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Health charity MSI Reproductive Choices has defended the award of nearly £ 1.6million in contracts to a company whose chairman is also one of its directors.
Philip Harvey, administrator of the association since 1992, is also president of DKT International, a company he founded in 1989.
The company describes itself as a non-profit organization that uses “the power of social marketing over some of the largest countries with the greatest needs for family planning, HIV / AIDS prevention and safe abortion.”
MSI’s latest accounts for 2020 show that the DKT group of companies was “a party to several deals” with the charity.
The accounts show that the charity contracted out £ 1.1million in services to DKT, and the company provided supplies to the charity worth £ 147,000, while that a subsidiary of DKT provided goods to the charity totaling 346,000 pounds sterling.
The charity said the trustees had no involvement in the purchase of goods and services.
A spokesperson for MSI said: “We have a clear and strong conflict of interest policy that applies to all team members, including the management team and the board of directors, and our governance structures have been audited externally.
“As two of the largest family planning providers in the world, it is by no means unusual for MSI Reproductive Choices to partner with DKT where the job demands it. “
The Charity Commission said it was legal for trustees to enter into contracts with companies in which they had an interest as long as they complied with the Charities Act and the requirements set out in the charter. ‘charity.
“We expect all directors to identify and appropriately manage any conflict of interest and make decisions in the best interest of their charity,” said a spokesperson for the commission.
MSI’s accounts also show that the performance bonus paid to the association’s chief executive, Simon Cooke, fell for the second year in a row.
His bonus increased from £ 124,000 in 2019 to £ 20,000 in 2020, but his total salary still exceeded £ 244,000. But that’s still a substantial reduction between £ 430,001 and £ 440,000 in 2018 and between £ 340,001 and £ 350,000 in 2019.
The charity, which changed its name from Marie Stopes International last year, had previously been criticized by the Charity Commission for failing to properly record the discussions that led to Cooke receiving such a large salary in 2018.
The charity said: “Part of our CEO’s salary depends on achieving certain goals and while the MSI teams have been remarkably successful in continuing their services throughout the pandemic, we have not met. our overall growth targets, which impacted his compensation. “
The association’s total income fell from £ 14million year on year to £ 294million, according to the accounts.
Total spending fell from £ 13million to £ 288million and spending on charitable activities fell by a similar amount to £ 286million.
The charity paid out £ 444,000 in severance and severance pay, but said it did not collect data on the number of employees to which it relates as it was not a requirement under the Sorp.
But he said the layoffs were included as part of a larger figure in the accounts which shows the average number of employees has declined by more than 800, from 10,300 in 2019.
The charity said: “The eight percent reduction in membership was due to a number of factors: some related to the end of projects and funding cycles, and others due to the financial impact of pandemic and the need to preserve, secure and protect in order to ensure the sustainability of the organization.
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