Charity issued with Official Warning over support for foreign military
Source: gov.uk (2025-01-09)

A London charity has been issued with an Official Warning over a fundraising campaign in support of a soldier of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

The Charity Commission, the regulator of charities in England and Wales, issued the Official Warning after finding the trustees had acted outside the charity’s purposes and failed to safeguard its best interests and its reputation. The charity’s purposes are to advance the orthodox Jewish religion, advance orthodox Jewish education, and to relieve poverty and sickness.

Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex Limited (https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/4037139) set up a fundraising page in October 2023 to raise funds for a soldier of the IDF stationed in northern Israel. The page, which was eventually removed in January 2024, raised around £2,280. Of those monies, £937 was sent directly to an individual soldier. The trustees are unable to account for how those funds were spent. The remaining funds were spent on non-lethal military equipment purchased by the trustees and sent to the same soldier in Israel.

The Charity Commission, which received over 180 complaints about the activities, opened a regulatory compliance case into the charity in December 2023 and engaged with its trustees.

That case determined that the fundraising activity was outside the charity’s purposes – and not capable of being charitable – and that the trustees had failed to act in the best interests of the charity and its reputation. This was misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of charity, as well as a breach of trust.

Charities with appropriate purposes can, in law, raise funds to promote the efficiency of the UK armed forces. However, providing aid or military supplies to any foreign armed force is not a charitable purpose, and no charity can legally undertake such activity.

The Official Warning imposes a number of requirements on the charity’s trustees to remedy the misconduct and/or mismanagement.

Helen Earner, Director for Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission said:

It is not lawful, or acceptable, for a charity to raise funds to support a soldier of a foreign military.

Our Official Warning requires the charity to set things right and is a clear message to other charities to stay true to their established purposes.

Any failure by the charity to implement the requirements in the Official Warning may lead to further regulatory action.

ENDS

Notes to editors
- The Charity Commission (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission) is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its ambition is to be an expert regulator that is fair, balanced, and independent so that charity can thrive. This ambition will help to create and sustain an environment where charities further build public trust and ultimately fulfil their essential role in enhancing lives and strengthening society.
- In law, promoting the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown as a means of defending the nation is capable of being charitable. The Commission’s guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charitable-purposes/charitable-purposes#:~:text=14.-,The%20promotion%20of%20the%20efficiency%20of%20the%20armed%20forces%20of,means%20of%20defending%20the%20country.) explains what furthering this charitable purpose might look like in practice.
- Since October 2023, the Commission has opened over 200 regulatory cases relating to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, involving charities with different positions on the conflict, and has made over 40 referrals to the police.
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