The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator should open an investigation into Scottish fundraising event The Kiltwalk over its high administrative costs, a former event organiser has said.
Former Kiltwalk sponsors the Tartan Army Children's Charity, CLIC Sargent, Cash for Kids and Sick Kids Friends Foundations have all confirmed they have recently severed ties with the charity after only £776,000 of the £1.6m raised in 2013 was actually passed on to charities.
Ally Hunter, a former chair of the Tartan Army Children's Charity, played a pivotal role as a volunteer organiser of the first two Kiltwalk events in 2010 and 2011. But he told Civil Society that the Kiltwalk needed to “up its game” after the charity spent over half of the funds raised in 2013 on ‘running costs’.
He said that Kiltwalk ought to have been “turning over an awful lot more than 48 per cent of its income to local charities. It spent over £750,000 on administration costs (in 2013) and I really can’t square that."
Adele Turnbull, CLIC Sargent head of community and events, said: “Regretfully CLIC Sargent has decided to no longer be an official charity partner to the Kiltwalk.
“We are sad that we’ve had to make this decision, but we faced a situation in the last few years where despite the increase in walkers and money raised, less money was actually getting to CLIC Sargent to be used on our work.”
Hunter pointed out that this wasn’t just an issue about one charity, but about the wider sector as a whole. “We need scrutiny. I don’t want to single Kiltwalk out, but if the public loses trust in charities, then the whole third sector falls down,” he said.
The Scottish charity regulator, OSCR has refused to comment on whether or not they will actually open an investigation into the Kiltwalk, saying only that, “where we do identify an apparent cause for concern, we will contact charities and consider appropriate action.”
Kiltwalk claim the speed with which the annual event has grown – from 800 walkers in 2011 to more than 12,000 in 2014 – means that added running costs have been incurred.
A statement on the charity’s website reads:"in order to run in a professional and effective way, The Kiltwalk incurs necessary costs, nonetheless The Kiltwalk is committed to its vision of making sure that every penny received in sponsorship from the general public is given back out in grants.
"We aim to do this by eventually covering these costs through entry fees, corporate sponsorship, gifts in kind and gift aid."
