The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation, a grant-giving charity named after and founded by a man reported to be the wealthiest in the UK.
Yesterday, the Guardian reported that the regulator was investigating the foundation after it helped to fund a multi-million pound luxury skiing clubhouse in France, open only to paying members.
The newspaper raised questions over the charity’s public benefit after reporting that prospective members had to be approved by two current members, pay a £25,000 joining fee followed by annual membership fees of £6,000.
A Charity Commission spokeswoman told Civil Society News: “We can confirm that we have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess potential concerns about the governance and management of the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation, and are engaging with the charity’s trustees on these matters”.
Civil Society News has contacted the charity for comment.
£22m donation from founder
The Jim Ratcliffe Foundation was incorporated at Companies House in February 2019 and obtained charitable status in May that same year.
Accounts for the year ending 31 December 2021 show that its total income was £29.5m against expenditure of just under £842,000.
Nearly all of the income for that year came from a single donation of £22m which was made by Sir Jim Ratcliffe. “The Foundation has, to date, not received any other contributions,” the accounts said.
Meanwhile, it claimed £7.4m in Gift Aid in 2021.
Previous accounts said that the “focus and initial target” of the foundation was to create “a long-term partnership with an endowment fund in France, whose express aim is in encouraging healthy recreation, by developing the practise of skiing and any other similar physical and sporting activity to reach a wider public audience, by the promotion of facilities to further these activities”.
The endowment fund aims to support the building of a club house for Club Des Sports Courchevel, “which furthers a key objective of the charity, being to promote amateur sport”.
“The significant investment in this project over an extended period of time will be in the interests of the general public,” the accounts added.
Ratcliffe: Allegations are ‘defamatory and wrong’
A spokesperson for Ratcliffe told the Guardian that suggesting that the foundation has been acting improperly or that the club house has not been operating in the benefit of the public is “both defamatory and wrong”.
They said: “Ineos [which is Ratcliffe’s company] completely rejects the allegations relating to the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation made by the Guardian newspaper. The JRF exists to promote the health and wellbeing of young people, improving the life chances of children and supporting wildlife conservation.
“As part of these charitable activities, the JRF has donated money to the Club des Sports de Courchevel, a local charitable endeavour, to build a new clubhouse and training facilities.”
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