A major children’s charity being kept afloat by celebrity philanthropists including JK Rowling and Coldplay faces closure unless the government steps in with significant funding, its founder warned today.
Camila Batmanghelidjh, 51, said Kids Company, which supports 36,000 vulnerable children in London, Bristol and Liverpool, will not survive beyond Christmas without the funds.
The charity has become reliant on the generosity of the celebrity and private donors, who also include comedian Michael McIntyre, artist Damien Hirst, and former chairman of Prudential, Harvey McGrath.
In August Ms Batmanghelidjh, who has a CBE for her work with young people, had to ask Coldplay for an advance on their annual gift of around £1.3m to meet the charity’s bills.
She said the government had to do more to help the charity, which has four centres and a therapy house in London and offers therapeutic and social work services in over 40 schools.
The charity, which employs 563 trained staff, works with children who are victims of sexual abuse, violence and homelessness.
She said: “I can only sustain it until the end of the year. There’s no way I’m going to continue without proper government funding.”
She said she was frustrated she had to “beg on behalf of society” for funding to deal with problems that should be paid for from public funds.
Although local authorities pay for providing schooling for children who have been excluded, the charity has to meet the heavy costs of therapy out of its own resources.
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It also misses out on public funding for some children on technical grounds because they are “self-referred”. Government funding of £4.5m runs out in March.
Ms Batmanghelidjh said: “Child protection is going to be the Achilles’ heel of this government and so they have to wake up to it.”
She said: “I’m very grateful for (the funding the charity had already received) but the government need to do this properly now.”
Celebrity supporters of the charity also support the charity with more than just financial aid.
Trudie Styler regularly hosts camping holidays for 30 children at the Wiltshire estate she shares with her husband, Sting, while Jemima Khan, the heiress and activist, has hosted 50 children at her Oxfordshire home.
Ms Batmanghelidjh said Kids Company may have become a victim of its own success, with some philanthropists now saying they want to support lesser known charities.