Umbrella organisation criticised again by The Guardian

Howard Lake | 10 February 2007 | Blogs

Rupert Jones at The Guardian is once again today reporting that DSPMM Ltd, the registered charity which uses the name Feed My People, “is still sending out unsolicited umbrellas in the post, despite having been criticised for its fundraising methods” (Money section, p.2, Saturday Guardian).
Jones and The Guardian have featured this charity’s unusual direct mail incentive before. On 14 May 2005 Jones wrote in It’s the gift or the gab: “Earlier this year, DSPMM Ltd, a UK registered charity which uses the name Feed My People, was criticised for sending out brollies to potential donors. The Charity Commission received “a number” of complaints about Feed My People’s fundraising methods, and says it is still investigating the charity.” He followed that up with another report on 4 March 2006, Take an umbrella stand.
The Daily Mirror reported on 12 January 2006 in Funds Eaten Away that the charity was now sending out pairs of socks as direct mail incentives. The newspaper picked up on an investigation into DSPMM Ltd by the Charity Commission begun in October 2004 which resulted in the resignation of one trustee whose “employment was unauthorised”: in addition, after considering the Commission’s findings, “two of the related US based trustees resigned their position in an effort to reduce potential conflicts of interest.”
Interestingly, the Commission’s investigation included consideration of the umbrellas issue. The Commission reported that it had “received a number of complaints from the public over a fundraising campaign that initially involved sending umbrellas and other items to people and asking for a donation to the charity’s ‘Feed My People’ project. Although a number of complaints have been raised such fundraising is not unlawful.”
So, it looks like the umbrellas will continue.

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.