Tim Watkins

What's Wrong with Charity?: How Modern Charity Practices Are Undermining Our Communities, Democracy and Public Trust Tim Watkins

Publisher Marketing: Charity - the voluntary giving of one's time or money to alleviate suffering, to improve the conditions of our fellows for the common good - has been a key element of civil society for centuries. However, at the beginning of the 21st century a series of scandals has created growing unease about contemporary charities. What's Wrong With Charity sets out why we need to examine the system that creates fraud and mismanagement rather than treating each case as if it were solely caused by corrupt or incompetent individuals. What's Wrong With Charity makes the case that there are six interweaving processes within the contemporary charity sector that are conspiring to create a massive - often bureaucratic - "infrastructure of welfare" that undermines the very notion of charity itself: 1. Poor legislation and a lack of regulation 2. The end of voluntarism and the growth of employment and self-interest within charities 3. Increased fraud and corruption 4. Tax avoidance 5. The creation of "astroturf," "sock puppet" and "moral entrepreneur" charities to hi-jack public discourse and undermine the democratic process 6. The growth of corporate business-emulating charities 7. The problem of charities investing in the corporations and states that cause most of the suffering in the first place. Contributor Bio:  Watkins, Tim Tim Watkins is a life coach, trainer and a founder-director of Life Surfing, a Cardiff-based community interest company established to help prevent mental illness and to promote wellbeing. Tim Watkins graduated from the University of Wales College Cardiff with a first class honours economics degree in 1990. Between 1990 and 1997 he worked as a policy research officer for the Welsh Consumer Council where he researched and wrote a range of policy reports including In Deep Water, an investigation into problems in the aftermath of the North Wales ("Towyn") floods of 1990, and Quality of Life and Quality of Service, an investigation into the promotion of quality of life in residential homes for older people. Following a severe and enduring episode of depression between 1997 and 2000, Tim Watkins began working for the charity Depression Alliance, running its Wales office, and steering it to becoming an independent charity in its own right in 2005. He continued to run the charity (which re-launched as Journeys in 2007) until 2010. During that time, the Welsh Government appointed him to sit on the Health & Wellbeing Council for Wales and the Burrows-Greenwell Review of Mental Health in Wales. He also played a key role in developing the Healthy Minds at Work project, during which he wrote Taking Control, an audio self-help book for people affected by depression, and oversaw the development of the award-winning Depression Busting self-management programme for people affected by depression. In October 2010, along with Julia Kaye and Paul Clarke, Tim Watkins formed Life Surfing CIC as a vehicle to address public wellbeing in people experiencing stress or whose life circumstances put them at risk of developing mental illness, and in people experiencing mild/moderate common mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression.