I wonder if Simon might like to avail himself of his meticulous record keeping to clear a few things up...
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-are-own-first
https://web.archive.org/web/20221207004751/https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-are-own-first
£33K raised on gofundme
£3K raised on facebook
£3K acknowledged as going to the charity - at time of writing gofundme rubric (see above)
it was stated:
More than £3,000 has already been raised on my Facebook page here, and this is going to Community Agents Essex who will be working closely with Afghan families arriving in the county. This will help ensure that they have everything that they need for a comfortable and dignified new start.
His facebook post his here
Community Agents are a service provided by the Rural Council for Essex
Their accounts
Charity details for THE RURAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF ESSEX - Charity 1097009
register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk
"Donations" in each year as follows:
£2340 in 20/21
£2192 in 21/22
£2069 in 22/23
There is, in summary, quite a lot unaccounted for.
It would be very easy to clear up.
Certainly the basis of the fundraiser was that money would go to a specific organisation unless there are other "community agents" operating in Essex, maybe this is the case, run by another charity.
Even if that were the case and all the money could be accounted for, then the basis of the campaign; the confidence of donors knowing that the money would be spent in a particular way, is premised on something different. If, worse, not all of the money (well most of it) didn't find it's way to the intended recepients, then that is an even more serious matter.
Or is he suggesting that the £3000 did go to Community Agents (their accounts don't seem to indicate this was the case unless across two financial years) and the remainder, the £33K, was given by him directly to individual families, in a manner of his choosing?
It's all terribly opaque and questionable and, I suspect, if one were to go through every one of his gofundmes (who has got the energy) then similar questions would arise.
I did suggest some time ago, that he get an accountant to produce some form of retrospective accounts - enabling the public to have confidence in him. But his recent essay; all the work he would have put into crafting that was just, at the end of the day, rhetoric. The real work he could have done would have been to have put his hands in his pocket, use some of the tea towel profits, and provide full financial transparency for the last 4 or 5 years.
But your not going to do that, are you Simon?
