Sentebale trustee: Sophie Chandauka’s fundraising schemes went nowhere

Slowly but surely, I believe the full story of what really went down at Sentebale will eventually come out. It’s already starting to come out and I’m grateful that Prince Harry, Prince Seeiso and the now-former trustees of Sentebale are starting to get their side of the story out. There are more reports – even in British outlets – about Sophie Chandauka’s gross mismanagement of Sentebale, and how completely bizarre it is that she refused to step down as chair, and instead ran to the British tabloids and lobbed a lot of insults and veiled threats at Prince Harry in particular. Vanity Fair’s piece on the drama was mostly a rehash, but a source close to the situation told VF that “the trustees who resigned were concerned about financial mismanagement during Chandauka’s tenure, and that the relationship began to fray starting in December.” That was just a couple of months after Harry’s visit to Lesotho.

Meanwhile, I was shocked to read this piece in the Times of London, written by royal reporter Kate Mansey. It shocked me because Mansey acknowledged that, actually, it speaks volumes that the board of trustees and the two royal patrons and co-founders had no faith in Chandauka and they all resigned in protest of HER. Mansey also published extensive comments from Dr.Kelello Lerotholi, who was one of the trustees who resigned (and he’s also Prince Seeiso’s cousin). Some highlights from this piece:

Comments from Dr. Kelello Lerotholi: One man who is beyond baffled by the situation is Dr Kelello Lerotholi, one of the trustees who recently quit alongside Seeiso and Harry, and who has been involved with the charity since its inception. Lerotholi is “worried about the emotional wellbeing of both princes” in light of the events of the past few days. He says: “I think given their commitment to the welfare of kids, they are torn apart at the thought of looking like they’re abandoning them when they know that they’re not abandoning them.”

Lerotholi regards Harry as family. He is a cousin of Seeiso and regards Harry as “family”. Lerotholi had one of the few big-screen televisions in Lesotho when Harry came to visit during his gap year in 2004. “They would go out to the mountains and so on and then come back to my place to be refreshed, watch the rugby and hang out,” he said. “It was during those trips in the very rural, remote areas where the prince took him that he really saw the dire straits and the hard situation that kids were growing up in the area.”

Harry’s fundraising for Sentebale: The board hit upon the lucrative idea of annual VIP polo matches, where they could charge rich benefactors up to $100,000 to play alongside Harry. Over time those matches would raise nearly £12 million and provided a good deal of the money required to run the charity. Harry has also topped up the coffers with charity concerts and a $1.5 million donation from the proceeds of Spare. Ten years on, the party seems to have ended. It couldn’t come at a worse time. Sentebale has already had to cut back after Trump announced that USAID would be wound up.

Chandauka began ruining Sentebale from within: A source familiar with the matter said that when Chandauka joined the organisation it “was in a stable financial position and over the course of her tenure that changed’’. The start of the problem, they said, was the “breakdown of a long-standing relationship with a key funder tied to the annual polo cup”. While a polo match went ahead last year in Miami, it was not promoted as the “Sentebale cup”. Executives started peeling away from the charity and news filtered round that perhaps things weren’t as cosy as they had been. The charity had moved to Africa and was looking at ways to increase fundraising that didn’t place the burden solely on Harry. Regular board meetings continued every other month over Zoom and soon it was clear that there were concerns. There was largely a feeling that the funds were only flowing one way — out. Those close to the situation say that money was spent on consultants “at a cost of around £500,000” and while they waited for the investment in resources to pay off, the donations “failed to come to fruition”.

Chandauka’s fundraising scheme never panned out: One former trustee who asked not to be named said: “We were not looking to pivot to fundraising in Africa but in America. Sophie Chandauka was confident she could produce this. Sadly, she spent money on consultants and her fundraising efforts brought very little success.” In December the most recent partnership deal fell through. At that stage, the board sought to act with a plan to replace the chair.

