Commission evaluating children’s charity following allegations of fraud

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The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case at a children’s charity after two directors use it to advance their own business.

A number of allegations were made against Miss Dorothy.com and the Dot Com Children’s Foundation in several publications over the weekend, including The Times newspaper.

The Miss Dorothy.com children’s charity was founded in 2002 and centered around a cartoon character named Miss Dorothy Com, and how she could be used to teach children about abuse.

According to The Times, a 2012 liquidator report found that charity funds were spent on designer clothing after the charity received millions of pounds in taxpayer funding and benefited from political backing and celebrities including Tony Blair, Prince Charles and Strictly Come Dancing stars Len Goodman and Kristina Rihanoff.

The organization shut down after the liquidator’s report was released, but its founders started a new charity, the Dot Com Children’s Foundation.

The foundation’s accounts at the end of June 2018 indicate that an alleged fraud, involving two directors “using the charity to advance their own affairs,” had been reported to police. The allegations do not concern the charity’s founders or most recent directors, according to the reports.

A second incident reported in the accounts involved sponsorship of an event to raise funds for the charity starring American singer Dionne Warwick.

The event took place but the sponsor failed to pay the agreed £ 50,000 sponsorship fee. Subsequently, an event company supporting the association had to be closed and the sponsor was reported to Action Fraud.

The latest Dot Com Children’s Foundation accounts up to the end of June 2020 show that the charity owes nearly £ 31,000 to creditors, up from nearly £ 171,000 in 2019.

The commission said it had already engaged with the Dot Com Children’s Foundation in 2017/18 regarding financial issues but, based on information provided at the time, did not identify the need. an ongoing engagement with the charity.

He said he had not found any wrongdoing at this time and that potential concerns were being assessed by his compliance team as part of a regulatory compliance case.

A spokesperson for the commission added: “All charities should take public expectations seriously and distinguish themselves from other types of organizations in their motivations and methods.

“We were recently alerted to potential concerns regarding the governance of the Dot Com Children’s Foundation.

“We have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess the information provided, and cannot comment further at this time.”

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