Only one charity formally asks to return Presidents Club cash

Just one of the charities that responded to the Presidents Club scandal by saying it would return donations has formally applied for permission to do so from the charities watchdog.

The Presidents Club, which organised a men-only, black tie fundraising dinner in London where hostesses were groped, sexually harassed and propositioned, said it would close last month after the event was denounced by parliament, business leaders and the charities it supported.

At least four charities — including Great Ormond Street Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, the Royal Academy of Music and the Clatterbridge Cancer Charity — said they would return donations to the Presidents Club following the revelations.

But according to the Charities Commission watchdog, just one charity has formally requested permission to return funds to the Presidents Club. The regulator declined to say which charity made the request.

The Royal Academy of Music, which received £10,000 from the Presidents Club in December 2017, said it formally requested the watchdog’s permission to return the donation on January 29.

A Royal Academy of Music spokesperson said: “We have every intention of returning the money to the Presidents Club. Following the advice we received from the Charities Commission we are in the process of formalising this with our gift acceptance committee.”

The Presidents Club scandal has raised difficult questions for the trustees of dozens of charities that have received donations from the organisation over the course of its 33-year history. Charities are not obliged to return the funds, but those that want to must demonstrate to the watchdog that doing so is in their best interests.

The Charities Commission can reject requests to return donations if it concludes doing so would be harmful for the charities concerned. As a result, charities seeking to return donations that have already been spent are expected to find it more difficult to obtain permission to send back funds.

A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital said it was “in dialogue” with the Charities Commission about returning the funds it has received from the Presidents Club. The children’s hospital received £280,000 from the Presidents Club in 2016 and £25,000 in 2015, according to the Presidents Club’s latest accounts.

A spokesperson for London hospital Guys and St Thomas’s, which includes Evelina London Children’s Hospital and received £100,000 from the Presidents Club in 2016, said it had “written to the Charity Commission in view of events at the Presidents Club dinner and we are awaiting a response, which we will then consider along with the latest developments with the Presidents Club”.

A spokesperson for Clatterbridge said: “This will be discussed by the board of trustees in due course and it would therefore be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.”

Although the Presidents Club is in the process of being wound down, it remains a corporate entity, which means charities can theoretically return money to the organisation if they obtain the watchdog’s approval.

Under Charities Commission rules, any assets held by the Presidents Club, including property or cash, must be put towards charitable purposes before it is wound down completely. In other words, any donations returned to the Presidents Club would end up being redistributed to a similar cause.

The Charities Commission has historically protected the confidentiality of charities that have accepted funds from organisations that were wound down after abusive practices were uncovered.

This article has been amended to correct the sum received by the Royal Academy of Music.