The number of concerns raised with the Charities Regulator last year was up by more than two thirds on the previous year, the watchdog has said.
Some 531 concerns were received by the regulator last year that 351 organisations may be in breach of the Charities Act 2009.
More than half of concerns related to organisations that were not registered charities, including charitable organisations carrying out activities while not being registered, and organisations misrepresenting themselves as charities.
In its first annual compliance report, the Charities Regulator said it also received 18 reports under in relation to suspected theft or fraud offences under section 59 of the Charities Act 2009
It said an analysis of concerns received since its office was established in October 2014, up to the end of 2017, showed the main category of concerns related to financial control and transparency (29 per cent), legitimacy of a charity (23 per cent) and governance (23 per cent).
Emerging themes also included conflicts of interest and charities being unaware of their legal duties and responsibilities.
The concerns came from a variety of sources including members of the public, other government bodies/regulators and “through its own proactive monitoring”.
Annual returns
There were concerns about charity trustees having a lack knowledge of their charity’s governing document, of trustees not holding or attending meetings, and of trustees making decisions without documenting them in formal board minutes.
Concerns were also raised in some cases about charities failing to make annual returns, and of failing to disclosing suspected fraud offences.
There were also concerns about credit card expenditure that was not supported with receipts.
"We greatly appreciate the public's assistance and, working with the public, the regulator will continue to target those who are not registered, and those who are in breach of their obligations under the Charities Act," chief executive John Farrelly said.
Inspectors
Last year was the first full year the Charities Regulator had powers under the Charities Act 2009 (Part 4) to protect charitable organisations. These include powers to investigate the affairs of charitable organisations, to require production of documents and to impose intermediate sanctions.
During the year, the Charities Regulator appointed inspectors to carry out statutory investigations into two charities. It published the inspectors’ report into a third charity, in respect of which inspectors were appointed in 2016. It said it also imposed intermediate sanctions on another charity.
“As part of our work, we met with 48 trustees and 18 other representatives of organisations during the year in relation to compliance matters,” Mr Farrelly said.
The watchdog issued public information notices regarding house-to-house collections, and itswork relating to shops, which were describing themselves as charity shops, but which were not part of registered Irish charities. It also published information on the regulator’s role in respect of sales of charity land.
“Our compliance activities, combined with the other work being undertaken by the Charities Regulator, is part of a strategy to support transparency within all registered charities, while supporting good people to do good work,” Mr Farrelly said.