Concern suffers €7m fall in donations as spending cut 8%

Public donations to charity Concern dropped by 18% here last year to €30.7m as the organisation’s losses increased 55-fold.

According to Concern’s 2012 annual report, losses increased from €70,000 to €3.89m, in spite of cutting back spending by 8% from €160.3m to €147.3m.

The directors’ report states the fall in public donations “was broadly in line with expectations and reflected the more general reduction in emergency related appeals”.

A spokesman said yesterday that “the 2012 deficit was planned and in line with expectations” and was not a loss in the usual sense of the word. He pointed to accountancy conventions in how funds received and spent are recognised for the loss.

The overall financial health of the charity remains very strong with net assets last year totalling €40.3m that included €4.5m in cash and €22.7m in investments.

The charity confirmed yesterday that the amount it received in public donations last year in Ireland reduced from €37.3m to €30.7m. The 18% fall in donations followed a 17% fall across Ireland and the UK in 2011.

The spokesman blamed the drop on the weak state of the economy and that fact that there was no major emergency in 2012.

The annual report confirms that one member of staff, former chief executive, Tom Arnold, received a salary between €120,000 and €130,000 in 2012, with a second receiving between €90,000 and €100,000.

Mr Arnold retired in February to be replaced by Dominic McSorley.

The spokesman said: “Tom was seconded to us from the Department of Agriculture and was paid according to public service rates. Most people’s pay, including Tom Arnold’s, in Concern has been frozen since 2008 and there were pay cuts (10% in Tom Arnold’s case) in 2009.”

The total remuneration paid to the management team was €700,742 compared to €697,692 in 2011.

They are listed as Mr Arnold; deputy chief executive and chief operations officer, Jim Hynes; UK executive director, Rose Caldwell; director of public affairs, Richard Dixon; strategy, advocacy and learning director, Connell Foley; overseas director, Paul O’Brien and human resources director, Louise Supple.

Globally, the number Concern employed last year reduced by 241 from 3,445 to 3,204, with staff costs decreasing from €12.3m to €12m last year.

The largest source of funding for Concern is the EU, which contributed €30.9m last year, with the Irish Government contributing €24.4m, and the UK government €5.9m.

The highest spend was in Somalia with €13.5m, with €12.2m spent in Pakistan.