Insider fraud, fraud committed by a trustee, staff member or volunteer at a charity, is among the most damaging types of financial abuse a charity can suffer.
This is because it affects more than a charity’s finances – it can have a deeply corrosive impact on staff and volunteer morale, and on a charity’s reputation.
In theory, insider fraud should be relatively straight-forward to prevent. All you need is some basic financial controls and checks that are properly enforced, right?
Well, yes, but our case work shows that too many charities are not getting this right. Our data suggests around a third of fraud in charities are committed by an insider.
We want to better understand why that is. What goes wrong in charities before and when an insider fraud happens? What are the relationships, the group dynamics? And how can trustees help ensure their charity doesn’t fall victim?
Our call for information on insider fraud asks charities, professional advisers, umbrella bodies or charity insurers to share their experiences of not only bad practice and internal fraud but also examples of good practice which lead to fraud being discovered or prevented.
My team will use this information, as well as intelligence from our case work, to compile a lessons report on insider fraud which in turn will inform the development of our guidance and case-working, and ultimately help charities prevent, identify and tackle this type of abuse.
We’ve already had lots of useful submissions, and with a week or so to go, we want to encourage anyone who hasn’t taken part, but has something they want to share, to complete our simple survey.
You’ve got until 8 December 2017 to help us help charities tackle insider fraud – we’re grateful to everyone who takes the time to respond.
6 comments
Comment by Don Cudmore posted on
We have a management committee set up to represent approx 300 people/properties who are known as Potboilers. This is in respect of 425 acres of common land. The Secretary/Treasurer has been I/c for over 65 yrs and runs a secretive organisation. No notice of vacancies, minutes, accounts etc are sent out to it’s members and until 2 yrs ago when we started asking questions, notice of AGM’S were given by posters around the town. In the past 2 years over £65,000 has been given to non Potboiler causes without first asking the Potboilers. They are acting as a Charity without being registered. A concerned committee member ( a whistleblower ) has in a written statement given details of a CONFLICT OF INTEREST matter in which members of the committee have voted on a motion to give certain committee considerable amounts of money. This has been confirmed by the Sect/Tres.
I called at your Taunton office last Thursday but was unable to see anyone.
Can you please advise.
Comment by Deb posted on
Hi Don, unfortunately we can't comment on individual cases through the blog channel. You can contact us through our complaint form https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-charity I hope this helps. Deb
Comment by Ray posted on
Why can I not find the number of a charity? They claimed to be a charity in court.
Comment by Ray posted on
An organisation that I have contributed to because it claims to be a charity however it will not give me its number
Comment by Deb posted on
Hi, you can search for a charity on our register by using the name or number. I'm providing a link here: http://ow.ly/AE5Y30lSQOv There is also an 'advance search' option. A genuinely registered charity should be willing to give you their name and number for you to check the information. Thanks Deb.
Comment by Foqia Hayee posted on
A new trend that I have come across in charity shops . When you go to pay at the till . They ask you "do you want a receipt ? "Most people say. "No"
As they are aware that items are non refundable . That money goes straight into the pockets of volunteers . Why don't you send a watch dog to find out for your self . Leicester and Winston