Over the past few years, Common Purpose and its founder and CEO
Julia Middleton, have been the subject of conspiracy theories and
negative commentary regarding their integrity. They have been
accused of everything from running Britain and Europe - and more
recently the US - to being a secret brainwashing society. They have
also been portrayed as criminals, child abusers, embezzlers of
government funds and being spies.
We have refrained from taking legal action to date because
Common Purpose staff, course participants, customers and supporters
have tolerated these assertions in the spirit of freedom of speech
and it not being the best use of charity funds. But freedom of
speech does not bring with it a license to distribute complete
untruths on the internet without challenge. Our lawyers have
written to the authors of these remarks to make it clear that we
will no longer allow such allegations to go unchallenged.
Common Purpose is an independent, well respected, not for profit
organisation that has been registered with the Charity Commission
since 1993. The Commission, which regularly reviews the charities
which it regulates, has never raised any concerns about our work or
about our charitable status. I am proud to chair the Common
Purpose Board of Trustees and very proud of what Julia has
achieved, and of what we do.
As our website makes clear Julia has been committed for nearly
20 years to a very simple proposition: that communities will work
better if the leaders of them - in the private sector, the public
sector and the not for profit sector - work together to identify
opportunities to improve things for the public good. Our courses
are outlined on our website for all to see. The testimonials we
have received from clients from all walks of life demonstrate the
value and success of our leadership courses. This is what Common
Purpose is all about and it's what we continue to do - as we have
done for the last 20 years.
