FakeCharity

A FakeCharity is generally considered to describe any organisation that calls itself a charity (in that its funds should come from people voluntarily providing contributions) and is generally registered with - in the UK - the Charities Commission or the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, that obtains some, most or all of its funds from sources to which taxpayers (involuntarily) contribute, or in some cases, blackmailed from businesses for fear of said businesses suffering bad publicity of some sort.

While there is no one-true-definition of what differentiates a FakeCharity from a real charity, the two prevailing definitions are

• "derives more than 10% of its income—and/or more than £1 million—from the government, while also lobbying the government" when describing UK charitiees
• any registered charity that accepts any form of tax-payer funding (either direct from government, or via grants from government funded organisations such as the NHS)
• organisations that obtain funds by what can only be called blackmail, for example Drinkaware obtains nearly all its contributions from businesses that would not normally contribute to such an organisation, but do so for fear of being seen as a business that "doesn't care" because they aren't 'donating'. Extortion is another word people use for this behaviour.

The main point being that these organisations are receiving money that was not voluntarily given, and it accounts for a significant amount of their funding.

Another form of FakeCharity exists - those that aren't registered, and are created with the express intention of defrauding the public who give money - this meaning is generally not the one meant when the term is used on this site.