William Shawcross says he'll get tough on charities falling foul of regulation
Chuggers, Islamic charities and overly political campaigning have all come in for criticism in a stinging attack by the head of England and Wales' Charity Commission.
In a no holds barred interview, William Shawcross said that while the sector had weathered the recession particularly well, it still faced a number of challenges.
And he warned that he would get tough on charities that fell foul of regulation.
Touching on the recent furore over direct fundraising following the death of poppy seller Olive Cooke, Shawcross said the watchdog would take over control if self regulation failed.
But if the government commissioned review led by Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary organisations, failed to reign in rogue fundraisers, then he promised the commission would intervene.
Etherington has been an outspoken critic of Shawcross, who claims he is unfit for purpose after having been installed by the Conservative government.
"If he concludes that self-regulation by charities cannot work, then government would have to consider whether the Charity Commission should regulate fundraising," Shawcross said.
"The plethora of stories of people being deluged by mailings and harassed by endless telephone calls on behalf of charities are intolerable.
"Charities must listen to what people want and, more importantly, do not want."
Shawcross also said charities must be protected from extremists of every kind. The number of Charity Commission inquiries into organisations suspected of links with extremism has more than doubled in the past year.
“The issue of Islamist abuse of Muslim charities is obviously one of great concern to us,” he says. “It’s not the main form of abuse of charities that we deal with — fraud is — but it is the most potentially deadly form of abuse, obviously, and potentially damaging to the charitable sector generally.”
He added: “Islamism is a huge threat to Muslim society and therefore to our society.” Money going to fund terrorism, especially in Syria, was a concern, he said. “If we find evidence we act on it. There are ongoing investigations.”
Charities becoming too political was also a concern, said Shawcross. Oxfam last year was warned by the commission after it listed a number of issues it didn’t like about government policy.
“They published a tweet about a "perfect storm" which listed all the things they didn’t like about government policy.
“It looked very political and we chased them up on it and they said they wouldn’t do it again.”
The comissioner then rounded on the RSPCA as an organisation that had lost its way in terms of governance with concerns over the way it is being run.
It follows a number of controversial interventions last year by the animal welfare charity in England. One involved putting down a cat, unbeknown to its owners, after it was taken off them for having matted fur.
“The RSPCA sometimes seems to have lost sight of its original purposes to promote kindness and to prevent cruelty to animals. I think kindness is a quality vital to all charitable work,” he said.
There were also question marks about the management board, he said.
“They have elected a whole lot of radical trustees, one of whom said farming is like the Holocaust, which I think, perhaps, isn’t a frightfully good way to run an animal organisation, and another who said it should be illegal to have pets,” he said.
Elsewhere Shawcross rejected criticism his appointment to the post was a political one.
“I’m not a member of the Conservative party and I never have been. I’m not a member of any party. This is a non-partisan job and it’s really important it should be done in a non-partisan way. People who give to charities are from all across the political spectrum.”
