Agenda item

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain which provided information, requested by the Committee at a previous meeting, regarding donations made to emergency appeals.

A Member noted that, in the list of DEC charities, the descriptions for Tearfund and World Vision appeared to indicate that they were evangelical Christian charitable organisations, rather than a non-denominational or faith-based charity. The Member suggested that it may not be appropriate for the Corporation to make disaster relief donations to evangelical charities. The Town Clerk agreed to look into this issue and provide further information to the Committee.

RESOLVED – That the Committee notes the report, particularly:

a)    The strong criteria applied by DEC for the selection and monitoring of UK aid charities;

b)    The ability of the Central Grants Unit to provide recommendations of appropriate charities to support, including due diligence reviews;

c)    That donations given as restricted to a specific appeal or purpose are required, under charity law, to be spent directly on emergency appeals.