UK Charity Number: 1072612

Website: http://www.education-action.org

Stated Aims

UNICEF IS THE WORLD’S LEADING ORGANISATION WORKING FOR CHILDREN AND THEIR RIGHTS. WE WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FAMILIES, LOCAL COMMUNITIES, OTHER ORGANISATIONS AND GOVERNMENTS IN 190 COUNTRIES TO HELP EVERY CHILD REALISE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL. WE SUPPORT CHILDREN BY PROVIDING HEALTH CARE, NUTRITION AND EDUCATION. WE PROTECT CHILDREN AFFECTED BY CRISES INCLUDING WAR, NATURAL DISASTERS AND HIV/AIDS.

Summary

UNICEF is one of the funders of Education Action. It campaigns for the “living wage” and funds various efforts to portray the UK as the worst place to raise children in the developed world.

Details

In 2007, the UK Committee for UNICEF had an income of £41,273,000. Of this, only two public bodies are listed as having give money, but it adds up to 13.2% of the total.

• The Department for Overseas Development (DFID): £5,037,000
• The States of Guernsey & Jersey and the Isle of Man: £417,000
• Total £5,454,000 (13.2% of income)

UK Charity Number: 294344

Website: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/

Stated Aims

EXTRACT FROM THE MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION: THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE TRUST IS ESTABLISHED ARE TO CONSERVE RESTORE AND RE-ESTABLISH TREES AND IN PARTICULAR BROAD LEAVED TREES, PLANTS AND ALL FORMS OF WILDLIFE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND THEREBY TO SECURE AND ENHANCE THE ENJOYMENT BY THE PUBLIC OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OF THOSE TERRITORIES.

Context

"We used to be members of this until we found out. The organisation regularly sends out to members vast volumes of expensively-printed puff which resembles the self-congratulatory output of a government department."

The Woodland Trust is a member of Stop Climate Chaos. Currently campaigns against high speed rail.

Details:

In 2007, it received £2,882,000 in public money, including:

• Forestry Commission: £884,000
• Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs: £51,000
• Local authorities: £192,000
• Environment and Heritage Service, NI: £114,000
• Natural England: £67,000
• Scottish Executive: £3,000
• European Structural Funds: £63,000
• Department for Communities & Local Government: £107,000
• Countryside Council for Wales: £41,000
• Rural Payments Agency: £29,000
• EC Life Nature: £5,000

This represents 12.3% of its total income for 2007.

It received a further £1,383,000 (5.9%) from The Big Lottery Fund

The charity’s total income was £23,380,000 and other major items include:

• Membership subscriptions: £4,733,000
• Legacies: £6,876,000
• Fundraising & appeals: £4,936,000
• Sponsorship income: £2,242,000
• Company donations, Charitable Trusts and Landfill Tax: £2,521,000

As such, the Woodland Trust does raise a substantial percentage of its money from voluntary contributions; however, 18.2% of its income comes from tax and lottery money.

A Rebuttal

We have received a reply from Paul Hetherington at The Woodland Trust.

Regarding your listing of the Woodland Trust, I feel it is importnat to highlight the following points to you which greatly question the veracity of including the Trust on your site.

Monies received direct from public bodies amounts to under 13% of the Woodland Trust’s total annual income and is a very low percentage in sector terms. The Trust believes that the charity sector as a whole should be able to access public funds that are allocated to their areas in order to support activities that are needed and would otherwise not be provided.

All printed materials distributed by the Woodland Trust are produced by ethically sourced printers using either 100% recycled paper or occasionally FSC accredited paper for specialist requirements. The volume of mailings is kept to a minimum and tailored to fit the audience, increasingly our communications to supporters are shifting to electronic formats.

