Corruption in charities

gmisk · 09-04-2021 8:30am #1

Is it just me or are there an increasing number or charities that are notifying the gardai etc of pretty horrendous fraud?
Is there a lack of decent controls and oversight in this sector?

Bothar is the latest one in a lot of bother...

Charity Bóthar claims ex-CEO misappropriated hundreds of thousands of euro worth of donations https://jrnl.ie/5404560

shtpEdthePlum · 09-04-2021 8:32am

Who gives to national charities anymore? The only guarantee you have your money is being well spent is to give to local charities you trust. I give Penny Dinners and Simon Community in Cork €500 each every year. I'm sure every county has those worthy causes.

Faolchu · 09-04-2021 8:33am

probably as many private companies but they can keep it quieter to better protect their reputation and their shareholders. Charities tend to have more scrutiny because some receive funding from the HSE to provide services on their behalf.

riffmongous · 09-04-2021 8:44am

What kind of absolute scumbag would steal from a charity like that? Hundreds of thousands of euros

fryup · 09-04-2021 8:48am

"that money was just resting in my account"

kildare lad · 09-04-2021 9:44am

I'd never donate to charity again . After donating a good bit of money to Console who were doing a Dancing with the Stars night locally , then finding out the CEO was on the fiddle it's put me right off it. Many of the top CEOs are on huge salaries and i can't justify giving money anymore. I still throw odds into the Make a Wish foundation or Crumlin children's hospital collections at the supermarket or buy books from charity shops but that's about it . I think there's something like 10,000 registered charities in Ireland , that's a huge number for a country the size of Ireland .

Ubbquittious · 09-04-2021 9:50am

The charity industry is just another industry. A tempting one to get into as you don't actually have to sell a product.

In order to get your donations it can cost you up to half your donations. Between advertising and paying chugging companies their cut half your income could be spent on getting that income in the first place.

Then you take on a load of staff (your family) to do light admin work for you, pay your own salary (100k & company black Mercedes). A lot of these charity bosses spend their days liasing with politicians and other bigshots in swanky Dublin establishments.

Begrudgingly spend some of what income you have left on actual charity and spend the remainder on hiring a PR company to big up the good you have done in order to secure future donations.

It's all a load of sh1te

whisky_galore · 09-04-2021 9:58am

People are naive fools to give anything to these shysters.

Zebra3 · 09-04-2021 9:59am

Charity is failure of government.

humberklog · 09-04-2021 10:49am

There's probably more charities notifying authorities of fraud these days because of the number of checks and balances and people involved in running the charity where fraud can now be easier exposed.

I've no doubt that fraud and theft existed just as much if not more so in the past.

That's not to say I'd donate to many charities as I simply don't trust most of them and those that I do think probably run a straight financial ship are the ones that I'd disagree with their methods, ethos and self interest.

For Forks Sake · 09-04-2021 11:10am

riffmongous wrote: »

What kind of absolute scumbag would steal from a charity like that? Hundreds of thousands of euros

I'm going to guess that f*cking goat was in on it and all

keano_afc · 09-04-2021 11:16am

https://www.thejournal.ie/glen-charity-investigation-3406051-May2017/

I remember this one was swept under the rug fairly sharpish.

yosser hughes · 09-04-2021 11:20am

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

Who gives to national charities anymore? The only guarantee you have your money is being well spent is to give to local charities you trust. I give Penny Dinners and Simon Community in Cork €500 each every year. I'm sure every county has those worthy causes.

Have you looked at the published accounts of the Simon Community? I wouldn't give them a Euro.

[Deleted User] · 09-04-2021 11:20am

whisky_galore wrote: »

People are naive fools to give anything to these shysters.

Do you mean the named charities, or charities in general?

Always found it a great starting point to recall that there are chancers everywhere, but they are a minority. Most people are good. Have yet to be disappointed.

Gregor Samsa · 09-04-2021 11:21am

keano_afc wrote: »

https://www.thejournal.ie/glen-charity-investigation-3406051-May2017/

I remember this one was swept under the rug fairly sharpish.

