We’ve not taken a penny of the cash my father raised
Capt Tom’s daughter on ‘hurtful’ allegations
CAPTAIN Sir Tom Moore’s daughter has hit back at “incredibly hurtful” claims that she swindled her father’s NHS fundraising cash, insisting: “We have not taken one single penny.”
Hannah Ingram-Moore, interim chief executive of the charity set up in the veteran’s name, is reportedly accused of “having her fingers in the till”, which she vehemently denies.
Accounts for The Captain Tom Foundation showed more money was spent in its first year on management and administration than donations to good causes. Just £162,000 was awarded, less than was spent on costs.
A furore erupted after files showed the foundation reimbursed £50,000 of non-charitable expenditure to firms run by Hannah and husband Colin, including their consultancy firm Maytrix, but there is more to the story.
In her only newspaper interview Hannah broke down as she explained: “People think the foundation received £38.9million and there is no separation between the phenomenal threeand-a-half weeks in which money was raised by my father and the Captain Tom Foundation which we set up later.
“My father’s incredible journey started on April 6, 2020 and ended on April 30, 2020 with all money going to NHS Charities Together, which was responsible for distributing it. The charity was founded in June and officially launched in September 2020.”
The foundation only received a single corporate donation of £100,000 in its first year and was faced with colossal administrative outlays.
Heartbreaking
Hannah said she did not want to burden the charity with costs and eat into the money that had come from a major British firm, so lent cash from her business. It was later reimbursed.
This, she said, led people to wrongly assume she was syphoning off money.
The 51-year-old said: “We had one single corporate donation of £100,000 and didn’t have much other money for months because people already thought we had almost £40million in the bank. It has been difficult trying to articulate the difference.
“Colin [family trustee] and I said we would pay for some of the initial costs but we would need to be reimbursed because we were taking cash out of a company emerging from the pandemic.
“The charity was in its start-up phase. We didn’t want to load the foundation with costs so [consultancy firm] Maytrix paid for some upfront.
“But we always said it would have to be reimbursed. To read things like ‘Capt Sir Tom’s daughter pumps tens of thousands of pounds into her own companies’ has been utterly heartbreaking because it simply isn’t true.”
The foundation raises cash for charities focusing on helping the elderly, as was her father’s wish.At the end of its first year it had £710,000 in the bank.
Burma Campaign hero Capt Sir Tom’s garden walks came after plans to celebrate his 100th birthday were shelved because of Covid.
His family set a target of walking 100 laps of the garden at the home he shared with Hannah, Colin and their children Benjie, 18, and Georgia, 13, in Marston Moretaine, Beds.
But he became an overnight global icon, single-handedly raising cash for a struggling NHS which had earlier prevented his death from cancer.
When he died in February 2021 after contracting Covid, plans had already been made to ensure his legacy lived on. Hannah said: “We needed to give people hope by creating the charity.
“Everything we do as a family is immersed in trying to ensure his legacy reaches as many people as possible because we are the guardians of it. Not in a million years would any of us want to jeopardise that.
“All we have ever done is try and support the foundation.We have not – and never will – make a financial gain from the charity…
“Yes, I did step into a paid role in year two. But to suggest I used this as a vehicle for financial gain is utterly ludicrous.
“In the foundation’s first year Colin and I were not paid a penny. We worked relentlessly, religiously and with love.
“In the second year, after my father died, it was in desperate need of leadership and the trustees agreed for an interim period I should step into the role because I was the right person. “All the trustees did was go to agencies and ask what the benchmark salary for someone stepping into the role was. The upper salary was £150,000 and the lower end was £65,000. They never offered me £150,000 – never. In fact, it’s much nearer the lower end. I will step down in April.” On how her private life has been affected, she said: “There have been many tears and it has been incredibly difficult to talk to my children. They have had to come to terms with a mother who, at times, has attracted hate.
“Georgia said to me, ‘Mum, why do they hate you?’ How do you articulate how it makes you feel when you have hateful allegations you have misappropriated money?
“Yes, costs have been high.With any fledgling charity costs get loaded into the first couple of years, but we have resolutely tried only ever to do the right thing by my father.”
Unimaginable
Looking ahead, Hannah says she is focusing on the charity’s quest to build “a world without ageism” and next year’s inaugural Capt Tom Day.
“We are not perfect – and are a little battered and bruised right now – but we are not going anywhere,” she added. “What we as a family have had to deal with over the past three weeks has been unimaginable.
“But, emphatically, we would do it all again. How could I deny the world what my father gave it?”