Scope for making a profit.............

[Busman747]

Last week I remember making a purchase at a corner shop and indicating to the shop keeper to put the change into the charity box. On these occasions I rarely look at the charity concerned but after reading a very recent report on "Scope" one of our biggest charities, I surely will now!

Formerly called "The Spastics society" Scope has been doing marvellous work since 1952 helping in particular, sufferers of cerebral palsy and has many residential homes throughout the U.K, where many with C.P. are given independence but are still under the care of staff as one of the symptoms is short term memory loss and without help, drugs that should be taken are forgotten.

In the seventies, many were "deinstitutionalised" and were put back into society with the result that there were a string of killings and in particular the murder of Jonathan Zito by mentally ill Christopher Clunis in 1992. All these murders were committed by patients that "forgot" to complete their course of prescribed drugs.

As of this year, Scope has an operating deficit of £5million and a gaping £15million "black hole" in its pension sceme. As one of the largest and well known charities with hundreds of charity shops run largely by volunteers and with special dispensations from the various councils they SHOULD be making a worthwhile profit...........so what has gone wrong???

Two years ago, a new chief executive was appointed. His name is Mr. Tony Manwaring, ex labour fund-raiser and he is paid in excess of £100.000-00 per year for his expertise. Since his appointment, the number of executives being paid OVER £40.000-00 has jumped by over 50%..........

This explains why the charity is now running at a loss, but what to do about it?? with all that well paid gray matter perusing the problem, the solution is easy!!

Scope has decided to stop providing residential care and become a "campaigning organisation." The result is that their intention is to close down 50 residential homes and put the onus on local councils and social services to find homes and look after more than 500 disabled people.

One of the first "victims" is Damon McCarthy who has lived in one of the charities flats for 8 years. He has been told that he will have to leave, despite being partly paralysed, brain damaged and without short-term memory since a car crash in 1989. He is likely to be left at the mercy of social services in Cardiff who have already made it clear that they have no suitable accomodation for him.

Scopes official justification for its shift in policy....that it wants handicapped people to "lead fulfilling lives" in the community and that being in special care is "disempowering" them has been derided by the families of those affected as "politically correct jargon." They add that the real motivation for the inhumane policy is simply to cut costs.

Damons dwellings in Cardiff is described as an "assisted living, development" which caters for 11 serverely handicapped people, other targets for closure are "Trengweath" a school for disabled children in Plymouth and "Newton Lane" a "daily living service" in Chester.

Mr. Les Unwin who is Scopes honorary treasurer breezily announced last year that ANY facility that did not bring in a healthy profit would be axed.....

He added: "It is not a charities role to fund services that should be fully funded by a government body. Scope cannot afford to deliver all the services needed by disabled people from cradle to grave. It (Scope) will be campaigning more but its service provision in bricks and mortar will be less unless it can truly run these services at a sustainable surplus. However, its services will be a model for best practise and its campagning for equality for disabled people will be changing the world"

..............Scope splashed out more than £800.000-00 last year updating its London Headquarters............

To return to Damons plight, after his accident, he was hospitalised for TWO YEARS! He then went home to his divorced mother Anne for 5 years. She was eventually forced to turn to Social Services because she could no longer cope with his medical needs. He was placed in Cyncoed Flats and has been happy ever since.

Anne says: " Scope is hiding behind an idealology that disabled people need the chance to live in the community, and no one would argue with that! but people that have been in these flats for 40 years can't just be pushed around" she added: "Many of them have no voice of their own. Because of their disability, they often can't express themselves articulately. Some are very angry. but others are terrified and deeply distressed. It is not only the decision to close the flats - its the uncaring way in which it was done. Scope is not behaving like a charity, Its action is inhumane and is devastating these peoples lives.....A cynical deplorable situation is being dressed up with politically correct jargon."

Brian Byfield has lived in the same flats for 26 years and has been offered a new home..............100 miles away in Milton Keynes

Brian, who is severely physically disabled says: "I don't want to move there, my friends are here. We don't understand why we have to move".................simple Brian, so the fat cats get fatter!!!!!!!!

Ooh, I forgot to mention, one of the "patrons" of Scope is non other than "Cherry" Blair! as fruity and rotten as they come, and of course she refuses to make a statement about Scope!!

So next time you are in a newsagents and want to give your change to charity, make sure you are donating to a GOOD cause and not paying the wages of a total ar**hole!!!!!!!!

[cashman]

thats news to me busman,i find it despicable but not surprising sadly.

[wayneyboy1942]

Never new that Busman! It's very sad! another thing that people should know that celebrity's often ask if there's a "budget" in other words charge a fee to do charity work! Not expence's a fee!

[vorlon24]

It makes you wonder whether any charity is worth contributing to, doesn't it?

[chav1]

i fell out with scope a few months ago

i had a large collection of baby clothes and baby toys and arranged pickup with them at least 3 times and they never turned up althuogh i waited in all day each time for them

eventualy i went down and saw that their van was parked outside and had just been unloaded so i asked if they wanted to pick the stuff up then as they obviously had an empty van sat there doing nothing

their was the driver and 3 people working in the shop and they said maybe they could arrange a collection in 2 days time

i reminded them that i had already waited in enough and also that they hadnt even turned up or been decent enough to ring me and let me know that they wouldnt be coming

anyway the upshot of the story is i told them to kiss my ass and got REMOVALMAN here on accy web to take it away to somone who would appreciate it

only fauls and horses in padiham i think it was


on the note of corrupt charities a few years ago it ewas revealed that oxfam directors and their minions were driving around in bentlys all paid for by oxfam

looks like they did pretty well out of live aid and the plight in africa as oxfam is the charity that i assosiate with africa anyway

[Busman747]

Originally Posted by cashman

thats news to me busman,i find it despicable but not surprising sadly.

