FUNDRAISING groups who lost more than £2,000 after a charity website misplaced £250,000 of donations said they felt ‘disappointed’ and ‘let down’ after still being out of pocket three months later.

Finley’s Friends at Holly House, Neave’s Trust and the Tower to Tower Tour still do not know if, or when, they will get the £2,200 raised through the donation processing website Charity Giving after its parent organisation Dove Trust was shut down by the Charity Commission in July to conduct a full investigation.

The Dove Trust’s interim manager, employed by the commission, is determining how much money can be salvaged and returned to the 4,235 fundraising pages.

Kelly Rosbotham, mum of cerebal palsy sufferer Finley, who set her hopes on raising £20,000 to buy specialist IT equipment to support disabled children at Holly House in Accrington, is still missing £2,000.

She said: “It’s a lot of money which I hope is returned soon.”

Jan Evans, whose two-year-old daughter Neave has cerebal palsy, created Neave’s Fund with his wife Maxine to raise funds for disabled charities and an at home sensory room, and is £165 short.

He said: “The most difficult thing has been finding an alternative site which will accept fundraising groups which aren’t charities. This has been offputting when we’re only trying to raise money for good causes.”

Meanwhile, Tower to Tower tour member Emma McNally, who is still awaiting £35 after cycling from Darwen Tower to the Eiffel Tower with five Blackburn residents for Blackburn Foodbank and Blackburn with Darwen Carers Service.

She said: “I know it’s not a massive amount but it’s still upsetting when someone you trust lets you down, especially when people have been good enough to to donate.”

An interim distribution of funds to the good causes, using the currently publicly unknown amount of available cash assets of the Dove Trust, is expected to take place later in the year.

On the Dove Trust website a Charity Commission spokesman said: “We are aware many charities are facing difficulties and we are working to make the interim distribution as quickly as possible.”