British Regulator Raps Charity Over Spending on Political Group

Britain’s Charity Commission has issued a warning to a nonprofit group that channeled virtually all of its grants to an associated political organization, The Guardian reports.

The regulatory agency investigated the Politics and Economics Research Trust following news-media reports that the charity directed approximately $818,000 – 93 percent of its grant spending – to the Taxpayers’ Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes and budget cuts.

The alliance’s former chief executive, Matthew Elliott, was also secretary of the research charity.

Previous Guardian articles raised questions over whether donors were asked to channel support for the Taxpayers Alliance through the trust so the alliance would benefit from the British government’s charitable-contributions matching program.

In a report issued Monday, the commission warned of “reputational risks” to the trust over questions of its independence from its primary recipient. The charity’s trustees announced they would review its governance and share the results with regulators.