|
Susan Mitchell, The Sunday Business Post, 26th November
2006
Overseas aid agency GOAL raised €83 million last year - up from €50 million the previous year, a record for the Irish charity.
John O'Shea, chief executive of GOAL, attributed the results to the public's generous response to the three emergencies of 2005 - the Asian tsunami, the famine in Niger and the earthquake in Pakistan.
"It was an unprecedented year as GOAL responded simultaneously to three of the worst disasters ever recorded. This led to an outpouring of generosity from the Irish public, the likes of which GOAL had not seen before and for which GOAL is deeply grateful," said O'Shea. Income from public donations and fundraising activities more than doubled, from €10 million in 2004 to €26 million in 2005.
Grant income from donors - such as the US, British and Irish governments, as well as various United Nations bodies and the European Union - amounted to €45 million. GOAL's expenditure on relief and development activities in 2005 was €65 million, an increase of €21 million on the previous year. This accounts for 96 per cent of total expenditure.
The charity spent more money in Sudan - where more than 400,000 people have died under a regime that has been increasingly accused of genocide - than it did in any other country.
GOAL had 188 volunteers working for the organization in 2005, up from 159 in 2004. A further 53 people were employed in fundraising, management and administration.
Projected income for 2006 will be in excess of €70 million, according to O'Shea.
"The 2006 figure, although less than 2005, represents a significant increase in year-on-year funding for GOAL, and provides the income necessary to continue our work in the developing world, where we operate in 13 countries," said O'Shea.
|