Lerotholi on Chandauka’s bizarre, accusatory statement: “I look on in horror today at the content of the statement, you know, and the allegations made about misogyny and all of that. I can honestly say that, first of all, professionally, in the primary health care work I’ve been doing, I’ve become very sensitive to those other issues of people being discriminated against and so on. I can honestly say in all the meetings that I’ve been involved in, there has been no hint of such. People have been dealing with each other respectfully. Yes, I mean, as there is with any human interaction, there will be time when voices are raised for emphasis or when people feel they’re not being heard, there will be voices raised. But there’s never been a put-down, there’s never been a dismissive tone, there’s never been, you know, at least not in my presence, any of those people being set upon and being made to feel little. I never, not in any single meeting, experienced it.”

What is Chandauka’s game plan? How can Sentebale continue to exist without the princes at the heart of the organisation. Lerotholi doesn’t understand Chandauka’s game plan. “Given how much [the princes] put of themselves and their mothers in this, if you think about this, the name Sentebale, the literal translation is forget-me-not, they clearly named this entity in memory of both their mothers, who were global mothers, I would say. And so for me, I don’t understand why if somebody takes over quote unquote the entity without them, what is that entity in remembrance of?” So, could there be a world in which Harry and Seeiso are able to seize back control of the charity? It’s possible, Lerotholi says. “They’re not adverse to working for the kids. That is their commitment and that’s what they want to see happen.” He adds: “It reminds me of the US saying: ‘We shall overcome.’”

[From The Times]

This answers some questions we had – the polo match in Florida last year was a fundraiser for Sentebale but it wasn’t called the Sentebale Cup, which was what the annual polo fundraiser was called in years past. Remember, People Magazine also said that because of Chandauka’s actions, the Sentebale Cup lost a major sponsor, and they apparently canceled an autumn polo match because of it. The Times also says that a Sentebale Cup polo match was loosely scheduled for this November in Argentina, but it’s likely to be canceled, or perhaps it will be rebranded. I also think Lerotholi’s final point is worth repeating: what the hell is this woman’s endgame? How could Sentebale continue on without the two royal patrons and founders who started the charity in honor of their mothers? It’s frankly disgusting that Chandauka would appropriate Sentebale and continue with this hostile takeover.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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56 Responses to “Sentebale trustee: Sophie Chandauka’s fundraising schemes went nowhere”

  1. Lala11_7 says:

    Regarding THIS 🤬…all I have to see is that she lost one of their BIGGEST donors and she was UNABLE to host their BIGGEST FUNDRAISER EVENT LAST YEAR!

    She needs to be fired…it’s as simple as THAT and since THAT ain’t simple Harry et al did the RIGHT thing.😡

    • Beth says:

      I’ve said before, if she gave a false statement to UK tabloids and other media outlets about getting an injunction, did she also lie to the trustees and founders about this? Hopefully, the Charity Commission investigation will uncover all the facts (she should step back while the investigation’s ongoing, at the very least).

    • GMH says:

      There probably is a provision in the bylaws that holds trustees and the chair to fixed terms and she is holding onto her position until her term ends. Probably no provision to fire a chair before term ends. So trustees and founders asked her to resign and when she refused they resigned en mass. Practically her days are numbered with no new money coming in. When she finally caves the founders will step back in with the former board. The princes alluded to “for now” in their statement.

      • Lawrenceville says:

        Yeah, this woman thought she’s got har grabby hands on a little money grabbing scheme; thought she gonna laugh all the way to the bank. But, this will end in tears and embarrassment for her, just watch. I think the $500,000 will be the last. And it won’t be as long as derangers are fervently hoping and praying it will.

    • Lily says:

      Williams hand is in there to, just found out that one of his former staffmember got a job at Sentebale not long after this women took over. It makes sense since he was telling everyone Africa is his. He was pissed that Harry could make something good withouth him and he could make it work for over 20 years

  2. sevenblue says:

    “I don’t understand why if somebody takes over quote unquote the entity without them, what is that entity in remembrance of?”

