Difference between revisions of "Urgent Projects"
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=== Sanctions screening === | === Sanctions screening === | ||
| − | The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found | + | The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found.<ref name="SANC">[[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]], ''UK Sanctions List'' (CSV); [[Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation]], ''Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets'' (ConList.csv). Batch-11 screening covered 386 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages (UK Government Web Archive), Companies House officers of the charitable companies and of related companies named in the accounts (GS Property Management Services, Igerville, Housefresh, Vitalina, Rochester Developments and Delapage), and trustees, examiners, donors and grant recipients named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; the only token matches were generic words in organisation names ("Trust", "Fund", "Israel", "Republic") and surname-only coincidences (Cohen, Levy, Friedman, Green, Said); lists downloaded October 2026.</ref> |
=== Land and property === | === Land and property === | ||
Latest revision as of 23:13, 25 October 2026
London charitable company delivering aid to Ukraine, with a hostage-related object
| Urgent Projects
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Charitable company |
| Founded | 2023-08-10 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 1204315; company 14752294 |
| Headquarters | Fourth Floor, 32 St. James's Street, London, SW1A 1HD |
| Area served | Throughout England, Ukraine, Israel |
| Key people | Eka Vekua (chair) |
| Website | https://urgent.org.uk |
Urgent Projects is a charitable company (14752294, incorporated 23 March 2023) registered on 10 August 2023; register areas are England, Ukraine and Israel.[1] Its trustees are Eka Vekua (chair), Lenka Chubuklieva, Rodion Shishkov and Eugene Valery Matveichuk, and its registered office is Fourth Floor, 32 St James's Street, London SW1A 1HD.[1][2] Its objects are (I) relief in humanitarian and environmental emergencies in the UK and worldwide and (II) the protection and care of children and vulnerable people "who have been abducted, gone missing, taken hostage or have been otherwise exploited"; its activities are "focused primarily on humanitarian and medical aid in Ukraine", supplying hospitals in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, the Odesa region and Bucha (PDF p.2).[2] In the year to 31 March 2025 donations were £231,201, spending £263,306 and funds £7,453 (PDF p.10).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS ARE RESTRICTED SPECIFICALLY, IN EACH CASE ONLY FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT: (I) TO ASSIST WITH HUMANITARIAN AND/ OR ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCIES AND DISASTERS, WHETHER MAN-MADE OR NATURAL, TO ENSURE THAT ASSISTANCE AND FUNDING IS PROVIDED QUICKLY AT TIMES OF CRISIS, CONFLICT OR DISASTER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND WORLDWIDE; AND (II) TO PROMOTE THE PROTECTION AND CARE OF CHILDREN, YOUNG PERSONS, YOUTHS AND OTHER VULNERABLE PERSONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD (WITHOUT DIFFERENTIATION ON THE GROUND OF RACE, GENDER, COLOUR, NATIONALITY, SEXUALITY OR OTHERWISE) WHO HAVE BEEN ABDUCTED, GONE MISSING, TAKEN HOSTAGE OR HAVE BEEN OTHERWISE EXPLOITED."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "Urgent Projects is a charitable aid delivery service that provides urgent humanitarian aid to those who require it"[1]
Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives, Disability, Other Charitable Purposes.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout England, Ukraine, Israel.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eka Vekua | 2023-03-23 | Yes | — |
| Lenka Chubuklieva | 2023-03-23 | — | |
| Rodion Shishkov | 2023-06-08 | — | |
| Eugene Valery Matveichuk | 2023-06-08 | — |
Companies House officers
Companies House lists 5 current and former officers of the charitable company (14752294), 4 of them active.[3]
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-03-31 | £88,915 | £49,357 |
| 2025-03-31 | £231,201 | £263,306 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Funding in Israel
- No Israel spending identified: the accounts describe aid only in Ukraine and do not mention Israel (PDF p.2).[2] The charity's website states that "Our current priority is Ukraine" and lists no project in Israel.[4]
Israeli partners
No Israeli partner is named.[2][4]
Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| No activity in Israel or the occupied territories is reported.[2] | Not established |
Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated; the accounts do not mention Israel. One of the charity's objects concerns people who have been "taken hostage" (PDF p.2).[2]
Controversies and regulatory action
- No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[5] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[6][7][8][9] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[10]
- Undated approval and mislabelled spending. The approval dates on the trustees' report and balance sheet are left blank, and charitable spending of £263,291 is labelled "Fund Raising" in the statement of financial activities (PDF p.8, 10–11).[2]
- Late filing. The register records the annual return and accounts for the year to 31 March 2025 as due on 31 January 2026 and received on 5 February 2026 – 5 days late.[1] The register overview describes the filing as 11 days late.[5]
Other registers and records
Scotland and Northern Ireland
No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 14 October 2026, searched by name).[11] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[12]
The Gazette
Searches of The Gazette for the charity's name returned only Companies House filing lists; no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice naming the charity was found.[13]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[14]
Sanctions screening
The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found.[15]
Land and property
The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased.[16]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Urgent Projects" returned 68 contributions in total; those not listed above were not established to concern this charity.[17]
Web archive
- urgent.org.uk: 20 yearly captures, first 1999-10-02, last 2026-03-09.[18]
The UK Government Web Archive holds 0 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile; none were found for this charity number.
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification), extract dated 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Charity Commission, Urgent Projects (1204315): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 15 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ Company 14752294: officers Companies House, viewed 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Urgent Projects, URGENT – Charitable Aid Delivery Service urgent.org.uk, retrieved 15 October 2026 ("At the present time our primary mission is to assist Ukrainian civilians affected by the Russian war of aggression"; "Our current priority is Ukraine"; no project in Israel is listed).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-11 charities, all retrieved successfully on 15 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. The pages showed reporting status (for example "Charity reporting is up to date (39 days late)" for British Friends of Rambam Medical Centre, "(4 days late)" for British Friends of Aleh and "(11 days late)" for Urgent Projects).
- ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date), both retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026, retrieved 15 October 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
- ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026, downloaded October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-11 charity names found no matching Scottish registration (the only hits were unrelated names such as J R Gibb Charitable Trust and Boleskine Community Care).
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 15 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-11 charity names returned zero results).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Urgent Projects' The Gazette, searched 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1204315 360Giving, queried 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-11 screening covered 386 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages (UK Government Web Archive), Companies House officers of the charitable companies and of related companies named in the accounts (GS Property Management Services, Igerville, Housefresh, Vitalina, Rochester Developments and Delapage), and trustees, examiners, donors and grant recipients named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; the only token matches were generic words in organisation names ("Trust", "Fund", "Israel", "Republic") and surname-only coincidences (Cohen, Levy, Friedman, Green, Said); lists downloaded October 2026.
- ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK, accessed October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Urgent Projects" Hansard, queried 15 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
- ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for urgent.org.uk Wayback Machine, queried 15 October 2026.