Now MPs will quiz charities over trade in donor details
How Mail exposed their shady tactics
‘Poison in the system’ SHAMED: CHARITY COLD CALL SHARKS
Daily Mail, July 7 He forgot to tick one box... then charities sold Samuel’s personal details
Tuesday’s Mail REVEALED: HOW RSPCA SNOOPS ON WILLS OF DONORS
Wednesday’s Mail
CHARITY bosses will be hauled before MPs to explain themselves following shocking revelations about their fundraising practices.
Chiefs at Oxfam and Save the Children will be made to give evidence in parliament following a string of damaging exposés in the Mail.
The executives will be expected to publicly defend the way they use supporters’ personal information.
The committee has also demanded that charity watchdogs explain why they have failed to act over a string of scandals in the sector.
Earlier this week, the Mail revealed some charities are routinely trading in donors’ data – with some selling details to companies responsible for scams. Dementia sufferer Samuel Rae, 87, had his details passed on up to 200 times by charities he trusted. He lost £35,000 to conmen. The Mail also found the RSPCA paid investigators to assess how much money donors might leave in their wills.
The new evidence of aggressive practices, just months after a Mail investigation exposed how vulnerable supporters were being hounded over the phone, has prompted fresh calls for reform in the sector.
One charity boss said the scandals showed that ‘in the pursuit of cash, some of our leading charities seem to have forgotten the importance of respecting their supporters’.
Matthew Patten, chief executive of the Mayor’s Fund for London, said: ‘Far from being the cure for society’s ills, the charity sector is being seen as the poison in the system.’ He added that the sector was ‘a bloated mass of duplication and waste,’ with too many charities doing the same thing but refusing to work together because of a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, Mr Patten called for an ‘Ofsted-style regulator’ to ‘improve performance, prevent abuse and give confidence to funders’.
The Mail’s investigation earlier this year found charities including the NSPCC, British Red Cross, Oxfam and Macmillan phoned people on government ‘no call’ lists.
A major review, by Sir Stuart Etherington, was launched and is due to report this month. But now the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee has begun an inquiry and will hear evidence from Oxfam, Save the Children, the Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Standards Board.
Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, committee chairman, said Mr Rae’s case will be used as evidence. He added that charities found to have sold Mr Rae’s details to scammers should pay him back for the money he lost. Oxfam and Save the Children were not among those that sold Mr Rae’s information.
‘The Daily Mail should be congratulated for uncovering a terrible chain of events,’ Mr Jenkin said. ‘It reflects very badly on charities, who we should be able to hold in high regard, and it begs questions about … regulation of data.’