    That is the point I also made in the previous articles while some were still giving her the benefit of the doubt. I understand, a charity can get bigger than their founders and turn into something so much greater that they wouldn’t need those patrons. However, for this particular charity, this isn’t the case. Two Princes didn’t stop taking care of it or fighting to fund it. Harry gave his own money to them and did a lot of international events to find them funds. In an international stage, why would anyone give their money to this particular charity without their famous founders while there are bigger and more connected ones? All she is gonna achieve is to take the charity down. This is also not just Harry or Seeiso. EVERYBODY resigned. I don’t get why it is so hard to see the incompetency if you are not just a hater.

    • Lala11_7 says:

      👍 THAT PART! Back in the day I used to work for UNCF ..and at time the organization had a STELLAR reputation for raising funds with the annual “Lou Rawls Telethon” and the walkathons that would happen ALL over the country etc…then we got a “big wig corp pseudo titan” 😡 as a CEO who proceeded to decimate morale alienate small donors who were the consistent life line for the charity…spend OBSCENE 💲 on his expenses while BRAGGING that he didn’t receive a salary…it was AWFUL…until the ICONIC LEGENDARY FLY JOCK 💚 Tom Joyner stepped in and started taking over the fundraising programs and EXPLODED them with his yearly cruises & tying the charity to voters registration projects at live shows etc…
      I also did some work back in the day with Michael Jordan & his absolute FARCE of a charity he had for one minute…which is why I’m GLAD Harry et al got outta there QUICKLY and SO PUBLICLY! It’s OBVIOUSLY that CEO has a nefarious agenda or is incompetent AF or both!😡

      • sevenblue says:

        Imagine this was investigated while Harry was still the patron. The tabloids giving her the mic to talk sh*t about Harry would put all her failures on Harry and accuse him of misusing the funds. I am also happy she was left alone with all her mismanagement, so this will just be on her.

      • Blogger says:

        I hope an audit will publish her expenses.

  3. Over it says:

    She just wants to say she is the head chair, but the head of a chair with no seat and no back is just a frame. So good luck to her . I hope Harry and sessio can find a way to continue to honor their moms and continue to help the children and others they have always helped .

  4. Eurydice says:

    I’ve been wondering how Sophie Chandaukas could spend $500,000 on consultants without board approval. From this it sounds like maybe the board approved a fund-raising plan targeting the US, she bungled it and then the bills started coming in.

    • Blogger says:

      She thought it was Sophie’s charity, not Sentebale.

    • kirk says:

      She gets them to sort of rollover on various changes to the org so she can broadly interpret them as she wants while claiming agreement and taking charge of direction. If there’s a dual signature threshold on expenditures, like ~£50K, she circumvents it with ~12 payments of ~£41K to £42K each to friends and family colluders. Voila!

  5. Tina says:

    The only way this makes sense to me is if she was promised funding by people with deep pockets. Otherwise I don’t see how Sentebele continues without their sponsors and without the relationships that the princes have built for 20 years. I imagine a lot of their regular donors are also people who came to this charity through the princes and will choose to walk away as well. And reputable companies are not going to get involved now that there is this cloud hanging over it. So yah….ugh I hate this for the princes but most of all for the vulnerable kids who are going to be hurt.

    • jais says:

      That’s the part that really hurts. There are kids who were depending on this aid.

    • Lily says:

      It would make sense if it was public knowledge that Williams former staffmember got a job at Sentebale. He just could not accept that his brother is good at something and can build something withouth him

      • Tara says:

        It certainly Reads Like Sabotage from within. Hearing about the staff member gives me chills. Unbelievable how deep the hatred of PW must be.

