Talking About Cannabis in False Charity Scandal!

received this morning …

Dear Johnny Void

Talking about cannabis

I am writing to provide you with the conclusion of our assessment into the concerns that you raised about the above organisation.

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. 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.

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.

From information provided to us we understand that the organisation had previously obtained advice from the Commission about making an application to the central register of charities held by the Commission and intend to make an application. There is information about the criteria for registration on the advice and guidance section of our website. Part of the criteria is that the organisation should have an income in excess of £5,000 and we are advised that currently the organisation does not have any income.

We have provided advice and guidance to the organisation regarding the requirements of charity law and the register of charities. I can confirm that the references to the organisation being a registered charity have now been removed from the organisations website.

We have concluded that there is no requirement for a formal intervention and we have closed our case file.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Bullock
Assessment Officer