What was claimed
Captain Tom and his charity walk has raised 15.5 million with over 750,000 people donating.
Our verdict
The fundraiser was at around £15 million on 16 April. It is now at over £31 million. This doesn’t include Gift Aid.
The Maytrix Group receives no money from Captain Tom’s fundraiser
30 April 2020
What was claimed
For every donation the charity organisers take 1.98% off the fee plus 20p per each donation.
Our verdict
JustGiving charges payment processing fees for card and Paypal payments, charged at 1.9% of the donation plus 20p. The charge is 2.9% plus 20p for donations in other currencies.
What was claimed
If you request gift aid, the charity organisers take 5% of the gift aid before passing it on.
Our verdict
If a donor adds Gift Aid onto their donation, JustGiving deducts a 5% Gift Aid processing service fee. This is collected separately from the donations made.
What was claimed
The charity organisers on JustGiving are called Maytrix. The people who own or set up Maytrix are Captain Tom’s daughter and son in law.
Our verdict
While Captain Tom’s daughter did help him set up his fundraiser, and along with her husband is a director of the Maytrix Group, the company receives no money from the fundraiser.
A number of Facebook posts, shared hundreds of times each, share images of a WhatsApp message that makes a number of claims about the well-publicised fundraiser Captain Tom Moore is doing for NHS Charities Together. It makes claims about the amount of money the “charity organisers” are taking, and alleges that Captain Tom’s family benefits from the money raised. This is incorrect.
It is correct that JustGiving keeps a percentage of the money raised through donations which goes towards service fees and operating costs. The figure given in the message may have been roughly accurate when the posts were published, and is now probably an underestimate. JustGiving told us that over 97% of the money raised goes to charity. We’ve written more about that here.
JustGiving also told us that the Maytrix Group, the company run by Captain Tom’s daughter and son-in-law, does not receive any money from the fundraiser.
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The claims
“Captain Tom and his charity walk has raised 15.5 million with over 750,000 people donating”
The amount raised has now far exceeded that. At the time of writing, over £31 million has been donated to Captain Tom’s fundraiser by over 1.3 million supporters, in aid of NHS Charities Together.
Donations were at £15 million on 16 April.
These figures don’t include Gift Aid that could be claimed back and which currently amounts to an additional £6 million.
Gift Aid allows charities to boost the value of donations from taxpayers by 25%. It essentially means that cash donations are treated as having been tax free, allowing charities to claim back the tax from HMRC.
“for every donation the charity organisers take 1.98% off the fee plus 20p per each donation”
It’s slightly unclear what is meant here by the “charity organisers”. As we’ve said before, JustGiving charges payment processing fees for card or Paypal payments, which is 1.9% of the donation plus 20p. JustGiving says this charge “accounts for the varying costs of processing different payment types”. Donations made in another currency have a processing fee of 2.9% of the donation plus 20p.
JustGiving also told us it keeps around 1% of the total donations to cover operating costs, though it was not able to give an exact figure for this as donations keep rising.
The platform has donated £100,000 to the fundraiser.
“then if you request gift aid they take 5% of the gift aid before passing it on”
As we’ve also said before, if a donor adds Gift Aid onto their donation, JustGiving deducts a 5% Gift Aid processing service fee. This is collected separately from the donations made. At the time of writing, almost £6 million in Gift Aid had been collected (meaning a 5% processing fee would come to almost £300,000).
“so in total the charity organisers have made £600,000, not bad eh.. from what I can gather the charity organisers on just giving I believe are called maytrix.. oh the people who own/set up matrix is only captain toms daughter and son in law”
The £600,000 estimate for fees taken by JustGiving may have been in the right ballpark when the Facebook posts were published, but the real total is now likely higher than this as the total raised has also increased.
Captain Tom’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, did help her father set up the fundraiser. She is also, along with her husband, the director of a company called the Maytrix Group. Speaking on LBC Radio, Ms Ingram-Moore also said that her company was initially sponsoring Captain Tom £1 per length he walked. Maytrix receives no money from Captain Tom’s fundraiser.
A spokesperson for JustGiving confirmed to us that none of the money goes to the Maytrix Group and that the money did not go to anyone other than NHS Charities Together and JustGiving via fees.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as partly false because while JustGiving does charge a service fee and the fundraiser was set up by Captain Tom’s daughter, her company receives no money from it.