Comic Relief money invested in arms and tobacco shares

[xxMATTGxx]

Millions of pounds donated to Comic Relief have been invested in shares in tobacco, alcohol and arms firms, BBC Panorama has learned.

It includes £630,000 in shares in arms firm BAE Systems and more than £300,000 in alcohol manufacturer Diageo.

The BBC has also seen evidence which suggests Save the Children censored criticism of energy firms to avoid upsetting corporate partners.

Both charities deny any wrongdoing.

Comic Relief

Comic Relief has raised nearly £1bn for worthwhile causes in the UK and abroad.

It pays out the money it receives to other charities, sometimes over several years.

That means Comic Relief holds tens of millions of pounds at any one time.

The charity uses a number of managed funds which invests that money on the charity's behalf, including in the stock market.

Panorama has learnt that between 2007 and 2009, some of these investments, amounting to millions of pounds, appear to contradict several of its core aims.

Despite its mission statement claiming it is committed to helping "people affected by conflict", in 2009 the charity had £630,000 invested in shares in weapons firm BAE Systems.

Comic Relief also had more than £300,000 invested in shares in the alcohol industry despite its mission statement saying it is "working to reduce alcohol misuse and minimise alcohol related harm".

The majority was invested in Diageo, which manufactures dozens of alcoholic drinks and was recently criticised by the Health Select Committee for exploiting weaknesses in the regulation of alcohol advertising.

Comic Relief also appeals for money to fight Tuberculosis and has given over £300,000 to a charity called Target Tuberculosis.

Target TB believes that smoking may be responsible for over 20% of TB cases worldwide.

While raising funds in 2009, nearly £3m of Comic Relief money was invested in shares in tobacco companies.

'Risking their reputation'

During that time, entrepreneur and Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne was a full trustee of Comic Relief.

In 2008 he made a BBC documentary attacking a tobacco company for targeting African children.

He told Panorama he "wouldn't put donors' money into tobacco companies" and said charities should invest ethically.

Source: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25273024?...51929906179934

Thoughts?

[Inseriousity.]

Just read that myself, this is going to damage their reputation but not sure how much!

[MilksAreUs]

Thats bang out of order! We used to raise money for Comic Relief in Primary School and I hate to say it, but I wish I didn't now!

[Matt]

eugh that's so misleading. I'm glad this has surfaced so that people actually know what they will be/have already donated to.

[!:random!:!]

what the actual... how dare they we raise that money for people that don't have it and need it we trust them to give our money to these people but now they have betrayed our trust and done this how dare they! i hope they will suffer regret for taking money away from those that most need it !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sian]

And that's why I don't donate to these kinds of things. You never know where your money is going, and this doesn't really surprise me. Which is awful as it is charity.

[dbgtz]

And people wonder why I don't trust charities.

[Vodafone]

Hahaha, people making drama out of something that isn't really a big deal.

Stopped reading after:

The charity uses a number of managed funds which invests that money on the charity's behalf, including in the stock market.

Oh the horror!

[Yawn]

if the ppl want tobacco and firearms then they should get tobacco and firearms!

[peteyt]

I'm sure the fact that the money doesn't go to where the public expect it to is old news. I'm sure I've heard sometimes it ends up in corrupt government hands who keep it for their own use among other things.

I've never properly donated apart from paying for something like a non school uniform day when I was at school e.g. a pound. I'd rather pay for something that I know would actually go directly to the cause really.

This also reminds me of the "Kony 2012" campaign, when it was discovered the charity behind it, Invisible Children, Inc, was using most of the funds to pay its staff and fund their films, rather than actually going to the country involved in the incident itself.