The Fundraising Regulator has confirmed that it is looking into the conduct of a fundraising agency which took over £200,000 from a military charity, but raised just £28,000 in the last financial year.
Veteran's support charity A Soldier’s Journey announced last week that it would close on 1 September. The announcement was made after it emerged that the charity had spent over 80 per cent of its total income on “costs” – including over £230,000 on third party fundraising agency A Soldiers Journey Events Limited.
Gerald Oppenheim, head of policy at the Fundraising Regulator, told Civil Society News that the regulator would be “looking into the details of the case” surrounding A Soldier’s Journey and fundraising agency A Soldiers Journey Events Limited, but said his organisation had never heard of the agency beyond what had been reported in the press.
Rick Clement, founder and trustee of the organisation, told Civil Society News that he’d been approached by ASJ Events Limited to raise money for his charity over 2 years before.
"I was approached by the fundraising company two and a half years ago offering to help me raise more cash for my charity in addition to the funds I personally raise,” said Clement. "They also told me they would employ jobless veterans in order to raise the money. I readily accepted, believing it would help me help more veterans."
The charity gave the agency over £230,000 to fundraise on its behalf. Its accounts show that just £28,037 was returned as “voluntary income”.
"When I came to file this year’s accounts I was disappointed to see such a high percentage had gone to the company. I accept that I have been naive in not fully understanding the financial implications.”
Clement also strongly denied that he had personally taken any money from the charity.
The agency in question is now registered with Companies House as Camo Events Limited. It changed its name from A Soldiers Journey Events Limited on 18 May 2016. It was incorporated on Companies House as Mag Events Ltd on 17 February 2014.
It has a registered address in Lancashire, but has no website and no contact details either for the company or for either of its directors. The directors are listed as Darren Mason and Zachary Cooke, formerly Griffin.
Its last set of total exemption small company accounts made up to 17 February 2016 for ASJ Events Limited, showed that the organisation at the time had total assets of £7,338 and liabilities of £6,274. As of 28 February, the accounts showed the company had a ‘net book value’ of £1,277.
The organisation has never previously been a registered member of the Institute of Fundraising, the Public Fundraising Association or the Fundraising Standards Board, in any of its iterations.
An IoF/PFRA spokeswoman said: "We encourage the FR to investigate the matter but as they were not members we cannot take the matter further".
The Charity Commission confirmed that it would be looking into A Soldier's Journey, and was "aware of concerns" regarding its high levels of spending on fundraising.
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