The Charity Commission has opened statutory inquiries into two Jewish education charities after identifying concerns about their governance and management of funds.
Dalaid and the Schwarzschild Foundation are both suspected of potentially not using their charitable funds for the purposes intended.
The charities are linked through Maurice Levenson, who is a trustee of the Schwarzschild Foundation and chair of Dalaid.
Both inquiries opened on 23 June and will investigate a range of issues such as potential misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charities.
Annual accounts filed with the Commission show that Dalaid has a total income of £925,000 against total expenditure of £840,000 and the Schwarzschild Foundation an income of £820 and expenditure of £816.
Civil Society has approached the charities for comment.
The inquiries
Dalaid and the Schwarzschild Foundation were registered as charities in 1997 and 2014 respectively. The former aims to “relieve poverty and advance Jewish education” while the latter provides “education and the relief of poverty for women and girls in the orthodox Jewish faith”.
The Commission said that Dalaid has “significant income and expenditure” and is concerned about the charity’s governance, including whether its trustees have complied with their legal duties and can fully account for the charity’s funds.
“There are also concerns regarding the appropriate administration and oversight of grants, which is the charity’s main activity,” it said.
Both inquiries will look at whether the trustees are complying with their legal duties in relation to the administration, governance and management of their charities.
They will also examine the financial controls and management of the charities, including whether funds “have been properly expended solely for the exclusive charitable purposes and can be accounted for”.
The regulator said it may extend the scope of the inquiries if any further potential regulatory issues come to light.
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