Thread by @BarbaraRich_law

This crowdfunding campaign has now raised almost £0.5M for “women’s charitable causes”. All that its organisers, who do not even identify themselves by name on the crowdfunding website, will say is that they’ll be announcing which charities they intend to support “in due course”

https://twitter.com/barbararich_law/status/1370856476785446913

@ReclaimTS isn’t a charity. It is unregulated. It has not been set up to enable UK taxpayers to significantly enhance the value of their donations via Gift Aid. The crowdfunding platform profits from the donations. Direct donations to established charities would benefit them more

Donors’ generosity has been prompted by reaction to the tragic death of Sarah Everard, but there’s no evidence that her family’s or friends’ wishes have been considered or taken into account in this fundraising. This seems disrespectful, though I’m sure that wasn’t intended

An individual whose Twitter bio describes her as “organiser and comms” for @reclaimts has tweeted on response to questions in an insulting and threatening way, even describing people as “scum”. Yet the other organisers have done nothing to distance the campaign from her tweets

There are sharply divided views about what should or should not fall within the description of “women’s charitable causes”, but no clarity of description on the fundraising page. This isn’t a transparent fundraising exercise, or one which maximises the value of charitable giving

If you feel moved to make a donation to charity as a gesture of response to Sarah Everard’s death, please consider doing so by contributing directly to a charity of your choice, rather than by adding to this fundraising campaign

@ReclaimTS have now published this statement updating the fundraising position, which may reassure contributors to it

https://twitter.com/ReclaimTS/status/1371118504531922944

But see also this assertion that “this money belongs to the movement”. Which movement? What are its objects? And who represents it? And the request to commit the fund to legal support costs for individuals, an entirely different purpose than distributing it to charities

From various tweets I have read, this is developing into a sharp dispute between RTS and Sisters Uncut about their respective activities, and in part, about the use of this fund. I would suggest again that @reclaimts consider closing the crowdfunder until this is resolved

I’ve also seen a tweet which shows JustGiving’s recent response to complaints about this fundraising on their platform, which says they are working with @reclaimts on the content of their fundraising page

And how can any responsible fundraiser for charitable purposes continue to tolerate a person who uses such insulting language on a public forum holding herself out as an organiser and comms person for their campaign?