Earlier this week the Charity Commission closed its investigation into the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation over funding made towards the construction of the new Club des Sports building in Courchevel.
INEOS founder and CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe is worth around £30 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2023, and is a very keen skier who owns properties in Courchevel.
His daughter is a keen racer and trains at the Club des Sports in Courchevel.
In 2019 his foundation donated €12.5 million to the Club des Sports in Courchevel to aid with the costs of a new building at the foot of the race stadium in Courchevel 1850.
The building was used by the organisers during the World Alpine Ski Championships in February 2023, which were jointly hosted by Courchevel and Méribel.
The Charity Commission decided to investigate whether this funding met the public benefit test.
This was because it transpired that there is an exclusive members club, identified as the 'Courchevel Ski Club' (CSC), which operates from one room at the top of the building. The club has a joining fee of €25,000, as well as an annual fee of €6,000.
However, as the CSC uses only 4% of the clubhouse and that, in addition, the Club des Sports receives the income generated by CSC membership, which itself subsides their own membership costs of only £25 per month, the commission concluded that the donation was allowable.
The Jim Ratcliffe Foundation was set up in 2019 to relieve poverty and improve the lives of socially and economically disadvantaged communities and to promote amateur sport.
The Commission's report says that it was satisfied that 'Sir Jim Ratcliffe did not influence the trustees' decision on how to apply his donations'.
Bizarrely, they went on to say that 'while no conflict of loyalty has been identified, the public may believe one to exist'.
A screengrab from the original Ineos Clubhouse website:
