Together with the Fraud Advisory Panel, the Charity Commission are urging all charity trustees to sign up to a new “Stop Fraud Pledge” which commits charities to taking six practical actions to reduce the chances of falling victim to a fraud.
The actions that form part of this pledge are to:
- Appoint a suitable person to champion counter fraud throughout the organisation.
- Ensure that all trustees are aware of their legal duties to protect the charity’s assets.
- Consult with staff, volunteers and trustees to identify the types of fraud that threaten the organisation and the ways that they can be prevented.
- Create a written fraud policy and share it regularly with staff, volunteers and trustees so that everyone understands what fraud is and how they can help to prevent it.
- Perform checks on individuals and organisations with whom the organisation has a financial relationship.
- Assess each year how well our fraud controls are working, taking into account new risks and making improvements as needed.
More information and practical tools to help your charity can be found here. If you wish to sign the Stop Fraud Pledge, then you can do so here.
Whilst it is not a common occurrence, sadly we do see fraud happening in charities from time to time. There are many relatively simple actions that can be taken by a charity’s management, volunteers and trustees to improve controls and stop fraud happening.
