Charities are a godsend for many.
Those who are struggling financially can turn to these organisations for help when they’re in dire straits.
And it’s truly touching to see men and women take time out of their day and even leave their better-paying jobs to help the less fortunate.
But what if these charities betray the public’s trust?
MSF Filed Police Report Against Charity for Suspected Criminal Misconduct
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has lodged a police report against the Crisis Centre (Singapore) after finding “suspicion of criminal misconduct”.
Founded in 2018, the Crisis Centre provides shelter for men who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.
Their actual crime remains unclear, but an MSF spokesman told ST that it found possible criminal misconduct when investigating the group’s fund-raising appeals.
Accountability & Governance Questioned
It all started in August last year, when its funding practices were probed.
The Commissioner of Charities suspended the charity from raising funds for six months after concerns were raised about the charity’s governance, record-keeping practices, and accountability.
If you’re giving money to a charity, you want to know where it’s going, of course.
This suspension was extended in February this year for another three months, as investigations continued.
During this time, the centre was still allowed to raise funds, but that was taken away soon after too.
First, the charity’s president, Dennis Lee Wen Da, was banned from raising funds for his charity or any other charity.
Why?
Because he didn’t carry out fund-raising appeals properly and failed to ensure proper accountability over the money collected.
The charity itself was also barred from raising funds until it did three things:
- introduce proper systems and controls for fund-raising (such as the accounting of funds)
- implement proper volunteer management systems and controls to “ensure oversight of the fund-raising appeal conducted by any of its volunteers”.
- obtain written approval from MSF
Declined MSF’s Offer to Improve Its System
Curiously, when MSF offered to help the charity improve its governance, internal controls, and fund-raising processes, the charity declined.
This was in June, when the organisation was barred from raising funds.
With MSF’s help, they would have been able to help the homeless community with greater accountability and transparency, ST reported.
But for some reason, they declined the offer.
Lee said he was working with the police to help clear his organisation of the recent allegations.
Raised More Than $400,000 In a Year
Lee and his board members, who spent $30,000 of their own money to set the shelter up, said they managed to raise $400,000 in around a year.
This has allowed them to open a second shelter, but Lee maintains however, that he and his board members have not received a cut of this amount.
“I and the other board members were not paid a single cent by the Crisis Centre. And we have explained ourselves to all those who have supported us”, he said.
Including staff salaries, the monthly overhead costs for both shelters come up to about $30,000.
Maybe it’s all one big misunderstanding?
Investigations are ongoing.
If you watch at least 10 minutes of brain rot content daily, you must know this:
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