Until the publication of my article in February this year, "not a single bad word" about the now-defunct Kids Company or its chief executive, Camila Batmanghelidjh, had appeared in the mainstream media for the best part of 20 years, says Miles Goslett in The Spectator.
When I began investigating the charity in 2013, I was struck by the "improbable statistics" quoted in the newspapers about the number of children it helped: a figure of 16,500 in 2010 jumped to 36,000 in 2011, a number "obediently repeated" by every publication thereafter. That the charity was helping a group larger than Newbury's population, in London alone, seemed "incredible".
Yet celebrities and philanthropists "flocked to the cause".
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
The closure is terrible news for those who relied on it. But any group that raises £150m over two decades, much of it from the public purse, and winds up in "such sorry circumstances" deserves to be "scrutinised to the highest degree". The trustees, led by the BBC's Alan Yentob, and Batmanghelidjh, all owe explanations.
Batmanghelidjh's "passionate defence" against the allegations has had "more than an air of the persecuted martyr", says Harriet Sergeant in The Daily Telegraph, with hints of dark secrets about sexual abuse and an "establishment plot".
But along with tales of financial mismanagement, claims of a "culture of fear and favouritism" are emerging.
Yet while the charity was unconventional, revolving around the "lodestar of its eccentric founder", who is "so dyslexic she can't read a text message, let alone a balance sheet", many professionals admired the clinical work therapists did with disturbed children, says Eleanor Mills in The Sunday Times.
What has got lost in "all the hullabaloo" is the reason it existed, which is to "fill the gaps in our creaking care' service". It drew funds because it did good work. Why else would the government have handed it over £30m of taxpayers' money since 2008?
As a rule, charities tend to be more effective than the state at helping vulnerable people, says Philip Collins in The Times. They know the local area and have a set of values that the "remote, bureaucratic state cannot match".
The immediate consequence of Kids Company's demise is that the children will fall back on ill-prepared local authorities without the money, time or expertise to look after them.
But running a charity is hard. They have to deal with clients who are "either chaotic or recalcitrant" and are often reliant on "capricious donors" for funding.
When large sums of public money are available, as they were in this instance, "accountability has to be better". There is no shortage of "idle cash" in Britain and to escape tougher regulation, charities must consolidate, raise more money, and run themselves like businesses. "It would be terrible" if the verdict of this episode was that charities are not fit to provide services.
Every time a relationship works between a child and a company like Kids Company, "society gets a little bigger".
-
Lasting power of attorney rejections soar 200% costing families £5 million – how to get it rightReasons for lasting power of attorney applications being rejected include human error but can also be due to the inconsistent views of those reviewing the application.
-
UK inflation live: did UK inflation peak in September?Tomorrow’s ONS inflation data release marks a key test of the Bank of England’s predictions for the course of inflation in the UK.
-
Defeat into victory: the key to Next CEO Simon Wolfson's successOpinion Next CEO Simon Wolfson claims he owes his success to a book on military strategy in World War II. What lessons does it hold, and how did he apply them to Next?
-
How to find value in Asian small cap stocksThree competing Asian investment trusts all have good records, but this one is the obvious choice at present, says Max King
-
The battle of the bond markets and public financesAn obsessive focus on short-term fiscal prudence is likely to create even greater risks in a few years, says Cris Sholto Heaton
-
'Rachel Reeves’s tax rise will crash the economy'Opinion Rachel Reeves will be the first chancellor since Denis Healey in the 1970s to raise income tax. It will only push Britain into recession, says Matthew Lynn
-
Cringe Britannia: the decline of the UK's soft powerBritain has long wielded soft power through its commitment to sound political values and the export of high and popular culture. That is now under threat
-
'We still live in Alan Greenspan’s shadow'When MoneyWeek launched 25 years ago, Alan Greenspan was chairman of the Federal Reserve. We’re still living with the consequences of the whirlwind he sowed
-
Go for growth: how to invest in emerging marketsDeveloping countries offer investors compelling long-term economic prospects, says David Prosser
-
Isaac Newton's golden legacy – how the English polymath created the gold standard by accidentIsaac Newton brought about a new global economic era by accident, says Dominic Frisby