Most of the above information is available from our annual review available on the Woodland Trust website

UK Charity Number: 291705

Website: http://www.alcoholconcern.org

Stated Aims:

ALCOHOL CONCERN’S ACTIVITIES INCLUDE THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ALCOHOL POLICY; RAISING ALCOHOL AWARENESS; PROVIDING QUALITY INFORMATION ON ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOL-RELATED HARM; DEVELOPING THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OF PRACTITIONERS AND OPERATING A SPECIALIST CONSULTANCY SERVICE; AND DELIVERING PROJECTS THAT BUILD THE CAPACITY OF THE SECTOR.

Summary

Created by the British government in 1985, Alcohol Concern wages an incremental campaign against drinkers and the drinks industry.

Details

Alcohol Concern supports banning happy hour, raising the price of alcohol, lowering the drink drive limit, banning glass bottles in pubs, warning labels on cans and bottles and banning TV advertising before 9pm. It described the ban on happy hour promotions as “a step in the right direction” and the introduction of cigarette-style warning labels on bottles as “a very good first step”.

Its 2008/09 accounts show a total income of £1,137,582, of which:

• Department of Health (restricted grant): £142,000
• Department of Health (unrestricted grant): £400,000

• Big Lottery Fund: £127,275
• —
• Total £669,275 (58.8% of all income)

It received just £8,186 in public donations.

UPDATE

October 2011: Alcohol Concern have reported that they have lost their key funding (ie. the Department of Health), leading to the departure of their Chief Executive and their full-time fundraiser. If this excellent news in confirmed when the next accounts appear, we will be happy to remove the ‘charity’ from this site.

UK Charity Number: 288285

Website: www.4children.org.uk

Stated Aims

TO PROMOTE THE CARE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IN NEED OF CARE OUT OF SCHOOL HOURS AND SCHOOL HOLIDAYS IN THE INTERESTS OF THEIR SOCIAL WELFARE WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THEIR WELFARE AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE

Context

Complained about the “media feeding frenzy” surrounding 13 year old father Alfie Patten in February 2009.

Details

According to its website:

4Children offers authoritative advice and strategic support to help turn policy into practice working with government departments such as the Treasury, Department for Education and Skills and Department of Health.

In practice, this seems to largely involve them applauding government policies…

4Children welcomes ‘Think Family’ approach to support families at risk

National charity welcomes renewed commitment to end child poverty

Government social mobility white paper puts investment in children centre stage

…and spending government money. Its 2007/08 accounts show a total income of £5,347,844, of which:

• Department for Education & Skills: £1,100,00
• Essex County Council: £588,785
• The Home Office: £130,000
• European Social Fund: £60,885
• Future Builders England: £228,587
• Essex Children’s Centre: 270,000
• —
• Total: £2,378,257 (44.5% of all income)

In addition, 4Children received substantial sums from individual county councils, including £351,518 in ‘other contracts and grants’.

Only £8,704 was received in voluntary donations and gifts.

UK Charity Number: 1120834

Website: http://www.ashwales.co.uk/

Stated Aims

ALERTING THE PUBLIC TO THE DANGERS OF TOBACCO USE AND TO SEEK TO PREVENT THE DISABILITY AND DEATH WHICH IT CAUSES.

Context

Member of the SmokeFree Alliance and respondent to the 2008 Tobacco Consultation. Led the battle for the Welsh smoking ban of 2007. Currently campaigning for further extreme and untested anti-tobacco measures such as plain-packaging of cigarettes.

Details

According to its 2009/10 accounts, ASH Wales received £113,000 from the Welsh government and £49,968 from the Pfizer Foundation (n.b. Pfizer manufactures Nicorette and Chantix which are both medications to help people to stop smoking).

Its total revenue as shown in its 2009/10 accounts was £234,236. Of which:

• Welsh Assembly: £119,000
• —
• Total £119,000 (50.8% of all income)

The next biggest donor was the Pfizer Foundation with £45,168 (nb. Pfizer make Nicorette products). Just £2,697 came from voluntary public donations (1% of total income).

