The psychiatric research charity the British False Memory Society has closed due to funding challenges after 30 years, Third Sector has learned.
The charity, which produced research on the issue of false memory, made three redundancies – one full-time employee and two part-time employees – in October as a result of the closure.
A statement on the BFMS website, which has since been taken down, said the closure was at a time when “many small charities are struggling financially”.
It said: “We as trustees and our wonderful staff have trawled the sources of funding over a lengthy period with little or no success in locating secure funding, despite many hours and days of research and applications which were eventually turned down.”
The charity was facing a further issue of “age and succession”, with the statement saying: “Most of our trustees are advancing in years; several of us are approaching 80 years of age, also let’s not ignore Madeline and Molly who are now of retirement age.
“Sadly we have no successors to carry the society forward; therefore, with heavy hearts, we, the trustees, announce that the society will close by the end of the year.”
The statement added that the charity intended to maintain a website for a further three years under a different name, saying: “Our intention is to wind down the operation on a positive note and leave a legacy of good working.”
Kevin Felstead, the charity’s director of communications, told Third Sector that the reasons for BFMS’ closure were “purely financial”, adding that “every year was a battle with funds”.
He said: “We knew we were going to run out of funds, and eventually that’s what happened.”
Felstead said the charity had intended to close last year, but it received a large legacy donation that allowed it to continue for a further year.
In recent years the charity, which often dealt with cases where alleged victims and perpetrators of sexual assault contest historical allegations, has reported itself to the regulator on two separate occasions after reports that two members of its advisory board had histories of committing sexual harassment or offences.
Last year the charity removed Daniel Wright, who had been a member of the BFMS advisory board since 2004, after learning he had been previously investigated over sexual harassment.
In 2021, Karl Sabbagh was removed from the charity’s advisory board, after it emerged that he had been convicted of sexual offences.
But Felstead said: “We haven’t closed down because of any advisory board members or any wrongdoings. We closed down purely on financial grounds.”