We must tackle this scandal or charitable giving will fade away

IT’S hard to imagine anything more tasteless and insulting than a charity that abuses money donated by the public and neglects the very people it was set up to help. It not only does a huge disservice to those who work hard to raise the cash for the organisation, it damages the name of the brand charity.

That means the vast majority of those honest and worthy organisations suffer reputational damage, and the most vulnerable in society are hurt.

That’s why this investigation by the Scottish Daily Mail is so important in not only reminding us of the hard-working and genuine charities out there but also uncovering those who abuse the status.

Crucially, it also shines a light on how government money can be used to prop up charities that wouldn’t be able to wash their own face were it left simply to public donations.

Too often those bodies operate with little scrutiny and the merits of their work are never examined.

Donations to charitable organisations come in many formats, whether it is people dipping significantly into their own savings to make substantial gifts, or children organising a sponsored car wash. And let’s not forget those who put themselves in humiliating or uncomfortable situations in the name of fundraising.

In fact, later this week Miles Briggs, my Scottish Conservative colleague at Holyrood, will be getting his legs waxed for Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, while many MSPs over the years have sported ludicrous facial hair arrangements during the month of November for prostate cancer charities.

Ramifications

Former First Minister Alex Salmond used to like nothing more than ‘wearing it pink’ for the annual photoshoot in parliament raising awareness of Breast Cancer Now.

The point is, a lot of people go to some sort of effort to generate and contribute money for good causes. We owe it to them to make sure the organisations that benefit are upstanding.

The ramifications if they go wrong are serious.

People will remember the fanfare with which a multimillion pound campaign was launched to run alongside the planning and opening of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.

The New Pyjamas campaign, which had support from First Ministers downwards, said it was going to raise £15million for the facility, which would buy comforts and specialist equipment for youngsters beyond NHS budgets, ensuring that the hospital would be one of the best of its kind in the world.

The Scottish public were captivated by the appeal, which won formal backing from the city’s newspaper. Coffee mornings were arranged, people shaved their heads and businesses made significant pledges as the anticipation rose.

Images were released of family hotels and hi-tech play areas for the young patients that would be paid for by this appeal.

They even promised to support a classroom so that those children unlucky enough to find themselves in hospital wouldn’t miss out on schoolwork.

But the campaign was run disastrously and ended up making a loss.

Not a penny was to arrive at the door of NHS Lothian and instead the subsequent court cases – some of which are still awaiting resolution years on – caused untold damage to the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, the longstanding and otherwise much-loved charity tasked with overseeing the campaign.

Worse, it’s hard to imagine any similar campaign in future being able to shake off the reputation such appeals now risk having as a result of the sheer incompetence of senior staff within it, many of whom were paid incredibly generously for their trouble – or lack of it.

And who loses out from this? Vulnerable children and their families, many of whom would have had, and will have in future, potentially lifethreatening conditions.

This is why it’s so important for these organisations to be properly regulated and for us to be completely assured of their intentions.

There is, of course, a body in place to do this.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator exists to protect the public from exactly this kind of scandal.

But it was slow to act on the issue of the New Pyjamas drive, and has been repeatedly criticised over the years for being toothless and secretive.

Charities don’t have to fall foul of the law to cause public irritation; the inflated pay that many chiefs and senior staff receive gets up people’s noses too.

It’s hard to be sympathetic when an organisation such as Cancer Research UK comes knocking on your door asking for a direct debit to be set up, only for it to emerge that its chief executive is paid significantly more than the Prime Minister.

I know many constituents who would much rather donate to small, local organisations where they can actually see the positive impact of their hard-earned cash.

Revelations

Today’s revelations bring another dimension to the issue: the debate about how much taxpayers’ money should be directed towards charities and third sector organisations.

Everyone accepts there is a role for government to play in this but that doesn’t mean it should have carte blanche to sign cheques willy-nilly without thinking of the consequences.

We simply can’t have ministers propping up charities who can’t reasonably argue what good they are doing with the money.

In some cases, their primary role appears to be promoting SNP policy – like in the case of organisations lobbying on the merits of the hated Named Person scheme.

Lobbying will become a more high-profile issue in weeks and months to come.

In England, publicly funded organisations will be banned from attempting to persuade and win the favour of decisionmakers in the House of Commons.

So far, the SNP has rejected a similar move, which leaves Scotland open to allegations of corruption – particularly if links are drawn between an organisation dependent on government funding which is also winning the ear of senior and influential ministers.

It’s surprising that the Scottish Government would reach such a conclusion, considering Holyrood is meant to be one of the most transparent parliaments in the world.

This is an issue of utmost importance.

If the wider reputation of charities is damaged now, it will be very difficult to reverse that in future.

It will lead to a slump in donations and a reduced level of service and support for those who need it the most.

This investigation brings a range of issues to the top of the agenda.

It’s our job as politicians to ensure it stays there and that charities across Scotland can adhere to the standards everyone expects them to.