  6. Dee(2) says:

    I can understand wanting to diversify the fund raising avenues, and not solely rely on polo as Harry won’t play polo forever. Also, I understand wanting to prioritize input and charitable donations from those on the African continent for a charity supporting youth in southern Africa. But you shouldn’t get rid of, or antagonize the people that are your major fundraiser until you have secured enough alternatives to replace them. Alternatives that are consistent and have given you money more than just once.

    I don’t know if it was just ego, or her believing in that people would deliver that didn’t, or if she wanted to force them out from the beginning and trade on the reputation and good name of this organization for her own means. Either way it’s very sad for the staff that are working at the ground level, and especially for the kids who are going to be the ones impacted most by these funds not being raised, and the funds that did exist being misappropriated on consultants. Outside of everything else that’s the biggest issue for me, to spend that much money out of a charities coffers to figure out how to raise money.

  7. Hypocrisy says:

    All I keep thinking Is she is clinging to that position for some reason… eventually it will come out.

  8. Blogger says:

    Like Trump, she prefers to burn the joint down. The only person she’s burning is her.

    Also the audacity of her to think that SHE knows more than the two founders and their mission. She wanted to fundraise without their input but burnt through the charity’s money. She seems to be like so many other incompetent people placed in charge above her experience and her knowledge.

    Frankly, she’s a nobody who was placed in charge of a well-reputable organisation. Now, she’s somebody who will be avoided.

    Good for the Prince’s cousin to come out with his NAME HAPPILY SOURCED.

    Perhaps the rats might start thinking they may have to do some honest journalism now.

  9. Someone on here a few days back left some information about her and that was she had received an OBE from the royal family and that she also has some role in earthshot. Could she be a mole for the royal family to ruin Harry’s charity from within? She did go running to the gutter press bedmates of the royal family with her bizzare version.

    • Dropbear says:

      Could be a mole or totally inept, but one of the new replacement Trustees Sophie brought in , David Rawlinson used to be on Tusk with Prince William..,the plot thickens

      • Blogger says:

        So a Lazy “AFRICA IS MINE” Willie takeover then.

        Good luck in Lesotho Willie. Maybe he can appoint Jecca to takeover Sophie. 😂

    • Danielle says:

      I’ve wonder this too, but why did they hire her? Surely she had something great on her resume to justify putting her in the chairperson position. She was on the board for a number of years, so maybe they thought she already had a good understanding of how things ran and assumed she would continue in the same vein.

      • GMH says:

        Happens all the time in the nonprofit world. You never know really how effective a person will be until they are in the job. If it proves to be wrong, you ask them to leave. That should have been it but she has decided to cling to her post and destroy the board instead. That is the abnormal part.

    • Blogger says:

      It wouldn’t surprise me that her OBE is a recognition of her appointment as a Palace mole hire.

      But as we’ve seen on so many occasions, the Palaces hire incompetent people given responsibilities way above their experience and talent like that babysitter hired to be Meghan’s wedding organiser.

      So no surprise at all if she proves to be another failed Palace employee.

      • GMH says:

        Happens all the time in the nonprofit world. You never know really how effective a person will be until they are in the job. If it proves to be wrong, you ask them to leave. That should have been it but she has decided to cling to her post and destroy the board instead. That is the abnormal part.

    • Nanea says:

      Dr Chandauka is *not* involved with Earthshot.

      No idea who started that rumor, and I don’t think we should still be repeating this days *after* several Squaddies debunked this.

      Fingers crossed for this to be fully resolved, including revealing the instigators and backers of this coup.

      It’s strange that these accusations have been made mostly about Harry, despite Prince Seeiso being a co-founder — and despite many Black people being employed by Sentebale.

      • Laura D says:

        I’ll also add Dr Chandauka doesn’t have an OBE she has a MBE which ranked lower. Mind you the work that she’s doing to discredit Harry and run his charity into the ground will probably earn her a Damehood! IYKYK. 😉

      • Lily says:

        She is not involved with earthshit but hired at least two men who work/worked for William

  10. FancyPants says:

    Why couldn’t she be fired when she first started failing? Why should the princes have to quit their own foundation instead of firing the problem-causer?

