I follow John Sentamu, Archbishop of
York, on Twitter. A couple of months back, (I know I really am bad at
updating this blog), he posted a number of tweets about Acts 435 - a charity which he is a patron to and which he
promotes on his official website
The charity
is named after Verse 35 in Acts 4, which is a tale about sharing
resources.
"And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."Acts 4:35 (King James Version)
Acts 435, is promoted and managed by CofE churches and
involves people in need requesting financial assistance for specific
items (up to a maximum of £100 a time) from others. Donors then match
their donations to the specific requests. There is a limit on
assistance, currently set £300 a year.
In order to obtain associated
tax and other benefits, charities need to register with the Charities Commission. In turn, charities are required to make their accounts publicly available, so we can see the benefit they are
providing. As a result, Acts 435's accounts for 2010 and 2011 are available on the Charity commission’s website
These accounts provide a fascinating (to me at
least), insight into who this charity has benefited most...
In its first
year Acts 435 had a healthy income of £59,999, yet only managed to distribute a measly
£6,985 in grants. The main reason for distributing less
than 12% of what it received appears to be the £24,434 cost of
generating voluntary income.
Note 5 to the 2010 accounts explains
some of this expense when it states:
"One trustee acted as Director of the Charity during the year and received £13,183 for professional services rendered during the year."
Also of interest is Note 13,
which provides an explanation of the high debtors figure in the balance sheet:
"Included in Debtors and Prepayments is an amount of £9,534 which has been paid on account to Margaret Sentamu, a trustee, for project consultancy services."
This debt reflects the fact that the
charity paid the Archbishop's wife Margaret Sentamu for services she hasn’t performed,
effectively providing an interest free loan. I think it is fair to
assume that Margaret Sentamu is also the trustee who provided the
professional services. In other words, over the course of the first year, the poor and needy
received £6,985, capped at £300 per person, whilst she received £22,717.
The accounts for 2011 tell a similar
story. The Charity’s total income was £49,147 of which it paid out
£17,592 in grants to the needy. £30,006 was spent in generating
that income. A huge amount considering the claim in the charity's
FAQs
“the running costs of the charity .. are kept to an absolute minimum with no fundraising department nor fund-raisers employed.”
Once again Margaret Sentamu was
responsible for some of those fund raising costs. Note 10 to the
accounts states:
"Included in Other Debtors is an amount of £4,505 (2010 -£9,534) which has been paid on account to Margaret Sentamu, a trustee, for project consultancy services. The amount expensed to the Statement of Financial Activities during the year was £5,029 (2010 -£15,466).”
What
this means is that she worked off part of her loan during the year.
This note appears to correct the previous accounts suggesting that
she was paid £15,466 in 2010 as opposed to the £13,183
originally
declared.
So, during Acts 435
first
two
years of operation,
it
received
£109,146
and
paid
out
£24,577
in
grants
to
the
poor
and
needy. During
the
same
period,
it also
paid
£25,000
to
Margret
Sentamu.
It
is
only
fair
to
point
out
that
Margaret
Sentamu
is
a
freelance
consultant
who
specialises
in
diversity
management
and
recruitment
consultancy,
and
who
has
an
interest
in
relieving
poverty
(whose
poverty
is
not
specified
in
her
bio).
Mrs Sentamu's expertise in diversity management and recruitment must have been invaluable when it came to employing the Charity's er...ONE part time worker.
