Anonymous 14/06/2006

I am a postgraduate student at the University of London and saw a flyer on campus advertising registered charity War on Want’s July 9th conference entitled "Profiting from the Occupation: A People’s Tribunal to expose the Corporations behind the Israeli Occupation of Palestine." See http://www.waronwant.org/palestine for specific details of this event.

I am puzzled and concerned because it is my understanding that registered charities in the UK are not permitted to engage in political activity, unless it furthers charitable purposes. War on Want’s mission is stated as "Fighting Global Poverty", but how does a conference intended to "expose the corporations" doing business in Israel and calls for an end to the EU-Israel trade agreement do anything at all to alleviate the poverty of the Palestinian people? Knowing something about the speakers involved, it appears clear to me that this is an anti-Israel political event. I read last year that the Charity Commission had warned War on Want about such behaviour but they seem to have taken no notice.

If War on Want wishes to retain its charitable status, shouldn’t the Charity Commission prohibit it from participating in and organising the July 9th event and all other events like it? Failing that, if War on Want wishes to engage in anti-Israel political activity, that is their right but shouldn’t you then remove their charitable status? As it stands now they appear to be making a mockery of the Commission’s rules.

I look forward to your reply and explanation.

Anonymous

Response from UK Charity Commission 21/06/2006

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for your recent email in connection with the above charity.

I have attached a link to a publication on our website called CC9 – Campaigning and Political Activities by Charities. This advises on the framework in which a charity can campaign and undertake political activity in furtherance of their charitable objects. From the limited information we have it would seem that the flyer in question does appear to be political and I would therefore advise that we will look into the matter further. Thank you for assistance in this matter.

http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc9.asp

Yours Sincerely

Jim Gerrard
Charity Commission

Dear Debbie Morgan / Jim Gerrard,

Further to your reply, I want to be informed of the results of your investigation into War on Want, as you stated you will look into the matter further.

Regards,

Anonymous

Response (Barbara Westhead) 06/07/2006

Dear Anonymous

War on Want – 208724

Further to your email of 14 June 2006 regarding a flyer "Profiting from Occupation: A People’s Tribunal to expose the Corporations behind the Israeli Occupation of Palestine" which has been passed to Compliance and Support Division to consider.

I am writing to explain how we deal with complaints about charities.

When we receive a complaint we first of all assess its seriousness so that we can decide whether we need to intervene. Not every complaint requires our intervention; for example, we will not normally intervene simply because there is disagreement with a decision that the charity’s trustees have lawfully taken, even if it is an unpopular one. Nor will we intervene in disputes about employment or contractual issues, or between the trustees and the members of a charity. It is the responsibility of the trustees, as managers of their charities, to deal with the everyday problems, disagreements and mistakes that arise in the normal course of running any organisation.

However, we will consider intervening where the evidence demonstrates that there is a clear risk of serious harm either to the charity’s property or to those who use its services. We have a range of legal powers to protect charities against abuse, but any action we take must be in proportion to the nature and seriousness of the problem. As a general rule, we will not use our legal powers to deal with relatively minor transgressions, or situations in which the trustees have made a mistake in good faith and are willing and able to put things right, under our guidance and supervision where appropriate. We also have a duty to ensure that the cost of our intervention will not be disproportionately high in relation to the amount of charity funds at risk.

We are assessing the information you have provided so that we can decide whether any action or intervention is necessary, and we shall let you know the outcome of the assessment as soon as possible. If necessary we may ask you for further information. We shall not disclose your identity without your permission (unless we are legally obliged to do so) but you should be aware that the nature of the information may give the trustees an indication as to its source.

Although we are aware of the seminar being organised for the 9 July 2006 by the charity War on Want we are not in position to stop that seminar going ahead. Our concern in this matter is to determine whether or not the charity is acting outside of its purposes and if so to provide advice and guidance in order to avoid such events occurring in the future.

Please note that we cannot provide interim reports on the progress of the assessment. Finally, I would be grateful if you could forward your contact details to the following email address to enable us to contact you directly when we have completed our assessment: pbaker@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Paul Baker
Assessment Officer

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Dear Mr. Paul Baker, Assessment Officer,

I know that the Charity Commission is undertaking an investigation into the activities of the registered charity War on Want regarding Palestine, in response to my original inquiry. Here is additional recent information that you might wish to examine as part of your investigation.

Under the banner "Together we can knock down Israel’s Apartheid Wall", War on Want has launched a fundraising campaign. For £15, one can help pay for materials to lobby the British government against Israeli policy; £30 will pay for information leaflets about the wall; and £50 will help partner organisation "Stop the Wall" (not a charity?) to publicise the impact of the wall. See http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=12343 Once again, it appears that War on Want is engaging in political activity that could contravene the Charity Commission’s rules, and in this instance seems to be quite flagrantly using its UK charitable status to raise funds for such political activity. I trust you will find this information useful, and I look forward to receiving your report on War on Want.

Regards,

Anonymous

Wed, 12 Jul 2006
From: "Baker Paul
To: "Anonymous"

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for your email below. We will consider this information as part of our assessment.