No it wasn't. There's plenty of news reports about it in all the major media outlets from 2017 and 2018.

Final report is here: https://www.charitiesregulator.ie/en/information-for-the-public/our-news/2018/april/inspectors-find-glen-lacked-the-financial-reporting-and-disclosure-processes-required-to-protect-the-charity-s-assets-and-funds

gmisk · 09-04-2021 11:23am

keano_afc wrote: »

https://www.thejournal.ie/glen-charity-investigation-3406051-May2017/

I remember this one was swept under the rug fairly sharpish.

Definitely not swept under the carpet, it was shut down and there was a proper investigation

[Deleted User] · 09-04-2021 11:24am

whisky_galore wrote: »

People are naive fools to give anything to these shysters.

What does that make the ones who give money to the Roma?.

A raft of them arrived into the city here last year, apparently they're all hungry and homeless yet somehow only managed to arrive in later life... and divs give them money and encourage it.

If people are that gullible I can only imagine how much a registered charity can collect.

[Deleted User] · 09-04-2021 11:25am

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

Who gives to national charities anymore? The only guarantee you have your money is being well spent is to give to local charities you trust. I give Penny Dinners and Simon Community in Cork €500 each every year. I'm sure every county has those worthy causes.

Aye, I operate on the local only basis also. Donate clothes and books to charity shops in my home town, if a legitimate operator is shaking the bucket I'll deposit some coin. Table quizzes, other fundraisers for struggling residents I'm happy to participate. That's it, sceptical of money going overseas as this inevitably gets "attacked" on way to destination. Concern & Trócaire? Haven't touched them in years. Put it on the tab for purgatory.

Dempo1 · 09-04-2021 11:27am

gmisk wrote: »

Is it just me or are there an increasing number or charities that are notifying the gardai etc of pretty horrendous fraud?
Is there a lack of decent controls and oversight in this sector?

Bothar is the latest one in a lot of bother...

Charity Bóthar claims ex-CEO misappropriated hundreds of thousands of euro worth of donations https://jrnl.ie/5404560

I too am perplexed at why so many Charity Bosses caught with hands in the till, it's quite extraordinary given the nature of the very principals of what Charity's stand for, perhaps they feel they are in need of charity themselves, absolutely appalling behavior and this is as much about what the regulator actually does or clearly doesn't. At a minimum any charitable organisation should be independently audited once a year and not a wink and nod oversight which clearly is what's going on right now.

fryup · 09-04-2021 11:30am

never realised until recently that charities had ceo's and boards of management....i always presumed that they were run by volunteers top to bottom

maybe i'm just too innocent

Iguarantee · 09-04-2021 11:31am

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

Who gives to national charities anymore? The only guarantee you have your money is being well spent is to give to local charities you trust. I give Penny Dinners and Simon Community in Cork €500 each every year. I'm sure every county has those worthy causes.

Three years in a row I gave Penny Dinners a voucher for a local food supplier (1km down the road from their premises). It was worth hundreds, and was going to be matched by the supplier themselves so they’d get a lot out of it.

To this day they haven’t cashed in a cent of it. I won’t be giving them anything again. I applaud their charity work, but it seems they don’t want help or support, from me at least.

seamus · 09-04-2021 11:37am

Seeing all various charities that have been revealed to be getting scammed by their management, and having experience dealing with management with a couple of others, I'm convinced that people with the relevant qualifications - CEOs, CFOs, etc - are drawn to charities specifically because they see it as a soft-touch, light-regulation opportunity to line their own pockets.

Most of the people working on the "front line" of the charity are not corporate ladder climbers with business degrees, they're just people looking to do some good and earn an honest wage. So as a dodgy CEO none of these people are going to see what you're doing. And Revenue and other regulatory bodies will go easy on you and accept accounting discrepancies because it's just a charity, and auditing a charity isn't a good look.

