When public trust collapses: what charities can learn from a crisis

“Charities represent the best of society – bringing people together, supporting the most vulnerable, and strengthening communities. It is important to remember that their work is underpinned by trustees, most of whom are volunteers, and most of whom fulfil the role with passion and integrity.” 

The words of the Charity Commission’s chair, Orlando Fraser, as the inquiry into the Captain Tom Foundation concluded. The inquiry recently found that the family of the inspirational pensioner, who raised £38.9m for the NHS Charities Together during the pandemic, exhibited ‘a pattern of behaviour’ where they ‘benefited’ from the Foundation via instances of ‘misconduct and mismanagement’. 

While the millions raised via the JustGiving page were not under investigation by the Commission, its report was critical of the conduct and actions of the charity’s former trustee and CEO Hannah Ingram-Moore, and a former trustee, Colin Ingram-Moore.  

The report included their handling of and public communications concerning the publishing deal for three books authored by the late Captain Sir Tom – publishers were assured part of the £1.47m advance received by the family’s private company Club Nook would fund the Foundation, but no money was donated. 

In addition, the report focused on public statements around Mrs Ingram-Moore’s salary set for her role – the inquiry found she was actively involved in setting her salary and initially expected £150,000 per year, dismissing her later claim that she was never offered a six-figure salary as “disingenuous”. 

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Further, the Ingram-Moores’ use of the charity’s name in an original planning application for a building on their private land (which implied the building would be used by the charity) also came under the spotlight. The family later claimed using the charity’s name in the planning application was an “error” – which the report challenged. 

Vital questions 

Who would have thought back in 2020 when Captain Sir Tom was taking gentle steps around his garden to raise money for the NHS with the full support of the British public, that four years later the Charity Commission would have made such a damning indictment? 

If you are operating within a charity, chances are you are driven to make a difference and want to help. Communications, unless it is around fundraising or awareness raising, probably isn’t on your radar, especially if your charity is a small one with a specialised focus.

Let’s take crisis communications as an example. Why would you need to give this area any attention when your charity is well-loved with a great reputation and a specialised focus on helping people in need? 

Well, as we’ve seen with the Captain Tom Foundation, anything can and does happen. Years ago, the charity was hitting headlines for the right reasons and had huge public support behind it. Yet years later… an unflattering set of findings. 

But it isn’t the first charity, and it won’t be the last that finds itself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. That’s why it’s vital that communications, even with the smallest of charities, is factored into the charity’s operational equation. 

Risk registers highlighting all the communication elements of what could and does go wrong need to be considered and a communications plan or strategy developed.  

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If you are in a charity, and a communications plan doesn’t exist, other than posting on social media and your website about all the good work being done, what do you do if a challenging press query comes your way on something you hadn’t identified as a risk?  

Do you consider how your charity’s decisions can be tested in the court of public opinion? Can you justify those decisions robustly as being in the best interests of the charity if challenged? And if you can’t, why are you making them in the first place? Who do you sense-check your communications approach with? And if you haven’t got a communications plan at the very least, why not?  

These are vital questions for all charities, big or small. 

A crisis map 

If you haven’t considered the decisions from a communications perspective, your organisation is vulnerable. Every single organisation, even those doing good, can become unstuck for a variety of reasons.  

That is why a communications plan can not only hone your thinking around how you publicise your good works in a targeted way, it can also play devil’s advocate to the risks your charity might face, no matter how outlandish, and how to manage them. 

While a good crisis communications plan mightn’t have mitigated the really serious findings the Commission found around the Captain Tom Foundation, it could have at least mapped a way forward for the charity, whose reputation has been damaged immeasurably. 

It brings home the need for charity CEOs, trustees and all employees to advocate for communications to be a priority, and to develop not only a general communications plan, but also a crisis communications approach. 

This would not be to explain away poor or unethical behaviour at all, but to ensure if stormy seas are encountered for several reasons, you have some sort of map to help the organisation navigate through it. 

And hopefully maintain the confidence the public has historically held in your charity.  

One day your charity’s future might depend on it. 

The Captain Tom Foundation has now been renamed to the 1189808 Foundation.

Further reading

The Charity Commission’s findings.

Dee Cowburn is director of Dee Cowburn Communications, a communications consultancy specialising in crisis communications and media relations for private, public sector and charities. With two decades of experience in high-risk political environments, she was previously head of communications in policing and  rime for the mayor for West Yorkshire and a former investigative journalist.