Thursday, September 26, 2024 - British supermodel, Naomi Campbell has been disqualified as a trustee after an investigation into her Fashion For Relief charity uncovered 'serious mismanagement'.
According to Mail Online, official accounts showed that it
spent more than £1.6million on a glittering gala in Cannes, but gave just
£5,000 to good causes over a 15-month period.
Back in April, the Charity Commission confirmed that it
had removed the supermodel's charity from the UK charity
register while it continued its investigation into allegations of
misconduct.
Today, the Commission published the report of its statutory
inquiry into Fashion For Relief, concluding the charity was poorly governed and
had inadequate financial management.
Campbell, 54, was disqualified from being a trustee for five
years, former colleagues Bianka Hellmich for nine and Veronica Chou for four.
The model founded the charity in 2005, saying she had
been inspired by her friend Nelson Mandela telling her to 'use [her] voice' for
good.
The organisation claimed to have raised more than
£11million, mostly through glitzy fundraising events held all over the world,
including in New York, Mumbai and Moscow.
In 2021, concerns were raised about how much money was being
passed on to people in need after the Mayor's Fund for London lodged an
official complaint, saying that it was owed £50,000 by the charity.
The Mayor's Fund, which helps young Londoners from
low-income backgrounds, filed a 'serious incident' report with the Charity
Commission, which announced a statutory inquiry in November that year.
The commission said today that as a result of its
investigation, more than £344,000 had been recovered and used to make donations
to two other charities and settle Fashion For Relief's outstanding liabilities.
The inquiry found that between April 2016 and July 2022,
just 8.5 per cent of the charity’s overall spending was on charitable grants.
It also said it found some fundraising expenditure to be
misconduct or mismanagement by the charity's trustees.
This included a €14,800 (£12,300) flight from London to Nice
in 2018 for transferring art and jewellery.
It also looked into the decision to spend €9,400 (£7,800) of
charity funds on a three-night stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, for
Campbell.
In these cases, the trustees 'failed to show how these were
cost-effective and an appropriate use of the charity's resources', the Charity
Commission said.
The inquiry saw no evidence trustees had reviewed the
charity’s operating model to ensure fundraising methods were in the organisation's
best interest and that costs were reasonable relative to cash brought in.
It also found some of the charity’s fundraising expenditure
was not reasonable.
The charity had held fundraising events for the Save the
Children Fund and the Mayor’s Fund for London.
The inquiry found that the trustees of Fashion for Relief
'failed to manage these partnership arrangements'.
The commission also said unauthorised payments
totalling £290,000 for consultancy services had been made to trustee Ms
Hellmich, which was in breach of the charity’s constitution.
And the charity’s funds were held and applied on its behalf
by external professional advisors rather than in a dedicated bank account in
Fashion For Relief's name.
Tim Hopkins, the Charity Commission's deputy director for
specialist investigations and standards, said: 'Trustees are legally required
to make decisions that are in their charity’s best interests and to comply with
their legal duties and responsibilities.
'Our inquiry has found that the trustees of this charity
failed to do so, which has resulted in our action to disqualify them.
'This inquiry, and the work of the interim managers we
appointed to run the charity in place of the trustees, has resulted in the
recovery of £344,000 and protection of a further £98,000 charitable funds.
'I am pleased that the inquiry has seen donations made to
other charities which this charity has previously supported.'
The trustees were Ms Campbell, her key aide Ms Chou who is
the heiress to a £2 billion textile fortune, and socialite and lawyer Ms
Hellmich.
Ms Chou quit the charity days after the Commission launched
its probe in 2021.
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