Charities, take note of the 3rd paragraph.
Charity Commission publishes report on the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir Ltd – Released 14 May 2010
The Charity Commission has today published a regulatory case report into the charity the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir Ltd (registered charity no.1122809). The charity’s main activities are supporting and raising funds for a childcare foundation in Uganda. The concerns which led to the opening of the investigation related to whether the trustees had taken appropriate steps to safeguard volunteers at the foundation and the charity’s beneficiaries.
The Commission’s investigation examined the relationship between the charity and the foundation in order to establish the charity’s role and responsibility for the volunteering programme. It also looked at whether the charity trustees had ensured that there were appropriate safeguarding procedures in place for child members of the foundation’s choir, made up of pupils from the schools run by the foundation, when they visit the United Kingdom. The findings and conclusions of the Commission’s investigation are set out in the regulatory compliance report published today.
Charity Commission publishes report on the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir Ltd. Released 14th May 2010.
The Commission’s report also highlights issues for the wider sector on working with overseas partners. Whilst this is often an effective way of delivering benefits direct to a local community, charities should formalise relationships with local partners to avoid any misunderstanding of roles and responsibilities. However charities always remain responsible for ensuring the proper application of their charitable funds, carrying out due diligence, and putting in place appropriate and effective controls to monitor their own governance and activities and those of partner organisations to help identify any problems at an early stage.
