The UK charity Watchdog has initiated an enquiry into whether Captain Tom Moore’s family profited from the charity set up in the NHS fundraising champion’s name.
The Charity Commission is looking into the Captain Tom Foundation because it has reason to believe that Club Nook Ltd, a private company owned by Hannah Ingram-Moore and Colin, the husband and father of Sir Tom, “may have generated significant profit” by trademarking the “Captain Tom” name without seeking permission from the nonprofit.
Additionally, it is looking into claims of improper behavior and mismanagement, as well as any conflicts of interest between the foundation and businesses founded by the late Second World War veteran’s family.
Mrs. Ingram-Moore registered Club Nook Ltd in April 2020, a little less than two weeks before the Captain Tom Foundation was formalized. For items like beer, spirits, greeting cards, lunch boxes, and water bottles, it has a number of trademarked names.
According to business accounts, the company made £809,000 in its first year and had just under £500,000 left over after paying its creditors.
The Captain Tom Foundation receives funding from donations as well as sales of branded goods like gin and T-shirts.
At the height of the first nationwide Covid lockdown in April 2020, Sir Tom turned 100 and raised £38 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps around his Bedfordshire garden. This made him a national hero.
Following this fundraising campaign, the foundation was established.
The commission claimed that the funds raised for the NHS and given to NHS Charities Together did not fall under the purview of its investigation.
The foundation’s first annual reports, which were published in March of this year, revealed that the charity spent £240,000 on expenses and donated £160,000 to worthy organizations.
Sir Tom’s family expressed their appreciation for the Charity Commission’s announcement last night.
They claimed that Mr. and Mrs. Ingram-Moore were neither trustees nor directors of the charity at the time of the charity’s founding and that Club Nook Ltd. submitted its trademark application before the foundation was established.
The watchdog looked into the Captain Tom Foundation in February of this year because there were questions regarding payments made to Maytrix Group, the principal corporate vehicle for the Ingram-Moores, and payments made for consulting services.
This particular contribution was deemed to be a “fair repayment for expenses incurred by the corporations in the formation of the charity,” according to the report’s conclusion.
Additionally, “any conflicts of interest in respect to these third-party payments were effectively identified and addressed,” the statement continued.
Maytrix is not being investigated by the watchdog as part of the foundation.
The charity asked the watchdog’s approval in March of last year to hire Mrs. Ingram-Moore for three days a week at a salary of £60,000.
The Commission demanded documentation of the conducted benchmarking study.
This documentation and an updated proposal to hire Mrs. Ingram-Moore on a full-time basis with a salary of £100,000 were presented to the Commission by the charity.
The watchdog turned down her request to be hired as chief executive with a salary of £100,000 in July of last year, deeming the proposed pay to be “neither reasonable nor justifiable.”
The charity was given permission by the Commission in August of last year to employ Mrs. Ingram-Moore as interim CEO on a three-month rolling contract with a remuneration of £85,000 per year for a maximum of nine months while the trustees completed an open hiring process. Now that this time has passed, the charity has hired a new CEO.
The Charity Commission’s chief executive, Helen Stephenson, remarked that the late Captain Sir Tom Moore’s bravery, persistence, and concern for others had inspired the nation.
Trust in charitable organizations must be upheld, and people must feel comfortable continuing to donate to worthy causes.
We never take a decision to launch an investigation lightly, but in this particular case, our worries have grown.
We believe it is in the best interest of the public to investigate them formally, giving us access to all of our enforcement and preventative measures.
The commission had expressed reservations in the past regarding the payment of consulting fees to outside parties, but later declared itself “comfortable” that these particular payments were a fair reimbursement for the costs invested by the corporations in creating the charity.
Additionally, it stated that it was pleased with how the payments were “appropriately identified and managed.”
The Captain Tom Foundation’s board chairman, Stephen Jones, stated: “We will, of course, engage closely with the commission in its inquiry relating to intellectual property management.”
During the registration process, the trustees acknowledged to the commission that the “image rights and intellectual property rights of the name were held under a private family trust,” and the commission was aware that this was always the planned situation.
We applaud the Charity Commission’s announcement today that it is “satisfied” with regard to concerns that had been raised about the foundation’s annual report, which was published in February, and that it has determined that payments were reasonable and that conflicts of interest were identified and managed.
A significant period of change for the Captain Tom Foundation has begun with my hiring, said Jack Gilbert, who assumed the position of chief executive on June 1.
“With a revitalized and more narrowly focused mission, in the coming months we will be announcing a variety of charitable activities at both grassroots and national levels that change the way we think, feel, and act about age and ageing, combat ageism, and build meaningful connections between communities and generations.
“Working with the board, I am utilizing the NCVO-backed Trusted Charities standards to make sure that the foundation complies with best practices in all regards, including governance and finance. As part of the procedure, these will undergo external validation.
‘The Ingram-Moore family has welcomed the press release made today by the Charity Commission, which has identified no concerns with the accounts of the Captain Tom Foundation, published in February 2022,’ according to a statement from the family.
“On behalf of our family, I would want to make two remarks. Prior to the Captain Tom Foundation’s creation in April 2020, Club Nook Ltd. submitted its application for a number of trademarks (May 5 2020).
Colin Ingram-Moore and Hannah Ingram were not trustee directors of the Captain Tom Foundation when it was founded.
In a sob-filled defense in March, Captain Sir Tom’s daughter assured viewers of ITV’s This Morning that “we are not hiding anything” and charged that the press had “damaged” her late father’s reputation.
Mrs. Ingram-Moore vehemently denied any wrongdoing in an interview with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, stating that the accounts were “a snapshot in time in the first year of the charity.”
We couldn’t have made up any of these data, she said, adding that the accounts were “independently audited.” However, the £150,000 is categorically untrue.
The trustees requested a benchmark by saying, “Please tell us what would be the benchmark if we were to appoint a CEO.” What is the highest and lowest value? The highest was £150,000, as it so happened.
We’re not hiding anything, Captain Tom’s daughter replied while fighting back tears.
But I honestly believe that most people believe there is nothing wrong and we haven’t done anything dishonest.
Mrs. Ingram-Moore acknowledged that while the family’s decision to establish a charity in her father’s name was “naive,” it was “not bad.”
“I believe we have been very naive, but I do not believe we have been terrible.” We entered into this out of a commitment to love, to humanity, and to give as many people access to his legacy as we could, she said.
“We never considered the night, never.” We never considered it. Finally, my father taught us humanity and resiliency, she continued. Our ultimate goal in his honor is to eradicate ageism from the world.
“I see the hate, or the false headlines, or the urge to find a hole in me every single day.”