Chernobyl Children’s charity directors give 150k as donations fall
Losses topped €1.3 million for the past two years as donations plummeted.
The directors who gave the €150,000 are not named — the board is made up of eight and includes Ms Roche, Ali Hewson and former government minister, Liz O’Donnell.
In 2011, the charity recorded the largest loss in its history — €676,555 — and last year the losses were not far behind at €664,786.
Donations continued to decline sharply — dropping by 25%, from €2.53m to €1.9m in the 12 months to Jan 31 this year.
Donations had dropped by 30% in 2011, from €3.6m to €2.53m — a halving of funding in two years.
The directors’ report states that “in view of the deficit incurred in the last two financial years, the board has taken steps to curtail programme expenditure and administrative expenses in the current year”.
The loss last year continued to eat into reserves — cash declined from €2.1m to €1.5m — at the start of 2011, the charity’s cash totalled €2.84m.
Since the establishment of CCI, over €92m in direct and indirect medical and humanitarian aid has been delivered by CCI to the Chernobyl-affected regions and over 22,500 children have been brought to Ireland for much-needed recuperative holidays.
The numbers working at the charity last year reduced from 24 to 22.
Monetary donations fell by 19%, from €1.73m to €1.4m, with aid in kind decreasing by 37%.
