One Young World has three trustees and 43 staff, and organises annual conferences for young people from around the world, including an annual four-day youth leadership event.

It reported charity income for £8.4m for the 2022 financial year end, generated from delegates fees for the annual summit, exhibition space, sponsorships and third party grants. In 2022, more than 70 events were held around the world attended by over 8,500 people.

The Charity Commission found governance failings and breaches of trust by One Young World’s trustees, including poor minute taking, a lack of evidence that conflicts of interest had been effectively managed, and unauthorised payments to a connected person employed by the charity’s trading subsidiary. 

The charity currently has three trustees, including chair David Jones, Elio Leoni Sceti and Jonathan Mitchell. A fourth trustee, Kate Robertson, who is also the chief executive officer of the charity resigned last July following criticism from the regulator about conflicts of interest.

Robertson is the co-founder of the charity and CEO, a post she held since May 2016 when she stepped down as global president of advertising agency Havas Worldwide. She was a trustee for 10 years until her resignation in July 2023 and was paid in excess of £225,088 as CEO, remuneration agreed by the trustees. Her daugher Ella Robertson McKay is managing director of One Young World.

The official warning from the charity regulator was issued alongside an action plan, and requires the trustees to address the governance and administrative failures. 

The Commission first intervened in September 2022 following concerns raised in the media about senior staff salaries and bonuses paid at the charity, and potential conflicts of interests, including employment of a person connected to a trustee.

The regulator assessed these matters and found that the salary paid to an employee connected to one of the trustees was unauthorised under the requirements of the charity’s governing document.

Separately, the Commission concluded that bonus payments made to the CEO were not covered by an earlier permission to compensate a trustee for their employment and were unauthorised.

The regulator accepted that the trustees made these bonus payments in good faith at the time, and the trustees in turn have admitted that they should have sought specific authority on this point.

The Charity Commission has engaged with the trustees extensively, providing advice which the charity has already implemented, including the CEO of the charity stepping down as a trustee last year. This will help make it easier to manage any possible conflicts of interest.

The official warning sets out the actions the trustees must take to rectify the breaches of trust and help protect the charity from future governance risks.

These include ensuring that any payments to connected persons are made lawfully, conflicts of interests are appropriately managed, and additional, unconflicted trustees are recruited.

In a statement, One Young World said: ‘One Young World is naturally disappointed at the Charity Commission’s findings over two limited administrative errors. However, the charity also sees this as an opportunity.

‘The Commission’s decision was a consequence of two particular, historic mistakes in legal processes, originally dating from 2015, which were – unfortunately – the result of the trustees’ placing reliance on their former professional advisers, which they did entirely in good faith.

‘Even so, the board of trustees do, of course, regret these issues in process ever arose.’

The charity also confirmed that it had changed some of its governance processes as a result of the regulator’s investigation.

‘As a result of the findings and with the Charity Commission’s stimulus, One Young World’s senior executives and board of trustees has evolved several of its administrative and governance processes to make sure these technical errors do not happen in the future. It has also, notably, appointed new legal advisors.’

The regulator recognised that the charity had taken steps to address the historical governance issues.

Tracy Howarth, assistant director for casework at the Charity Commission, said: ‘Our engagement with One Young World uncovered governance errors that every charity should take care to avoid, especially in relation to executive pay and conflicts of interest.

‘We welcome efforts the trustees have made so far in addressing past failings and making improvements to the charity’s administration and governance. 

‘The official warning sets out the further improvements we now expect the trustees to make. We will continue to monitor their progress.’

The charity is now taking action to resolve any outstanding issues raised by the regulator.

‘One Young World – a relatively fledgling charity - would like to thank the Charity Commission for its time and advice. It would also like to reiterate to its supporters, partners and beneficiaries in almost 200 countries worldwide that it will always strive to be at the very forefront of empowering and developing young leaders globally,’ the statement added.