Yours sincerely

Paul Baker
Assessment Officer

From: Baker Paul
To: Jonny Paul
Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Dear Mr Paul

Thank you for your email of 22 June 2006 regarding the above named charity. I am writing to confirm we have opened an assessment case to consider your complaint and to explain how we deal with complaints about charities.

When we receive a complaint we first of all assess its seriousness so that we can decide whether we need to intervene. Not every complaint requires our intervention; for example, we will not normally intervene simply because there is disagreement with a decision that the charity’s trustees have lawfully taken, even if it is an unpopular one. Nor will we intervene in disputes about employment or contractual issues, or between the trustees and the members of a charity. It is the responsibility of the trustees, as managers of their charities, to deal with the everyday problems, disagreements and mistakes that arise in the normal course of running any organisation.

However, we will consider intervening where the evidence demonstrates that there is a clear risk of serious harm either to the charity’s property or to those who use its services. We have a range of legal powers to protect charities against abuse, but any action we take must be in proportion to the nature and seriousness of the problem. As a general rule, we will not use our legal powers to deal with relatively minor transgressions, or situations in which the trustees have made a mistake in good faith and are willing and able to put things right, under our guidance and supervision where appropriate. We also have a duty to ensure that the cost of our intervention will not be disproportionately high in relation to the amount of charity funds at risk.

We are assessing the information you have provided so that we can decide whether any action or intervention is necessary, and we shall let you know the outcome of the assessment as soon as possible. If necessary we may ask you for further information. We shall not disclose your identity without your permission (unless we are legally obliged to do so) but you should be aware that the nature of the information may give the trustees an indication as to its source.

Please note that we cannot provide interim reports on the progress of the assessment.

Yours sincerely

Paul Baker
Assessment Officer

From: Jonny Paul
Thursday, July 06, 2006
To: Baker Paul

Dear Mr Baker

Many thanks for your email. Just want to double check that we are on the same wavelength. My complaint against War on Want is that they are abusing their charity status with highly political and controversial events and campaigns that go beyond the realms of their mission statement and with the language and rhetoric they use, it is likely to incite hatred.

Their event this Sunday July 9, is to expose, embarrass and call for a boycott of companies that deal with Israel. See www.waronwant.org/?lid=12172
I think it is very important that the Charity Commission sends an independent assessor to the event to monitor what they are doing and saying. Can this be arranged?

I will also forward you an email that is sent out to their database that clearly shows the sinister motivations and political campaigning of the group.

Please add all this information to your assessment.

Can you please respond to the points raised in this email.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Jonny Paul

From: Melton Bradley Fjona
To: Jonny Paul
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 10:54 AM

Dear Mr Paul

Thank you for your email to Paul Baker, to which I am responding in his absence.

We are undertaking an assessment of the information provided regarding War on Want’s Palestine campaign to determine whether there are any causes for concern in the way the campaign is being undertaken. We will consider any additional information which you send as part of our assessment and we will notify you of the outcome of our assessment when it is concluded.

Paul will be back in the office on Monday 10 July should you wish to forward further information to him.

Unfortunately we are not able to send an independent assessor to the event to monitor what is said and done, as you have requested.

The Commission’s approach re political campaigning is set out in ‘CC9 – Campaigning and Political Activities by Charities; which is available on our website. I hope you will find this helpful.

Kind regards,
Fjona Melton Bradley

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:04 AM
To: Baker Paul

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your response via Fjona Melton Bradley last week. I would like to submit for your consideration as part of your assessment, a participant’s pack given to each attendee at the conference yesterday which I attended. Can you forward me the address of where to send it.

The pack contains a report entitled "Profiting from the Occupation: Corporate complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people". Just from the title it appears to be contentious and of a political nature. The report also contains inaccurate and false information and I am happy to forward you the evidence if it is relevant to the assessment. I am sure that a charity that is fundraising or recruiting support, must provide a fair and accurate representation of the facts. This report fails to do this. Please let me know if you require the information for your assessment.

The pack is impressive, the high quality shows, and will give you an indication also what they are spending the money they raise on. The day was spent on instructing and encouraging participants to boycott Israeli goods, they called for a general boycott, sanctions and divestment. War on Want are welcome to campaign for what they believe but not under the guise of a charity.

Please see also the following link also. It is well worded and probably anticipates any current investigation, but nevertheless shows its political content:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/
john_hilary/2006/07/aiding_and_abetting.html

Many thanks for your time on this, please let me know your address and if you require any additional information.

Best regards,

Jonny Paul

From: Baker Paul
To: Jonny Paul
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 9:39 AM

Dear Mr Paul

Thank you for the email below.

We will be happy to receive the pack and consider it as part of our assessment case. We have already pulled the report you refer to from the website. With regard to your claim that the report contains inaccurate and false information we will be happy to consider as part of our assessment the evidence you have to support your view of inaccurate and false information. However I must advise you that it may be that in considering this information you provide we may take the view that this is not a matter for the Commission to become involved in and that any dispute about the accuracy of any information contained in the report should be taken up directly with the War on Want charity.

Yours sincerely

Paul Baker
Assessment Officer