Be transparent, charities urged

Charitable organisations which employ others to collect money on their behalf should tell the donors where their money would go, said Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF) chairman Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir.
“Or else the organisations may end up with bad publicity and get the blame instead of the company,” she said.
“It is not worth it when they have to face such a backlash,” she said, adding that the organisations should be transparent and forthright on the apportionment of the donation.
She was commenting on The Sunday Star report that not all the money donated by the public goes to charity.
In the case of the National Kidney Foundation, it was revealed that only 10 sen of the RM1 given for a bookmark went to the foundation.
The foundation, National Cancer Council and Worldwide Fund For Nature Malaysia (WWF) are among those which employ companies to raise funds for them, including selling merchandise.
Realising the difficulty in getting donations, Marina said, the organisations could look at other ways to raise money.
“I really do not blame them because it is hard to raise money. Especially when you have work to do and still have to raise money.
“And it does provide employment to people including the disabled,” she said, adding that MAF had not been approached before by such companies.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said there was an understanding that donations be split on a 70-30 basis with the charity organisations receiving the major share.
“It looks like this is not happening and I am quite upset because some people are using charity for business.
“Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it as there is no law to stop the professional fund-raising companies from collecting donations on behalf of the charity organisations,” she said after launching a workshop for UPSR students at the International Islamic University in Gombak.
Shahrizat said the understanding on the distribution of the collection was stated in a ministry's circular to all charity organisations.
Shahrizat also commended The Star for the special report which she hoped, would in a way, convince professional fund-raisers to be sincere in the undertaking.
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