UK Charity Number: 1006714

Website: http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk/

Stated Aims

NO SMOKING DAY’S MAIN ACTIVITY IS ORGANISING AN ANNUAL HEALTH AWARENESS CAMPAIGN THAT AIMS TO HELP SMOKERS WHO WANT TO STOP SMOKING BY CREATING A SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT AND BY HIGHLIGHTING THE MANY SOURCES OF HELP AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE READY TO STOP.

Context

No Smoking Day is a member of SmokeFree Action, which is campaigning for higher cigarette taxes, tobacco display bans, plain packaging of cigarettes and smoking bans in cars.

Summary

According to its 2007/08 accounts, No Smoking Day received an income of £745,804, of which:

• Department of Health: £250,000
• NHS Scotland: £25,000
• Welsh Assembly: £30,000
• Northern Ireland: £7,000
• Armed forces: £17,793
  —
• Total £329,793 (44.2% of all income)

Most of the rest of its revenue came from the sale of No Smoking Day products. There is no record of any voluntary donations from the public.

UK Charity Number: 1042482

Website: http://www.quit.org.uk/

Stated Aims

QUIT PROVIDES A RANGE OF INNOVATIVE AND EFFECTIVE SERVICES INCLUDING TELEPHONE QUITLINES STAFFED BY TRAINED COUNSELLORS AND ACCESSIBLE IN EIGHT LANGUAGES. QUIT’S HEALTH AND INEQUALITIES PROGRAMME PROVIDES AN INNOVATIVE RANGE OF COMMUNITY BASED SUPPORT AND PARTNERSHIPS. THE QUIT BECAUSE PROGRAMME PROVIDES COMPREHENSIVE HELP AND ADVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE.

Context

Contributed to the Department of Health’s 2008 Tobacco Consultation which led to the government passing a law to ban tobacco displays in shops.

Details

QUIT was a member of the SmokeFree Coalition which campaigned for the UK government to ignore its manifesto commitment to exempt ‘wet’ pubs and private members’ clubs from the 2007 smoking ban.

According to it 2007/08 accounts, QUIT had a total income of £2,054,477, of which:

• European Union: £482,181
• —
• Total £482,181 (23.5% of all income)

The majority of its income comes from ‘services to help smokers to quit’, presumably paid for by local and/or central government.

UK Charity Number: 294841

Website: http://www.cpag.org.uk/

Stated Aims

CPAG RAISES AWARENESS OF THE CAUSES, EXTENT, NATURE AND IMPACT OF POVERTY AS WELL AS STRATEGIES FOR ITS ERADICATION AND PREVENTION. THE ORGANISATION ALSO BRINGS ABOUT POSITIVE POLICY CHANGES FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN IN POVERTY AND ENABLES THOSE ELIGIBLE FOR INCOME MAINTENANCE TO ACCESS THEIR FULL ENTITLEMENT.

Context

The Child Poverty Action Group lobbies for the expansion of the welfare state under the pretext of ending “child poverty”. They have campaigned for free school meals to be given to all children and for benefits to be given to illegal immigrants. They have opposed attempts to cut benefits for people who refuse reasonable offers of work and have opposed proposals to use lie detectors to detect benefit cheats.

The group specialises in lobbying and test cases.

“Lobbying is a fundamental part of the Child Poverty Action Group’s work. Through written and oral briefings, we ensure that our message is delivered to decision-makers locally, regionally and nationally.

CPAG will often write briefings for key debates in Parliament and can brief decision-makers and their staff via the telephone and internet.

The charity indulges in the peculiar fantasy that inequality is a bigger problem that poverty and that economics is a zero sum game, as in April 2009 when it joined Save the Children to call for higher welfare payments.

Kate Green, of the Child Poverty Action Group, said that…

“Part of the problem is… many people have seen their prosperity improve over the last 10 years, so we have become a much more unequal country,” she said.

“That is very damaging for the people who just haven’t kept up, and it really is quite wrong morally, and it’s economically very stupid actually, not to make sure that we share the resources more equally and protect those who have least.”

