Marigold Foundation given one month to hand in audit or face non-compliance action

● Foundation generates large surplus for 2015 after only quarter of donations given to NGOs

The Marigold Foundation has been granted a one-month extension to file its Annual Audited Report for 2016 with the Commission for Voluntary Organisations after failing to meet the August deadline.

Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday, a Commission spokesperson said that Commissioner Prof. Kenneth Wain had granted a special extension to the Foundation, a discretion that is provided to him by law.

Questions have been sent to the Commission to ascertain on what basis the extension has been granted.

Without the extension, the Foundation would have found itself non-compliant with the Commission and would have lost its status as a voluntary organisation within the Commission, meaning that it would no longer have access to funds.

The foundation, whose chairperson is the Prime Minister’s wife, Michelle Muscat, was launched by the Bank of Valletta in February 2014, with the aim of positively empowering NGOs and associations and work with them to raise standards, support initiatives and strengthen their voices.

Beyond Muscat’s annual swim, the foundation’s other projects include campaigns and support systems for people involved with autism, mental health, education, special needs, cancer support, drug rehabilitation, rare diseases and the Special Olympics.

Marigold Foundation generating substantial surpluses; almost

440,000 in funds

The Annual report for 2015, which was audited by KPMG, has revealed that the Marigold Foundation was able to generate a substantial surplus amounting to €207,945, after receiving donations totalling €333,217 and distributing €86,365 to NGOs.

The balance of the difference is attributed to administrative expenses.

The discrepancy between donations received and donations given raises questions as to why the Foundation, whose mission statement is to support NGOs, would only give a quarter of its total earnings for the year to such organisations, especially considering that, in 2015, it had a total of €437,022 in the bank and cash in hand.

In 2014, the report indicates, the Foundation raised €82,363 and paid out €40,850 which, after meeting administrative expenses, left a surplus of €29,131.

In 2015, donations were made to the Autism Parents Association, Caritas, the Cystic Fibrosis Association, Dar il-Kaptan, Dar Merhba Bik, Dar tal-Providenza, Eurordis, the Fibromyalgia Association, Inspire, Martona birRooti, MCAST, OASI, Ohloq Tbissima, Puttinu Cares, RIDT, the Sisters of Charity, the Special Olympics Malta, St Claire’s College and St Theresa’s College.

Corradino female prisoners and ‘Love, Faith, Forgiveness’

The Love, Faith, Forgiveness initiative, which was launched by the Foundation in 2015, was at the centre of controversy after The Times of Malta reported that female inmates at Corradino Prison were owed thousands of euros for curtain and costume design work they had done during the previous year.

The Marigold Foundation would later say that, since the start of the project, inmates had been paid over €14,700, with the last payment effected on 23 Feb- ruary 2016. Detailed documentation of all the work carried out by each inmate is kept and other payments due in respect of work that has been carried out or is still ongoing will be paid according to normal procedures, the Foundation said.

The inmates were owed a total of €16,000.

The Times of Malta later reported that the inmates had been paid in full, following the initial publication.

The Foundation denied that the inmates were being paid below normal market prices. The common practice, it said, is to measure curtains by the width sewn rather than by length of the material. “This is logical, since the length of material is generally standard and it would result in mis-measuring a job if length was applied instead of the width of the curtain produced.”

It remains to be seen whether the issue will appear in the Chairperson’s report in the audit for 2016, if or when it is filed with the Commission.