Captain Tom’s fundraiser passes £30m on his 100th birthday despite disinformation campaign

British World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore has gained celebrity status for his charitable efforts. Despite a malicious campaign on social media, today – his 100th birthday – saw his fundraising top £30 million ($37.5 million).

Birthdays don’t come much better than this. Captain Moore aimed to raise £500,000 ($625,440) for NHS charities by walking 100 lengths of his (rather sizeable) garden before his 100th birthday. That milestone is today and not only has he completed his challenge, but the total he’s raised passed £30 million this morning.

Oh, and he also got two special gifts delivered from a safe social distance: an honorary title of colonel (though he still goes by captain) and a fly-past by two World War II Spitfire fighters.

His success comes despite an apparently anonymous damaging message, a screenshot of which has been circulated on WhatsApp. It was also posted by people on Twitter, with some discrediting the allegation.

His success comes despite an apparently anonymous damaging message, a screenshot of which has been circulated on WhatsApp. It was also posted by people on Twitter, with some discrediting the allegation.
The message, the appalling grammar in which (“let’s do a few maths”) should be a red flag about the intelligence of its authors, claims that Maytrix Group Ltd, a company run by Tom’s children, is profiting from the donations to the tune of 1.98 percent of each transaction. It also claims they’re getting an additional five percent of any Gift Aid (a scheme whereby charities can claim an additional 25 percent of any donation by British taxpayers from Revenue and Customs).

The fundraising page was indeed set up by Tom’s children via Maytrix. However, any fees are charged by the fundraising site, JustGiving. They charge 1.98 percent plus 20p per sterling donation, and 2.98 percent plus 20p for all other currencies. They used to charge a five percent platform fee but scrapped this in 2019, asking donors if they would like to contribute a voluntary additional amount to the running of the site and charging charities a monthly membership depending on their level of funding.

The company told Reuters that 97 percent of donations will go directly to NHS Charities Together, two percent will cover payment processing fees, and approximately one percent will go back into the company. They also donated £100,000 ($124,973) to Tom’s campaign when he reached £10 million ($12.5 million).

Daniel Fluskey, the head of policy at the Institute of Fundraising, said: “While it is a tech company and not a charity it is important we see [JustGiving] as a partner with charities. If you didn’t have that technical sophistication, it’s entirely possible the system would have crashed – and you wouldn’t have raised all that money for the NHS.”

It’s a law of humanity that someone will attempt to shoot down any good deed, and another that few people will bother to fact check anything they see on social media. Thankfully, it’s also law that most people who see a centenarian trying to do something noble and helpful for his country – for the second time in his life – will know who to believe.

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