    • Cara says:

      Absolutely shameful what Dr. Chandauka has done. The children/young adults served by Sentabale will be the real victims and most affected by her shenanigans. May karma pay Dr Chandauka a visit. Let’s pray that Prince Harry and Prince Seiso are able to rectify this situation and permanently rid the charity of + this woman🙏

  11. Amy Bee says:

    This situation is just crazy.

  12. Inge says:

    This woman kniws Hyevo through his EShotbthinhy.

    This has got KP&BP all over it

  13. MsIam says:

    I believed from the beginning that this was about money, either money missing, misspent, etc. The £500k seems to be the issue, it seems unlikely that she could make payments or sign contracts for that amount without board approval unless this was the total spent over time and the board didn’t realize how much was being spent until a finance report was made. But these things happen, we had a person embezzle $40 million from a local nonprofit, despite there being annual audits and a finance committee on the board. I hope this will be resolved soon and they get back to helping the children.

  14. sunnyside up says:

    Interesting to see this in the Times, Murdoch. Mind you, the Times is read by the people who run the country, so when there are facts they have to be careful.

  15. Tis True Tis True says:

    I was guessing something along these lines. There is a big push now to move away from Western donors being in charge of how money is spent in Africa. It all too often doesn’t reflect the actual local needs.

    It’s so easy to try to fit into this new agenda without looking at what is actually working in the current setup. This is a limited charity, with one major fundraising stream – polo matches. The money is spent in one area – HIV+ children’s healthcare. So while it may be seen as problematic in terms of funding sources, it really isn’t harmful in the ways many Western charities are. Also, if someone came to me looking to raise local money for Sentebale, I would tell them to fck off and spend their polo money, I have my own priorities.

    Her fundraising schemes went nowhere because she already had money. People aren’t going to give money to someone who can easily get it elsewhere. The huge amount for consultants may turn out to just be foolishness or it might be something worse. Either could be true.

    If people are wondering why she can’t be fired, it’s because charities are set up in such a way that the charity is independent of the donor’s control. This is to stop someone from setting up a chariot that benefits themselves. Of course, when the charity is badly run, it means it can be hard to get things back on track.

  16. L4Frimaire says:

    I really don’t understand thr motivation here. She has a stellar resume and doesn’t need Sentabale. She could have left, they would have put out an anodyne statement thanking her and that would have been that. I sincerely hope Princes Harry and Seeiso are able to regroup and find a way to continue the work of Sentebale in Lesotho. This takeover doesn’t benefit anyone, especially the local people they work with . I hope they are regrouping and working towards this. However, you don’t work for 20 years on a passion project and just move on from it. They are probably processing all of this and looking at all the angles. What a disaster.

  17. Lizzie says:

    Y’all have a better memory than me, but didn’t Invictus hire someone high level who quit in about a year? The DM tried to make a big deal out of it but I think it might just be how it goes with charities. Not everyone works out and if you’re at a high level then you step down when asked.

  18. Afken says:

    This is so confusing. It’s a voluntary role, it didn’t work out, make your apologies and leave. Why is she clinging on and then appointing loyalist trustees?? It’s so weird. Just be humble and be like okay my bad it didn’t work out! I understand some of her motivation and the need to come up with fundraisers that perhaps don’t rely on Harry playing polo because he can’t do that forever. But man, even a concert I think would’ve been more effective than the auction, and even more so because they’ve done that before!

  19. Eowyn says:

    Wth USAID defunding so many initiatives, I am very concerned for interruptions in medication access for people in many different countries.
    I don’t know how this woman can be causing so much confusion at a time like this.

