Financial Issues
Below is some information provided by the volunteers who started this investigation into the actions of the charity and their investigation into the finances of the charity
Alcohol including crates of Beers, Parrot Bay frozen cocktails, Alcopops and Liquors
Alcohol paraphernalia including Tumblers, Shot glasses, Pourers and straws
DVD and Bluerays
Car Cleaning Kits
Confectionary including boxes of scampi fries, Haribo, Lindt bars and Creme Eggs
Groceries including Alpecin Caffeine Shampoo, Elderflower and Sunny D drinks, chilli sauce, Pot Noodles, Pork Pies and Ploughmans along with Cosmetics
Clothes including t-shirts, socks and shoes
Software from Office 365 (When as a charity we receive Google Apps for free) and Coral Draw nor was it purchased with the available charity discounts provided by the manufacturers
Other Miscellaneous from SD storage cards to Bed linens
Just for 2015 there are 246 petrol station payments costing nearly £10,000 when the charity only has one driver. Fuel cost should be claimed back as expenses or placed directly onto a fuel card which would record the mileage of the charity vehicles. Debit card payments are not tracked to confirm the fuel is being entered into the charity assets not other vehicles. Nor can a debit card limit purchases to only fuel.
We can work out the mileage per year for each of the charity vehicles from the VOSAs MOTs which are available online. This provides us with the figure of 32,300 miles in 2015. Going from the average cost per gallon of diesel in 2015 being approximately £5 per gallon we are conservatively estimating 20 miles per gallon taking into account the age of the vehicles. This provides us with a figure of £8,075 however the charity spent nearly £9,923 in petrol stations which provides a deficit of £1,848.
The Charity pays £295 per year for AA membership, however twice within 2015 £150 each has been paid to recovery services, we’re unsure if this means the charity AA membership doesn’t cover the charity vehicles or if the recovery services were sent to recover non-charity vehicles. Either way this doesn't sit well with the Trustees as it is certainly not clear as to who these finances benefited.
Cash withdrawals totalling £470, the trustees and committee are uncertain as to what would be needed to be purchased in cash, directly drawn out of the charities account. Standard and suggested practice is to have a petty cash fund administered separately from the bank account and from incoming donations, to provide any small payments needed. All larger payments should be through traceable methods either bank transfer, debit card or cheque all properly planned, signed and authorised.
The trustees are also concerned by the questionable conditions of some of the assets it owns, like the charity vehicles are seen to be unwashed with vast amount of various litter seen within the footwells and on the dashboard, we fail to see what the charity purchased £319 of cleaning products in halfords for as it was not the charity vehicles. Many comments by visitors and volunteers have been made about how the conditions of the vehicles match their image of the general condition of the charity as a whole and its sheer ignorance of the damage this negative publicity creates. Added to the distasteful unprofessional paraded as humor with a stuffed rabbit clearly visible behind the air grill along with an action man which had his trousers down.