Charity shop hands back £1,200 to donor
Howard Lake | 2 December 2004 | News
Age Concern East Cheshire has handed back £1,200 to a man who said he left it by mistake in a jacket which he donated to the charity’s Macclesfield shop.
The charity returned the money after legal advice and a trustees’ meeting. It initially claimed that it now legally belonged to the charity and could not be returned. It also pointed out that the man, Michael Parks, “was initially unable to identify the wallet so staff were reluctant to hand over the money until they were sure he was the rightful owner.”
However, the charity has suffered adverse publicity over the issue.
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There was a dispute about the amount of money too, with the charity giving back £200 less than the £1,400 claimed to have been left by Mr Parks.
Age Concern England, which manages 138 shops, added: “all decisions related to this incident were taken by Age Concern East Cheshire and do not reflect national Age Concern policy. It must be treated as an isolated incident.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.