Trusting can be hard itself, but when it comes to charity, we really don’t know where is our money going. Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been banned from serving as a charity trustee in England and Wales for five years following an inquiry by the Charity Commission.
Naomi Campbell has a long history of philanthropy and charity work. She founded Fashion for Relief in 2005, a charity that merges fashion and philanthropy to support various humanitarian causes.
The charity initially focused on raising funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and later shifted its focus to educational programs in Africa.
Fashion for Relief organized high-profile fashion events featuring celebrities and members of the British royal family, raising significant funds.
However, a recent investigation by the Charity Commission found that only a small portion of the funds raised was actually spent on charitable grants.
Naomi Campbell is No Longer a Charity Trustee in England and Wales
The investigation revealed serious mismanagement and financial misconduct at her charity, Fashion for Relief, which she founded in 2005 to support humanitarian causes through fashion events.
The inquiry found that a significant portion of the funds raised by the charity was spent on luxury hotels, spa treatments, and cigarettes, rather than being directed towards charitable causes.
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Only 8.5% of the charity’s expenditure was allocated to grants for charitable purposes between 2016 and 2022. Unauthorized payments totaling £290,000 (approximately 377,688.75 U.S dollars) were also made to one of the trustees.
Campbell admitted to failures in her role as a trustee but denied any personal misconduct. She stated that she wasn’t in control of the charity’s day-to-day operations and had not engaged in any financial misconduct.
“I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a legal employer,” she said
Despite Naomi Campbell’s claims, the Charity Commission disqualified her along with two other trustees for their roles in the mismanagement.
Fashion for Relief has been removed from Britain’s list of charities, and Campbell is now prohibited from holding any senior management role in any charity in England and Wales for the duration of the ban.
