1
THE LUCIE CARE
ENDOWMENT FUND
Fiscal years 2017 to 2019
Organisation in receipt of donations
May 2022
•
1
Executive summary
The Lucie Care endowment fund was formed in July 2015 by the non-profit organisation
Union Nationale des Aveugles et Déficients Visuels (UNADEV - National association for the
blind and visually impaired). The aim was for this non-profit organisation to have a legal basis
enabling it to receive donations, and in particular bequests, while suggesting to donors that
they support the cause of visually-impaired young people in particular.
This fund is an extension of its founders, in terms of its initial endowment, the procedure
for appointing directors, the conditions for making premises available, the part-time
employment of part of the founder’s team, and the use made of its long
-standing service
providers.
With an initial endowment of €3 mi
llion from its sole founder, UNADEV, the endowment
fund also collected, for the period under review, donations of between €400,000 and €850,000
per annum, and spent between €1.1 million and €1.4 million per year on collection costs,
operating costs and financing projects in line with its charitable works. It has thus gradually
spent most of its initial endowment.
Consequently, the fund has completed a few projects for visually-impaired young people
in line with its stated purpose, selected under satisfactory conditions. But importantly, it has
spent most of its money on fundraising. Expenditure on collecting donations
1
thus represents,
over the three financial years audited, considerably more than half of the overall use of funds.
Expenditure on charitable works was consequently in the minority, i.e. 30% in 2017 and 2018,
and 27% in 2019
2
.
This is especially true since the fund’s accounting for the latter has included a flat
-rate
proportion of fundraising expenses under the heading of awareness-raising activities. The
content and nature of the contracts concluded with these service providers does not permit
these sums to be recognised as charitable works, as the fund has done.
Moreover, the consumable endowment granted by UNADEV when the fund was created
essentially covered collection and operating costs, whereas this endowment was supposed to
finance its charitable works.
For these reasons, the Court of Accounts finds that the expenditure incurred for the
financial years 2017 to 2019 by the Lucie Care endowment fund did not comply with the
objectives pursued by its public appeal for donations.
1
During the period under review, the endowment fund did not receive any donations.
2
Data restated by the Court.
2
Declaration of non-compliance
Article L. 111-9 of the Financial Courts Code stipulates that the Court of Accounts
“
may audit, under conditions set by decree in the Council of State, the use of resources
collected from the public by the bodies referred to in Article 3 of law
No. 91-772 of 7 August 1991 relating to leave granted to represent non-profit
organisations and mutual societies and to audit the accounts of organisations making
a public appeal for donations, in order to verify the compliance of the expenditure
incurred by these organisations with the objectives pursued by a public appeal for
donations
.”
Article L. 143-
2 of the Financial Courts Cide states that “
When the Court of
Accounts finds, at the end of the audit of a body stipulated in Article L. 111-9, that the
expenditure incurred does not comply with the objectives pursued by a public appeal
for donations [...], it is to attach to its report an explicit statement to this effect
.
This
declaration is sent to the Minister of budget and to the chairmen of the finance
committees of the National Assembly and the Senate. It is made public
”
.
The Court of Accounts finds that the expenditure incurred for the financial years
2017 to 2019 by the Lucie Care endowment fund did not comply with the objectives
pursued by its public appeal for donations for this reason:
- expenditure on public fund raising represented 62% in 2017, 60% in 2018 and
62% in 2019
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of the amount of funds recorded in the accounts.
Audit recommendations
The Court makes the following audit recommendations:
1. Rec
tify how the “Use of resources”
account is constructed to reflect the reality of
fundraising costs.
2.
Adjust the use of funds collected from the public towards providing more charitable works.
3
Data restated by the Court.