Colchester charity's loan to CEO was to build storage facilities

ON February 6, the Gazette published a story in relation to Community360 loaning its chief executive Tracy Rudling more than £200,000.

In this article the Gazette stated Mr Christopher Godden “became a person of significant control in June 2021” of the building company Godden and Rudling’s, to which Community360 had paid money. This was incorrect.

Mr Godden had in fact resigned as a director of the company in June 2021. We apologise to Mr Godden for any distress caused by the publication of this error.

A CHARITY loaned more than £200,000 to its own CEO so she could build storage facilities for the organisation on her own land, the Gazette can reveal.

Community360 boss Tracy Rudling received a £206,341 loan in the financial year ending 2023, documents revealed earlier this week.

The charity has now defended the payment, saying the money went towards storage facilities for Community360 being built on Mrs Rudling’s land virtually free of charge.

In the same year as the loan, however, the charity also paid £35,571 to Godden and Rudling Building Services – a construction company owned by Mrs Rudling’s husband, Gordon Rudling – plus a further sum of £39,389 to Mr Rudling himself.

It has also since been confirmed by the charity that Mrs Rudling’s daughter, Shelley Rudling, is Community360’s head of finance.

Fair – Colchester MP said 'fair and reasonable' questions needed to be asked of Community 360 (Image: Pexels)

A spokesman Community360 said: “For the past 20 years, our CEO has provided commercial storage facilities for C360 on her land at no cost to the charity.

“As the scope of support required in the local community grew, the charity determined that it would need to expand these storage facilities to meet demand.

“In 2022, Mrs Rudling agreed to provide C360 with the opportunity to expand further onto her land, but felt strongly as the landowner that it should not be the responsibility of the charity to invest in this development.”

The explanation came after days of intense scrutiny for both the charity and Mrs Rudling, with Colchester MP Will Quince even calling for Community360 to face “fair and reasonable questions” about its transparency and potential conflicts of interest.

He told the Gazette: “Community360 is a brilliant local charity which does incredible work supporting our community.

Links – the Gazette can also reveal that Mrs Rudling's daughter is the charity's head of finance (Image: Pexels)

“Fair and reasonable questions have been asked about finance and governance issues that necessitate answers, especially given the partnerships with our two local authorities and the health board.

“It is important that due process is followed, that those partners have the space to ask questions and the charity has the time to answer them fully.”

Colchester Council had also said the allegations raised "fundamental questions" which "needed to be answered”.

The statement also comes after Colchester Council leader and ex-trustee of the charity said accepts he shared responsibility for oversight in the period the loan was granted.

What Community 360 said...

A statement from a Community 360 spokesman read:

"For the past 20 years, our CEO has provided commercial storage facilities for C360 on her land at no cost to the charity. As the scope of support required in the local community grew, the charity determined that it would need to expand these storage facilities to meet demand.

"In 2022, Mrs Rudling agreed to provide C360 with the opportunity to expand further onto her land, but felt strongly as the landowner that it should not be the responsibility of the charity to invest in this development.

"In order to allow C360 to expand the storage facilities that enable us to deliver vital work across the community, the Board agreed to grant a short-term loan to Mrs Rudling, which is being repaid in monthly instalments.

"The loan agreement has collateral built in and a robust clause that the charity can be paid back any time it deems necessary.

"The loan has been funded solely by unrestricted income generated reserves that are ringfenced for future growth opportunities to further our charitable goals, and not from investment from our valued partners.

"This has allowed Mrs Rudling to continue to provide philanthropic support via the use of her land, and to enable C360 to increase its revenue through the interest contribution from loan repayments, which has been inflated above standard market interest rates at the request of Mrs Rudling to further support her desire to financially give back to the charity."

In response to the appointment of Shelley Rudling as the charity's head of finance, a spokesman said: "Ms Shelley Rudling is Mrs Tracy Rudling’s daughter, who was appointed through a completely independent recruitment process, and this appointment was signed off by the Charity Commission in April 2022.

"We have robust conflict of interest procedures in place, with Mrs Rudling being removed from any line management procedures to ensure the charity is operating fairly and transparently."