Fakecharities on steep learning curve

I stumbled across the IPPR's Budget write-up, which as you might expect is completely supportive of whatever it is that the Labour government proposes to do.

By force of habit, I downloaded their most recent accounts from the Charities Commission website to have a look at who funds them.

Note 2 just says "The majority of the donation income is received from companies (the other significant sectors accounting for more than 10% of the total are individuals and trusts)." The financial review is a little more helpful, it says: "The income of the organisation was £3.434m in 2008... Our donation income comes from a variety of sectors including corporates, trusts and foundations and individual donors. The majority of this income suppods specific research projects. AII our funders from the past year are Iisted on our website."

Righty-ho.

Their full list of donors/sponsors/clients does not say how much each one gave, but includes the following (I deleted about a third from the original list who are clearly private companies or unknown to me):

A4e Ltd*
ACEVO
Age Concern England
Amnesty International
Association of Colleges
Association of Colleges North
Association of North East Councils
Cabinet Office
CBI
Child Poverty Unit
Christian Aid
City of London Corporation
City Parochial Foundation
Commission for Rural Communities
Community Foundation Serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland
Crossroads Care
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Department for Children Schools and Families
Department for Culture Media and Sport
Department for Energy and Climate Change
Department for International Development
Engineering and Technology Board
ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council)
Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
Ernst and Young LLP*
European Climate Foundation
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Friends of the Earth
Global Development Network
Government Equalities Office
Greater London Authority
Greenpeace Environmental Trust
Home Office - UK Border Agency
Homes and Community Agency (formerly the Housing Corporation)
Independent Asylum Commission
Institute for Employment Studies
International Development Research Centre (Canada)
Jobcentre Plus
Kent County Council
KPMG*
Learning and Skills Council – Coventry
Local Government Association
London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Islington
London Borough of Waltham Forest
London Councils
London School of Economics
Low Pay Commission
NASUWT
National Museum Directors' Conference
National Policing Improvement Agency
National Trust
National Union of Journalists
National Youth Agency
New America Foundation
North East Improvement& Efficiency Partners
North East Refugee Service
North East Strategic Migration Partnership
Northern Rock Foundation
OFCOM
Office for the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland
One NorthEast
Princess Royal Trust for Carers
Public and Commercial Services Union
Save the Children Fund North East Development Team
Scottish Enterprise
Serco Group Plc*
Skills Development Scotland
State Government of Victoria
Stockwell Community and Resource Centre
Sustainable Consumption Institute
Swedish Foreign Ministry
Tata Consultancy Services*
TUC
UFI/Learndirect
UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy
UK Commission for Employment and Skills
UK Online Centres
Unison
University of Hertfordshire
University of Oxford
Welsh Assembly Government
Working Links
World Vision UK

Look chaps, if you're going to lie in the accounts, there's no point then telling the truth on your website is there? The chances are that most people would go to your website first anyway. So, epic fail, I'm afraid.

* I've left some private businesses on there who earn a fortune from government contracts.