Charity Commission seeks charities' responses over Fruitful losses
Howard Lake | 26 July 2004 | News
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Charity Commission has asked several charities “how they lost £800,000” following the collapse of the Fruitful fundraising companies.
The Telegraph had earlier this month reported on the £800,000 owed to charities after the failure of Chris Coleridge’s former company Open Air Fundraising. He had paid back £125,000 of this and said he would repay the rest from profits from the other companies in the Fruitful group. This, however, became most unlikely when Fruitful Fundraising (GB) Limited, Fruitful Fundraising (HR) Limited and Fruitful Fundraising (Workplace) Limited were placed in administration last week.
According to the Daily Telegraph, charities which have lost money as a result include “The Children’s Society, who paid £164,353 in advance for fund-raising services; Scope, who lost £25,610; the British Red Cross who lost £20,000 and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, who lost £30,000.”
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The Charity Commission is reported to have intervened to ask how the charities could have been so exposed to such losses.
The Telegraph notes that Chris Coleridge has changed his surname twice, from Manke to Cunningham and then again to Coleridge. Coleridge explained that he was tired of people sniggering at it so he had adopted his then wife’s surname, and then changed it again after their divorce.
Read “Charity watchdog intervenes over £800,000 losses” by David Millward at The Daily Telegraph.
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.