As it is I'm now by default suspicious of any business person who takes a position as an executive in a charity. I assume they're a sociopath who's on the take, not some philanthropist looking to do good in the world.

fryup wrote: »

never realised until recently that charities had ceo's and boards of management....i always presumed that they were run by volunteers top to bottom

maybe i'm just too innocent

When a charity gets big, administration becomes a full-time job. So it becomes next to impossible to find anyone who can take it on without being paid.

That's not to say corruption only applies to big charities. There are plenty of small charities that are entirely volunteer-led where the main players are skimming off the top. They'll justify it to themselves as compensation for their volunteer time.

Mrsmum · 09-04-2021 11:37am

I always wonder, when these charity stories break, do dishonest people get involved in charities or would temptation corrupt more than we would like to believe ? If the latter, or the former as well, of course, there really should be better controls where it is just not possible to do this. I know in my locality two people who did this kind of thing, one robbed from GAA funds, the other from the bank he worked in. Otherwise to all intents and purposes they seemed as decent as you could meet. Can you be decent and have this side to you as well ?

whisky_galore · 09-04-2021 11:44am

gilberto_eire wrote: »

What does that make the ones who give money to the Roma?.

A raft of them arrived into the city here last year, apparently they're all hungry and homeless yet somehow only managed to arrive in later life... and divs give them money and encourage it.

If people are that gullible I can only imagine how much a registered charity can collect.

It is their culture, not just a hackneyed phrase but begging IS their culture. They return here again and again as they would not if it was not worth their while.

corner of hells · 09-04-2021 11:50am

I work for a charity if anyone wants to send me on thier bank details, itll cut out a lot of the red tape.

fryup · 09-04-2021 11:53am

Mrsmum wrote: »

one robbed from GAA funds,

robbing from the robbers?

crossman47 · 09-04-2021 11:59am

fryup wrote: »

never realised until recently that charities had ceo's and boards of management....i always presumed that they were run by volunteers top to bottom

maybe i'm just too innocent

You couldn't run a big charity without paid staff. Vincent De Paul seem to have a good structure. There are paid staff but the Board is volunteer led and all workers on the ground are volunteers.

Mimon · 09-04-2021 12:03pm

crossman47 wrote: »

You couldn't run a big charity without paid staff. Vincent De Paul seem to have a good structure. There are paid staff but the Board is volunteer led and all workers on the ground are volunteers.

Wonder how the red cross works? Apparently 100% of donations will go to the where it should.

Seems to be if not direct fraud a lot of the charities are run as much for the people working for the charity as the recipients of the charity. With overinflated salaries.

AllForIt · 09-04-2021 12:04pm

fryup wrote: »

never realised until recently that charities had ceo's and boards of management....i always presumed that they were run by volunteers top to bottom

maybe i'm just too innocent

Yes, the Late Late show was a bit of an eye-opener for me too in this regard, when they did a special on cancer a few weeks back featuring reps from the Irish Cancer Society including Avril Power.

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=irish+cancer+society+ceo&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Averil Power, the Irish Cancer Society's current CEO, was paid an annual salary of €125,000 in 2019.

What I would like to know is, now many people the ICS sustains in full employment; obvs most involved are volenteers but how many are not.

whisky_galore · 09-04-2021 12:08pm

AllForIt wrote: »

Yes, the Late Late show was a bit of an eye-opener for me too in this regard, when they did a special on cancer a few weeks back featuring reps from the Irish Cancer Society including Avril Power.

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=irish+cancer+society+ceo&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

What I would like to know is, now many people the ICS sustains in full employment; obvs most involved are volenteers but how many are not.

Nice work if you can get it. Overpaid glorified carnival barkers.

Gregor Samsa · 09-04-2021 12:12pm

AllForIt wrote: »

What I would like to know is, now many people the ICS sustains in full employment; obvs most involved are volenteers but how many are not.

About 150 people in 2018, according to their website:

https://www.cancer.ie/about-us/about-the-irish-cancer-society/transparency/our-employees-and-their-salaries

However, this includes nurses, not just office staff. All their current job vacancies are for nurses:

https://www.cancer.ie/about-us/jobs

It would be a bit hard to run an organisation that provides cancer care without medical professionals.

Corruption in charities

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