Batmanghelidjh, brokeBUSINESSES fail every day, usually for mundane cashflow reasons not negligent management. Yet the insolvency on August 5th of Kids Company, a big charity that has for almost 20 years worked with some of Britain’s most awkward and deprived children, has become a matter of sensational scandal. That partly reflects the charity’s flamboyant founder and chief executive, Camila Batmanghelidjh, an Iranian-born Briton with a penchant for colourful dresses and turbans and a remarkable ability to extract cash from politicians and pop stars.
Why did Kids Company fail? The short answer is that Ms Batmanghelidjh was better at raising money than at management. The charity was growing fast (its income rose by over three-quarters between 2009 and 2013, and it claims to have been helping as many as 36,000 children and young adults in London, Bristol and Liverpool). Yet it failed to create reserves against the risk of interruptions in fundraising.
Alan Yentob, a BBC executive who is chairman of the charity’s trustees, rejects claims of financial mismanagement; but he accepts that some warning signs were...Continue reading
via Brian Rushton, Suffering little children
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