Troubled Kirkcaldy charity folds as £100,000 funding is pulled
A Kirkcaldy charity which faced claims of a toxic culture last year is set to fold after it lost key funding.
Additional support needs group, Nourish, has closed its base in the Mercat Shopping Centre, and it is understood its office at Barclay Court, near Asda, is also set to shut.
The moves come after a meeting was called to update members on the problems it has faced, and a decision by Fife Health and Social Care Partnership (FHSCP) to pull £100,000 funding, with other key backers severing ties, meant it could not continue to operate.
The charity was being managed by new trustees with the support of Fife Voluntary Action (FVA) after its internal turmoil became public last February with 40 complaints made against its former chief executive, and regulator OSCR confirmed an inquiry was underway into its operations after concerns were raised over the charity’s governance and management.
New trustees and a board stepped in with FVA - an independent charity that ensures third sector organisations are robust, resilient and deliver high quality services for the people of Fife - to try to tackle the issues, and keep the service running for the families which used it and valued it.
The doors closed to one half of its large premises in the Mercat late last year and, earlier this week the shutters came down on its main charity shop.
A short statement posted on Nourish’s Facebook page said: “The board at Nourish would like to inform all our families, service users and carers that all services at the Nourish Support Centre are currently suspended until further notice. They apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
On Wednesday evening, members attended a meeting and were told there is no way back for the charity.
A statement issued through FVA said: “The trustees of Nourish have been striving to recover from the harms caused by the previous chief executive and some of the trustees at that time. Unfortunately, the financial losses, false representations, reputational harm and scale of improvements needed have made it impossible to recover.
“The trustees, all unpaid volunteers, had made a number of improvements to bring the charity up to legal compliance standards. The core funder recently withdrew funding - worth over £100,000 per annum - and the charity is no longer a going concern.
“Members, volunteers and trustees were understandably upset. Everybody wanted Nourish to continue, but the harms caused by former personnel proved insurmountable.”
The organisation which pulled its backing, understood to be £100,000, was Fife Health and Social Care Partnership.
A spokesperson said: “Fife Health and Social Care Partnership regularly reviews all funded and commissioned services. This helps ensure delivery to the agreed outcomes in their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with us, where they must demonstrate they provide value for money and deliver on mutually agreed expectations set out by both the service and us.
"Although we don't comment on individual commissioned services, decisions around funding are taken as part of our responsibility to ensure public funding is used effectively and in line with our Commissioning Strategy, approved by our Integration Joint Board.”
Concerns were expressed over what happens now to the families and carers who were supported by Nourish as it is formally wound up.
The meeting gave “a firm commitment” to support them, and an interim service will be delivered each Monday by Nourish from Linton Lane Centre A number of ideas were also put forward about the longer-term support that could be put in place.
Trustees will now follow due process and write to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) to seek its permission to close the charity, and dispose of its assets.
“It is really, really sad,” said one source. “It was a lovely space.”
Nourish was set up in 2011 by five parents with additional needs children, and quickly grew to become a go-to place for many local families. It opened an office at the top of the town, and extended its base in the Mercat to include a community hub - that part of the building has now been taken on by a different charity Rookie Rockstars which is set to relocate from its existing base in the shopping centre.