Unicef Ireland income soars despite economic downturn

03 July 2011

Unicef Ireland doubled its income in 2010, raising €6.9 million for Unicef programmes worldwide. Unicef Ireland Logo

It was Unicef’s most successful year to date in Ireland, according to executive director Melanie Verwoerd.

The earthquake in Haiti played a role in the children’s charity’s success, with nearly €2 million donated to Unicef’s emergency appeal in Ireland after the catastrophe.

But Verwoerd said corporate donations held firm, and that there was a good public response to fundraising campaigns such as Euro for Zero, which encouraged small donations of just €1.

‘‘We knew the public was struggling financially in recent years, so we did campaigns like the Euro for Zero," she said.

The online campaign encouraged the public to make a €1 donation to help end childhood mortality from preventable causes. It highlighted how far €1 could go - with straplines such as ‘‘21 cent provides a child with a measles vaccine’’.

‘‘Our corporates like Aer Lingus held, and we were really thankful for that. We also have big partnerships with Fyffes and Ikea," said Verwoerd, who is the former South African ambassador to Ireland.

Unicef Ireland received a €10 million donation from the Cathal Ryan Trust in 2010, which Vorwoerd said would be spread over three years. ‘‘It is one of the biggest donations Unicef has ever received worldwide," she said.

Unlike many other charities and NGOs, Unicef Ireland was not forced to make any redundancies when the recession hit.

‘‘A lot of businesses went down that route, but I had invested in the team since I started in 2007 and they are highly skilled. I resisted pressure from the board to make redundancies as I knew it would be so hard to replace them," she said.

‘‘We were lucky, as we had decided to diversify our income stream before the recession hit. We also streamlined the organisation and cut our costs. We reduced our printing costs dramatically, for example.

The cost-to-income ratio had also improved," she said. Verwoerd said 2011 looked to be another financially strong year for the charity.

She said Unicef Ireland would develop more e-fundraising initiatives and had a number of events planned, including a celebration before the last Harry Potter film and a once-off world premiere performance in September, featuring Unicef goodwill ambassador Vanessa Redgrave and Irish actor Stephen Rae.

While Unicef is linked to the United Nations, Verwoerd said it did not receive any UN funding. She said the Irish government donated to Unicef the global charity, rather than Unicef Ireland.

Irish government funding to Unicef more than halved, from €24.2 million in 2008 to €11.4 million in 2010.

The likelihood of the overseas aid budget falling even further was a concern, she said.

‘‘I was in Zimbabwe the week before last and walked into the maternity hospital in Harare. They showed us the neo-natal unit. There were nine babies lying naked on a table. They have no clean linen as there is no water. Premature babies are cold.

‘‘They had an open radiator next to them to try and blow hot air on them. The babies needed oxygen and they had one tube they were passing from one baby to the next.

When I see that, I just think we need to spend a little to help, just maybe not as much as we did before." She said it was important to ‘‘remember that the amount we spend is so low as an overall percentage’’.

For every €750,000 investment in a country with high mortality rates, Unicef can potentially save 60 per cent more lives.

‘‘I am very sensitive to the economic situation here.

We are asking people to give money - to children, in our case - outside the country at a time when people feel there is not enough money to go around at home. But I still believe we have a moral obligation to help those who are so much worse off than we are."