What happened to Harry and Meghan’s ‘delinquent’ charity? Archewell Foundation controversy, explained

A charity foundation set up by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has been listed as “delinquent” after failing to submit certain documents as well as not paying an annual registration fee.

So what exactly went down? Why didn’t the charity pay the fee and submit the documents? And what does it mean to be listed as delinquent? Fear not, we’re going to examine each of these questions and get to the bottom of this controversy, but first of all maybe we should look at what Harry and Meghan’s Archewell charity is all about.

What is the Archewell Foundation?

Despite distancing themselves from the Royal family, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge continue with charitable causes like many other members of the family. According to the Archewell Foundation’s website, it has a pretty broad aim, with programs and initiatives that “uplift and unite communities” by focusing on issues surrounding mental health, race, gender, and more. The foundation has clearly done some good with an updates section showing work that’s been done with students in Abuja and Nigeria as well as their drive to support free press. These are just a few examples of the kind of work the charity has been involved in. Also, an article from BBC News reports that the foundation made $1.2 million in donations to other charitable organizations last year.

The Archewell Foundation controversy

Today the charity was listed as delinquent, this basically means that the organization is late in fulfilling its financial obligations. Archewell has also been told it needs to stop soliciting money and, according to an article from the LA Times, if the delinquency is not remedied soon then the foundations status on the Attorney General’s Registry of Charities and Fundraisers will be changed to “suspended” or even “revoked.”

Obviously this is pretty bad for Harry and Meghan’s charity, which hasn’t had any problems like this before. There’s a chance that the charity could be shut down and all of this over a fee that’s $200 and some lost paperwork.

A spokesperson for the couple revealed that the Archewell Foundation had actually submitted all of its documents on time in another article from BBC News, so really the only issue was the check for the Registry of Charities and Fundraisers not being received. However, it seems more than likely that this was all just an innocent mistake, as the spokesperson claims that the original check had simply not been received, but a “new cheque [sic] has been mailed.” 

So has all of this been blown out of proportion? Maybe, it doesn’t seem like there’s any kind of nefarious reason for the Archewell Foundation to be listed as delinquent. It was a simple mistake which should be rectified when the new check arrives and the fee is paid, of course, if it doesn’t arrive then we should be suspicious.