct’ amid allegations the Moore family had been profiting from the charity.
In particular, the regulator wanted to look into allegations that Club Nook Ltd, (one of the private companies owned by the Ingram-Moore’s), had profited by trademarking the name Captain Tom.
Then, in August 2023, a BBC Newsnight investigation found that thousands of pounds were paid to Maytrix Group, (another company owned by Ms Ingram-Moore), for appearances made in connection with the Captain Tom Foundation charity, rather than to the Foundation itself.
To top it off, in an interview on TalkTV's Piers Morgan Uncensored in October 2023, Ingram-Moore admitted the family kept the profits from three books that Captain Sir Tom wrote.
She said there’d been no agreement with her father that the £800,000, would go to charity.
But the prologue to his autobiography, Tomorrow Will be a Good Day, suggests otherwise: "With the offer to write this memoir I have also been given the chance to raise even more money" for the Foundation.
The takeaways
The Charity Commission’s investigation is ongoing. Until the results are published, it’s a case of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ But it acts as a stark reminder to trustees as to the importance of:
Understanding the nature of your statutory duties of responsibility and care
Decisions must be made in the best interests of the charity and demonstrated through record-keeping.
Identifying and managing conflicts of interest
A conflict of interest is any situation in which a trustee's personal interests or loyalties could prevent the trustee from making a decision in the best interests of the charity.
The government guidelines on dealing with conflict of interests are clear. The three fundamental steps are:
to identify a conflict of interest before it becomes a liability
clearly document it, and;
deal with it through appropriate measures
A robust conflicts of interest policy
Trustees must be able to demonstrate that they understand and follow the conflict of interest policy.
Where an actual or potential conflict of interest is declared, it must be recorded, along with the action taken.
Reputation management
Trustees must ensure that the charity’s name and logo (and the goodwill attached to it) are being used appropriately.
Final Word
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