I wonder how many other "so called" charities have so big an overhead that the money you donate goes straight into the pockets of "fat cats!"

[chav1]

oxfam

theres money to be made in charity

tax relief and cheaper rates etc

[Acrylic-bob]

All of the above seems to argue for a boycott of the charity concerned.

The other day, I was in ASDA in Blackpool and noticed that a group of people with Guide Dogs were collecting for the charity. The dogs were so lovely and gentle they really tugged on the heartstrings and they were surrounded by an admiring and coo-ing coterie of shoppers.

Then I remembered a story told to me by a late friend, Jan. He worked for the Royal National Institute for the Blind as a transcriber of Braille. It happened that, shortly before I knew him, the RNIB was going through some sort of funding crisis and knowing that the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association had millions in the bank(I forget the exact sum but it was an astonishing amount) RNIB asked for a bit of assistance. After all, since they were both in the business of assisting people who were blind and visually impaired, they thought that Guide Dogs would be only too pleased to help. Sad to relate however, they were to be disappointed in their assumption, Guide Dogs turned them down flat!

I would imagine that their bank balance is even more bloated now, by the contributions of the well meaning, than it was twenty years ago.

A quick squint at their annual report gives the following information on page 10.
"for the twelve months ended 31st december 2003 net resources expended were £6.3 million compared with £9.3 million the previous year."

That is what they spent.

"our total incoming resources increased from £41.7 million to £44.7 million representing a significant rebalancing of our income and expenditure" To put it mildly, I should say!

"Guide Dogs has £108 millions of assets, which the trustees have conclude should be retained as investments."

So, not exactly short of a bob or two, you might say. Why then is there the need to send the hapless blind and their dogs out onto the streets to beg for money?

[Less]

There was an article in one of the papers a few years ago (allegedly) saying that the guide dogs for the blind was strapped for cash and would have to close at least one of it's training centres, in the same article it was stated that this circumstance had come about due to the large amount of interest free loans the society had made to it's employees for their mortgages.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Busman747

Mr. Les Unwin who is Scopes honorary treasurer ..... added: "It is not a charities role to fund services that should be fully funded by a government body................. "

Funny that because I always thought that was exactly what the charity's role was.

I used to have a dim view of people who wouldn't give to charities, saying that none of it ever got to the people you thought you were helping. I thought they were just using that as an excuse to be stingy but the more I learn about all the "fat cats" and the lifestyles they lead the less likely I am to want to give to any charity in future.

Do any of you know anything about "Clarity"? They sell stuff and it's suppposed to help the blind. I usually buy something but I think I'll think twice in future. For all I know they could be as bad as the rest.

[chav1]

its a sad but true fact that there is always somone willing to make money out of other peoples misery or misfortune

[Busman747]

Until it is proved otherwise, I will assume that the larger the charity, the bigger the overheads which means less for the cause.

I applaude many individuals that make great sacrifices both financially and in time commitment for a good cause. Donkey Sanctuaries, Wild Birds, even hedgehogs! but as soon as a charity gets into the realms of helping the Human Population the fat cats move in....

Quote from Acrylic Bob:
"Guide Dogs has £108 millions of assets, which the trustees have conclude should be retained as investments."


How can ANY charity justify hanging on to such an obsene amount of money? These funds should be used NOW not "retained as investments"

I am reminded of when I was but a lad and travelled to London to visit the "Scout shop." It was a very impressive store but was situated in Buckingham Palace Road literally a stones throw away from the actual palace and the rates must be astronomical so why put a shop in such a high-profile place when Milton Keynes or umpteen other towns would dearly love to have such a shop in their midst? Likewise, the lotteries commision have their offices in the West End of London, Some people must get great satisfaction from giving public money to the already filthy rich....

[cashman]

personally i do not give to charities,you may think thats tight but i have read to much over the years,i used to donate weekly from my wage to chaigley manor @other things.i prefer to help personally if i can.but even that has a downside- in manchester about 2 years ago,a young man asked me for the price of a cuppa,didn't much look like thats what it was for-i said no but i will take you across the road and buy you a cuppa and something to eat.the offer was declined and i was told to f*** off.thats one reason why i am so cynical.

[Busman747]

Sorry to ressurect an old thread but there is more news of their activities....They have just shut down a unit in Exeter which specialised in making aids for the disabled to lead a more independent life......They built devices that helped children with limited movement to manage day to day things such as operating lights, heating, computers and wheelchairs by using levers and pedals.


The unit was staffed by two engineers, a consultant/clinical engineer and an administrator. It carried out up to 500 assessments for children and adults each year...........it has now gone.

Amonst the victims is Alistair McIntyre, 13, who has been the photogenic face of Scope for years- his smiling image was plastered across leaflets for a number of fund-raising campaigns.

Alistair has no motor control over most of his body but could work his computer by working the devices with his chin or right foot. His mother said "Alistair was receiving fantastic support from Scopes Microtechnology service, We thought we had found a group that could help him escape from being trapped inside a body which would not co-operate, but it seems Scope doesn't actually care for people with Cerebral Palsy any more"

Scope refused to address the issues or questions raised, their Chief Executive Tony Manwaring refused to comment or grant any interviews with newspapers..........

[chav1]

they should be shut down and stripped of their assets and let somone else take over under a new name

also the people who have proffited from the charity should have their homes taken from them , bank accounts stripped and then slung in jail

bloody scum is all they are they are


charity is good buisness these days and it should be stopped

people give their money and belongings to charitys to help others less fortunate and most definatly not to pay for the managing directors new car or house