Cold shock for Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association as fundraising falls after year high in 2014
The ice bucket challenge phenomenon had brought about the bumper year. However, the IMNDA annual report for 2015 shows monies raised from fundraising last year decreased by 59%, or €1.2m, to €844,285 from the record €2m raised in 2014.
As part of the internet sensation, celebrities, ministers, and even nuns made up some of the estimated half a million Irish people to participate by drenching ice cold water on themselves.
The Ice Bucket Challenge generated €1.7m of the €2m raised by IMNDA in 2014.
The 2015 figure of €844,285 was the lowest raised in fundraising income by the charity since 2010 when €786,933 was raised, and was substantially down on the €1m secured in both 2013 and 2012.
The total raised by the IMNDA between fundraising and “donations and gifts” last year of €1.3m is a drop of 49% on the €2.6m under the two headings in 2014, but is on a par with the €1.3m raised in 2013 and 2012 from fundraising and donations.
The plunge in fundraising income last year resulted in the charity recording an operating loss of €156,848.
This followed a surplus of €1.17m in 2014 and successive surpluses in the years from 2010 to 2013.
Only 15% of IMNDA income came from state sources in 2015.
There is no cure for motor neurone disease and the progressive neurological condition which attacks the nervous system can affect the way a person walks, eats, drinks and breathes.
Last year, 314 patients registered with the IMNDA. There were 61 south of the Liffey in Dublin, compared to 27 on the northside.
The figures show 38 Cork residents registered while other areas to record double figures include Tipperary (17), Galway (14) Meath and Wexford (13), Louth and Kerry (12), and Mayo (11).
