A children’s charity linked to Meghan Markle has been accused of racism and sexism, with a regulator assessing the allegations, it has emerged. The Duchess of Sussex has been a global ambassador of World Vision since 2016, when she first met Prince Harry and has travelled around the world to see and promote its work.
Now, the Charity Commission is “assessing” a complaint regarding the international charity’s UK arm, which has been accused of being a “toxic” and “hostile” workplace. Allegations against the charity include complaints that racism, sexism and homophobia have allegedly been “ignored, silenced or inadequately handled” by senior leadership.
World Vision UK has denied all allegations against it made by the Third Sector website, which said it interviewed 11 current and former staff. However, it filed a serious incident report with the regulator.
Third Sector, a website focusing on news regarding the charity and voluntary sector, published a story alleging that at least eight staffers left the charity in the last few months, either due to being forced to step down or due to feeling uncomoftable.
The complaint also claimed that World Vision’s Human Resources department confused two black female employees and that colleagues would mispronounce the names of non-white employees or imitate their accents.
Other allegations include those of female employees who were allegedly made to feel uncomfortable after being patronised during meetings.
It was also claimed that non-disclosure agreements were “routinely used to silence staff leaving after negative experiences”. World Vision has said that all the allegations were false and made by a “small” number of former employees.
It’s currently going through a restructure, its second in less than a year, with around 60 of the 200 staff expected to be made redundant.
The charity recently went through its second restructure in less than a year, which put about 90 of its around 200 staff members at risk of redundancy, with 60 roles expected to be cut by the end of last month.
The charity said in a statement: “World Vision UK has contacted the Charity Commission and while any member of the public can make a complaint to them, there is no investigation against the charity. If the commission contacts us in relation to any complaint, we will of course co-operate fully.
“World Vision UK operates by the highest standards set by the Charity Commission. Our processes are devoted to meeting those high standards across all of our operations.
“The allegations we have been made aware of by Third Sector are false and are thought to be sourced from a small number of employees who have left the organisation.
“Our staff are extremely important to us. We provide various mechanisms for dealing with any staff complaints and if these are upheld, we act immediately to put things right and take action.”
The Charity Commission said: “We are currently assessing concerns about World Vision UK to determine what, if any, role there is for the commission as regulator.”