fundraising issue!!

Shayra1

Hi, I am asking this for a very close friend of mine as they are in a position now that they feel has left them both vulnerable and confused as to how they are to proceed forward with this.

Without too much detail for my friend and their families privacy, and I am under no illusion that coming here is not the same as walking into a place for legal advice however with my friends permission I would simply like to hear feedback from the general public on here on advice as to whether the family should be seeking further legal advice on the matter or not. it would be very appreciated to hear from people that have a good idea as to how to proceed when going forward about something like this.

My friends child is sick and unfortunately requires treatment that the family were both financially unable to undertake. However, a family member decided to help the family organise a fundraising campaign to appeal to the general community to help support the family with the treatment as this person was well known and very established in the local community for various reasons. the family are very grateful for all the help they have received to date with it and feeling very overwhelmed by it all. The money for the child's treatment was going directly to the parents via a separate account set up for the Childs treatment, However, the particular family member that helped set it up decided to inform the parents when the fundraising money reached a certain amount, that that person had to take over control of the funds. That they were advised to do so in order to protect the family, and that they were advised that they should give the parents an allowance out of it for each treatment.

as it stands now the family member is in control of all funds gathered for the child in question along with any outside fundraising that the kindhearted people of the community have band together to do, and all the proceedings are going directly into this family members account even though the family member has used the ' wording all proceeds go to the child' as advertising it, but this is not the case as no proceedings have entered the child's separate account for treatments since this member told the parents they had to be in control of it all. the parents cannot understand why the money cannot go directly to the child's account and why this person needs to be in control of everything including what they spend along with looking for receipts for everything regarding accommodation and food expenses regarding the treatments as it is a far distance from their home to travel; so they need to stay over each time they go, the family member has estimated how much it would cost and allows the parents an allowance of that amount to go. now i don't know if anyone will agree with me on this but i for one think this is very degrading towards two adults who are well and truly capable of managing any finances in that area to be told that they can't be in control of money raised for their own child's treatment by kindhearted people.

the parents have questioned the family member on this, which is being ignored each time they do with same reply, that they were advised to do this and that it is to protect the family legally, which I can't understand as i have personally never heard of such a thing and i have asked around others who have been there in regard to fundraisers who told me this didn't happen to them. I am doing this for my friend because i care deeply for them and this whole hand they have been dealt with breaks my heart for them but i don't want to see any wrong doings done to these genuine good natured souls, and i will help in anyway i can to make sure everything goes right for these people because they are in a vulnerable position right now and i know that when people are in a position like that they aren't thinking clearly and I'd hate to think anyone was taking advantage of the fact!

also there have been as I stated a lot of outside fundraising from the community done so far and the family member has not included the parents in who is fundraising for them, how much was made etc, so the parents don't even know who they should be thanking only for they hear back from other people of who has done what for them they would be completely in the dark. like i stated they have questioned this person on numerous occasions with lack of proper response. the other family members on that particular side agree with what the person is doing and have said that this person is protecting them and accounting for everything which is fair enough but why isn't this person communicating on a better level with the parents??

I don't know, I could be wrong and that's why for my friends sake i want people's honest opinions on the matter but there's just something about all of this that doesn't sit right for me at all. and i hope for my friends sake that they aren't the ones ending up hurt in the very end. god knows they are going through enough at this present time.

thanks for reading and any honest opinions are very much appreciated by myself and the parents.!!

Lenar3556

An interesting issue, and probably one which would be best raised by the family with their solicitor where the full facts can be understood, and if necessary better arrangements put in place for the direction of these funds for their intended purpose.

A legitimate question arises as to the role of this third party (a family relative). I understand by your account that the individual has done very good work in fundraising, and certainly that has to be acknowledged. What is perhaps a little less clear is their role in the subsequent control of and release of funds to the family, and the accounting role which they have assumed.

When the fundraising was taking place, was it clear to those making the donations that this individual was to be administering to funds on behalf of the child and their parents?

Is this individual acting in a personal capacity or as part of a group or organisation?

Are the funds being controlled by this individual insured against fraud or theft? Are there recognised accounting principles in place? What are the mechanisms to be used in the case of a dispute between the parties? If there was a residual balance in the account after the treatment was complete where would that go?

If I was involved in fundraising for a cause like you describe, I would likely want to transfer any funds to the child’s parents without delay. In most cases I would assume, that they as responsible parents would be best placed to manage the funds and indeed this would have been made clear in the course of the fundraising effort from the outset.

If the situation was more complex for some reason, and let’s say perhaps there was a doubt about the parents capacity, then you could set up an arrangement whereby the funds would be held in some form of trust. This in my view would need to be transparent from the outset to those making the donations, be set-up robustly and would require administration by a panel of individuals.

babliss2009

No legal background, just two cents.

I can see a logic in having an administrator for funds raised but surely that’s needed that person/people should be unrelated and have some qualification/experience.

having a non immediate family member in that role seems like the worst of all options? Either have it be the parents or have it be someone at arms length.

Plus, would really annoy me that things aren’t transparent

I hope the treatment goes well