Captain Tom: lessons learned!

Capt. Sir Tom who won the hearts of the country - and later a knighthood from the Queen - walking laps of his garden to raise money for the NHS. He started off with 100 laps of his garden in April 2020 and went on to raise more than £30m for the NHS as it battled the global pandemic.

The extraordinary fundraising achievement was well documented and his determination to walk 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday transformed him into a defining figure of England's first national lockdown, making headlines and inspiring people from around the world to donate.

Sadly, in recent weeks, the charity has come under scrutiny as it has been alleged that the daughter of Capt. Sir Tom Moore was paid thousands of pounds via her family company for appearances in connection with her late father's charity.

​For more than a year, the Charity Commission has been investigating potential conflicts of interest between the charity and the Ingram-Moores' businesses after concerns mounted about potential mismanagement and misconduct.

So what can we learn from this?

What this does highlight is the need to be clear about connected persons and roles within charities and why there should be clarity about remits and involvement. In almost every situation, it would be best practice to have a majority of unconnected trustees and bring all matters to a full board for scrutiny and decision making.

Trustees are integral to the smooth running of a charity and whilst there are four different types of trustees, they all:

• are equally responsible and liable 
• have equal say in decision making 
• should act in the charity’s best interest and to further its purposes regardless of other interests 
• should make decisions without outside influence 

The last two are particularly important for representative Trustees, or Trustees with outside interests to consider.  They are not there to voice the views of the organisation they are a party of – they are there only for the charity’s best interests and purposes.

Trusteeship is complicated and there are many things to consider. We have put together a series of factsheets which give clear guidance here.

Still unsure which is the best path to take?

We are here to help. Contact one of our experienced Community Development Officers for a one-to-one explanation. You can call us on 01362 698216 or email:  office@communityactionnorfok.org.uk.