Details

In 2008, the charity received a total income of £2,775,000; of which

• HM revenue and Customs: £142,000
• The Scottish Executive: £338,000
• DCSF & London Councils: £20,000
• Local Government Association: £16,000

  • —
  • Total £516,000 (18.6% of all income)

UK Charity Number: 261794

Website: http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/

Stated Aims

AGE CONCERN ENGLAND IS A MEMBER OF A FEDERATION OF 356 INDEPENDENT CHARITIES IN ENGLAND THAT SHARE A COMMITMENT TO MAKING LATER LIFE FULFILLING, ENJOYABLE AND PRODUCTIVE. IT CAMPAIGNS ON ISSUES THAT MATTER TO OLDER PEOPLE AND SUPPORTS OTHER AGE CONCERNS IN THEIR PROVISION OF SERVICES THAT PROMOTE INDEPENDENCE AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING.

Summary

Age Concern England (registered as the National Council on Ageing) is proud of its status as one of the country’s most powerful pressure groups. Political lobbying is central to its efforts:

“We work hard to engage parliamentarians on a range of key issues of importance to older people; from income to transport, housing to employment.”

“We were delighted to be voted one of the most effective campaigning charities by MPs in a recent poll. (NFP Synergy 2005)”

Age Concern was supportive of almost all Labour initiatives when it was in power and campaigned for the passage of Harriet Harman’s so-called Equality Bill, which made it legal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race and gender. Its CEO, Shane Brennan—who evidently does not understand what ‘voluntary’ means, has since warned David Cameron—oxymoronically—that “government spending cuts could cost voluntary organisations.” Brennan’s salary is in excess of £120,000 a year.

Details

Age Concern re-registered itself as Age Concern England in November 2010. Its 2008/09 accounts show heavy funding from:

• The Department of Health: £1,211,000
• The Department for Work & Pensions: £64,000
• The Department for Trade and Industry: £118,000
• The Department for International Development: £127,000
• The Big Lottery Fund: £3,146,000
• —
• Total £4,666,000 (38.5% of all ‘voluntary income’)

UK Charity Number: 208554

Website: None

Stated Aims

THROUGH CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT, ENCOURAGE AND PROMOTE EDUCATION CONCERNING THE ECONOMIC, HEALTH AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF BEVERAGE ALCOHOL USE. ACTIVITIES INCLUDE PROVIDING GRANTS TO OTHER CHARITIES, PUBLISHING EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL, ORGANIZING CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS AND OTHER ADVOCACY INITIATIVES. THE CHARITY OPERATES THROUGHOUT THE UK AND IS ALSO ACTIVE IN THE EU AND WORLDWIDE.

Summary

One-time overt Prohibitionists now playing the long game. The Alliance House Foundation is a well established temperance group and a member of the Alcohol Health Alliance (formed 2007). It funds the Institute for Alcohol Studies.

Detail

The Alliance House Foundation started life in 1853 as the UK Alliance for the Suppression of the Traffic in all Intoxicating Liquors. This Prohibitionist outfit changed its name to the UK Temperance Alliance in 1942, before adopting its current name in 2003.

As a member of the Alcohol Health Alliance, the group campaigns for:

• Increased taxation on alcohol
• A ban on alcohol advertising before 9.00 pm and in cinemas apart from 18 rated films
• Promotional material to carry information on health related harm
• The drink driving limit to be reduced to the EU standard of 0.5g/l and a near zero limit for new drivers

The Alliance House Foundation makes most of its money from its property portfolio. Of its grants and donations, its 2007/08 accounts show a total of £83,567, of which:

• European Union’s Bridging the Gap project: £41,138
• European Union’s Alcohol Policy Youth Network: £35,098
  —
• Total £76,236 (91.3% of all unearned income)

Its single biggest donor was the EU’s Bridging the Gap project (£41,138). Donations from the general public amounted to just £70. However, its 2009/10 accounts suggest that the EU funding has dried up, at least for now. Further information would be appreciated. In the mean time, this entry will remain online for reference for those looking at the organisations the Alliance House Foundation continues to fund.