  20. Lady Digby says:

    “I am indebted to those who have stood by me and picked up my urgent call for help so that we can continue the mission at Sentebale.”I will continue to faithfully perform my role as Chair of the Board, and I look forward to the opportunity to work with others who are interested in issues of health, wealth and climate resilience for young people in Africa.”
    Last lines of Dr Sophie ‘s statement calling for help as “her one job is to fundraise.” Unfortunately the bulk of her incendiary statement was insulting the 20 year dedication and fundraising of Sentebale,’s co founding patrons. Also she trashes the entire board who she couldn’t work with because they wanted her to resign from being CoB. Additionally she previously fell out with the major funder of the Sentebale Polo Cup. Such a disastrous track record over less than two years in post isn’t going to encourage others to work with her, is it?

    • Calliope says:

      “Wealth” and “climate resilience”? That sounds like a curious expansion of their mission.

      This whole thing is bizarre and sad. I agree, she has a spectacularly bad track record for such a short time, blowing through $500K, losing a major sponsor, alienating the board and founders, lying about an injunction to tabloids. Why would anyone trust her with money? Why would the new “trustees” she lined up want to be involved in this in any way?

  21. tamsin says:

    This woman is suing an African children focused on helping vulnerable children in one of the poorest African countries? One of the founders is the brother of the current king of Lethsoto. Where does she get the nerve? Who is supporting her? She obviously doesn’t give a damn about the children and her actions clearly show this. A hostile takeover of a small charity gives rise to many questions.

    It seems to me that she wants to destroy the charity. What motivation for that, though? Also, I’ve never seen a previous chair so front and centre at public events for Sentabale. She just seemed thirsty for attention, and inserted herself into every photo-op and tried to stand tried to stand next to Harry. I thought that the chair is answerable to the board. How can she appoint her own board members?

  22. fwiw says:

    I read that one of her new board members, the white male, was connected to William through Tusk. If so, I can’t rule out that Sophie was intended to pull off a coup.

    • fwiw says:

      His name is Iain Rawlinson.

      The article was at feminegra.com,
      titled “Is the Sentebale Power Shift a Royal Takeover or a Simple Restructure?”

      • kirk says:

        fwiw – thanks for the feminegra reference. Perhaps all those brittabloid stories positing Harry wouldn’t be in this position if he’d remained a working royal are coming from inside the house [the BRFCo house that is]. The feminegra article says UK Charity Commission now doing investigation – 😅.

  23. Arhus says:

    I wonder what her relationship is to those fundraising consultants….

  24. Noor says:

    Unbelievable. This woman chair is now attacking Harry via Financial Times

  25. fwiw says:

    That Financial Times article says Iain Rawlinson was Chair of William’s Tusk Trust and “HAS BEEN ADVISING CHANDAUKA.”

    William’s way of honoring Diana: kidnap Harry’s first child, Sentebale.

  26. fwiw says:

    That she goes out of her way to trash Meghan in the FT interview further suggests that she has been working for William. I hope the Charity Commission is unbiased. (End of rant.)

  27. Mads says:

    I imagine Harry’s legal team is monitoring her comments in interviews and, from the clips I’ve seen, there’s a strong case for a defamation suit.

    The old adage “give them enough rope and they’ll hang themselves” will apply here.

    I do smell the influence of the institution with the smear tactics Sophie is now aggressively employing; so many of their talking points and dragging Meghan into this is such a red flag.

    I really hope Harry takes a long, hard look at anyone connected to his remaining charities that have accepted honours or still have even the slightest link to the institution or his immediate paternal family; they need to be cut loose – at this point I don’t think I’m being hysterical.

  28. anotherlily says:

    She is using her HONORARY doctorate dishonestly by calling herself Dr Chandauka. It is not an earned academic qualification. To put it in context Camilla has an honorary doctorate in literature. The award was presented by Princess Anne who holds no advanced academic qualifications but who is Chancellor of the University of London. Camilla’s friend, Jeremy Clarkson, has an honorary doctorate as does William’s friend, David Beckham.

    It is not correct to use an honorary doctorate as if it reflects an earned academic status. The correct form is to include the award after a name with (Hon) attached.

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