Trustee News

Calls for more funding and 50,000 new workers and volunteers to meet steep rise in demand during Covid Youth leaders are calling for the recruitment of an additional 50,000 youth workers and volunteers to meet a tripling in levels of need during the pandemic. Cuts to public spending, which analysis shows have gone deeper in the most deprived areas, coupled with the depleted reserves of youth charities mean that failure to give more support “will see youth clubs and centres close, the youth sector decimated and lost opportunities for young people”, said Leigh Middleton, the chief executive of the National Youth Agency. Continue reading…

Douglas Connell stepped down days after charity regulator launched investigation into £100,000 donation The chairman of Prince Charles’s charitable foundation has resigned following claims that a six-figure sum from a wealthy Russian donor was accepted before being rejected by its ethics committee. Douglas Connell, the chairman of the Prince’s Foundation, stepped down days after the Scottish charity regulator launched an investigation after reports that Charles wrote a letter thanking the businessman Dmitry Leus for his offer last year and suggesting they could meet after the Covid crisis. Continue reading…

Prince’s Foundation ethics committee rejected £100,000 from Dmitry Leus, a banker who had faced money-laundering claims Scotland’s charity regulator has announced an investigation following claims that a six-figure sum from a wealthy Russian donor was accepted by Prince Charles’s charitable foundation before being rejected by its ethics committee. The prince wrote a letter thanking businessman and banker Dmitry Leus, 51, for his offer to the Prince’s Foundation last year, and proposing a meeting after the Covid crisis, the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times have reported. Continue reading…

From the Frome Town FC raffle to the honours system, we tend to object when charitable aims become too transactional Frome Town FC’s charity prize draw has been cancelled. It was launched on 1 July and the aim was to raise money for Frome Town FC and local food banks. The winner of the draw would get a SsangYong Tivoli car (me neither). There were two ways of entering: either by donating £5 or by not doing so. If you chose the latter option, you had to send in a postcard. You’ve probably spotted the flaw in the system. In Frome Town’s defence, it’s all because of the law. Unless you offer a free entry option in this kind of draw, you run into a load of gambling legislation because you’re running a lottery or starting a casino or something, which involves all sorts of licences and legal wrangles and text messages to Robert Jenrick before you can go ahead. Continue reading…

Churchill’s grandson oversaw change that had almost no complaints until Daily Mail and Sun coverage The Churchill Fellowship has rejected allegations by Boris Johnson that it has airbrushed out images of Britain’s wartime prime minister from its website in an attempt to rewrite history, saying its was proud of its association with Sir Winston. Several newspapers have carried reports suggesting that the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, a charitable foundation that funds UK citizens to study abroad, had changed its name and removed pictures of Churchill in an attempt to “woke-wash” his memory. Continue reading…