Division of faith

Christmas appeal charity questioned

Patrick McCurry
Wednesday January 15, 2003

The Guardian

The charity commission is this week writing to humanitarian agency Samaritan's Purse International (SPI) to ask about its fundraising methods, following Society's recent article on the agency's Operation Christmas Child initiative.

A commission spokeswoman has told the Guardian: "We are concerned about the way the charity might be representing itself, both in its fundraising and recruitment of volunteers."

Last month, Society reported that SPI failed to tell many supporters of its hugely successful Christmas appeal that the shoeboxes they packed with gifts for needy children overseas were often distributed with Christian literature. More than a million shoeboxes are sent from British schools and other organisations each year.

Appeal leaflets sent to parents and teachers say nothing about any missionary aim, or religious affiliation, despite the fact that SPI's website has links to an Operation Christmas Child newsletter stating that the shoeboxes have "led to salvation for tens of thousands of children and their families".

The commission is to ask SPI to outline what information is given to donors and volunteers. But parents who have complained previously about this information say they have been disappointed by the commission's response.

Peter McKenna, a father of two young children who brought appeal leaflets home from their Liverpool school, wrote to the charity commission last October. Its response was to state that fundraising methods were a matter for trustees to decide. It attached a letter from SPI's executive director, the Rev David Applin, received by the commission in 2001 following previous complaints.

In the letter, Applin described the evangelical nature of the appeal and confirmed that children were given the opportunity of receiving a booklet about Jesus Christ. While SPI did not encourage preaching before boxes were distributed, he said, some of the partner agencies it used to distribute boxes "like to make long speeches and sometimes give them [the children] a mini-talk".

Another reader, Hudson Pace, from west London , said in a letter published in Society last week that he had received a similar response from the commission.

The commission spokeswoman says the complaints from Pace and McKenna were treated as fundraising queries, but, on reflection, this was too narrow. In response to the Society article, the commission has looked again at complaints it has received and has decided to write to SPI to raise the concerns.

SOURCE: http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,993954,00.html

[ MORE ARTICLES ]

[ CAMPAIGN HOME PAGE ]

URL: http://www.inminds.com/occ-article09.html