Marie Stopes 'Charitable' Claims Exposed

28.02.2019

Abortion provider Marie Stopes is among the organisations accused of “misleading” donors by including money spent on executive pay, public relations and support services in the sum they say goes to the causes they represent. Critics say the practice lets organisations exaggerate how much of their income goes to frontline causes. A Mail on Sunday investigation found that ten of the UK’s largest charities, including Marie Stopes, included more than £225 million of so-called support and governance costs in £3.9 billion of “charitable spending” in their most recent accounts.

Marie Stopes International was one of two groups which reported figures suggesting 100 per cent of their expenditure goes on “charitable activities” – even though both pay their chief executives over £200,000 a year.

Under current UK guidelines, charities must publish data on the website of the Charity Commission showing how much of their income is spent on “charitable activities”. Charities say they are abiding by the rules, which permit support and governance costs to be included in the figure. Such costs – which are partially broken down in the charities’ annual reports, but not on the Commission’s website – include IT, financial management, human resources, public relations, staffing, executive pay and governance. In some cases, these costs are solely attributed to the “charitable activities” section of their accounts. In others, the costs are divided across expenditure categories, such as “fundraising”.

The Commission says good support and governance are a crucial aspect of “delivering on charitable objectives” and so can legitimately be included in that category.

The Mail on Sunday investigated the accounts of Britain’s ten largest charities by income – Save the Children International, Save the Children’s UK arm, Cancer Research UK, the National Trust, Oxfam, the British Heart Foundation, Sightsavers, Barnardo’s, Marie Stopes International and the British Red Cross.

Marie Stopes International claims that 100 per cent of its £299.4 million-a-year expenditure was charitable. But this includes £13.2 million of support costs. The group’s highest paid employee – thought to be chief executive Simon Cooke – took home £300,532 last year, and 15 employees were paid £150,000 or more.

Mail on Sunday. February 23.