PRESS RELEASE

28

November 2022

Organisations

funded by public charity

RAISING PUBLIC DONATIONS RELATED TO THE

HEALTH CRISIS

With the authority to audit the use of resources by organisations appealing for public

donations, the Court of Accounts conducts audits into the use of donations received

following crises or disasters (Asian tsunami in 2004, Haiti earthquake in 2010, Notre-Dame

de Paris fire in 2019). This audit by the Court of Accounts aims to verify that the use of

donations, legacies and sponsorship received to combat the effects of the Covid 19

pandemic by five philanthropic organisations (the French Red Cross, the Fondation de

l’Assistance Publique

-Hôpitaux de Paris, the Fondation de France, the Fondation des

Hôpitaux, and the Pasteur Institute) was in line with the stated objectives

.

A Court audit of five philanthropic organisations at the heart of the health crisis

Since 2021, the Court of Account

s has published work on the public authorities’ response to

various aspects of the crisis. Although the public resources deployed to deal with the Covid 19

crisis were particularly significant, philanthropic organisations also appealed to the generosity

of the French people. The Court has therefore audited the use of the donations received at this

time by five organisations particularly involved. Thanks to the fundraising dedicated to

Covid

19, the French Red Cross, the Fondation de l’AP

-HP, the Fondation de France, the

Fondation des Hôpitaux and the Pasteur Institute proposed financing research and support for

caregivers, patients and vulnerable people.

More than €200

million raised and quickly spent to respond to the urgency of the crisis

The health crisis led to a huge surge in generosity, particularly in spring 2020. The five

organisations received not only financial donations of more than €200

million, but also

voluntary contributions in kind in the form of food donations, equipment, advertising space and

sponsorship of skills. The

Fondation des Hôpitaux and the Fondation de l’AP

-HP, in particular,

received an unprecedented volume of donations, respectively nine and eleven times higher

than in 2019. In order to respond quickly to the urgent needs generated by the crisis, the

organisations audited had to adapt their operating, intervention and communication methods.

They used digital channels to broadcast their appeals for donations and give information about

their actions. They also developed their project selection and financing methods, in an attempt

to reconcile the quality and reliability of operations with the need for responsiveness. The funds

could thus be deployed quickly and by the end of 2021, 70% of the funds collected had been

spent. More than half of this expenditure went to support patients and caregivers, and 22%

was spent on medical research and 21% on helping vulnerable people. Most of the donations

financed the actions to combat the immediate effects of the crisis, while some were allocated

to medium or long-term actions requiring multiyear financing; these included medical research

projects and the creation of relaxation areas for caregivers. In some cases, the Covid 19

donation appeals triggered profound transformations: the French Red Cross and the Fondation

de France have redefined the way they work with beneficiaries, in particular by tightening up

their regional coverage and taking more overall responsibility for their needs. On a more ad hoc

basis, both foundations working for hospital-related causes had to adapt their strategy to cope

with the temporary change in scale of their intervention.

Donor information needs to be improved

The information provided to donors by the organisations was not complete when appealing for

donations and should be improved in terms of reporting on the actions carried out thanks to

the funds raised. The specific declaration procedure at the prefecture could not be followed in

full given the urgency of the situation, but above all, there was a lack of clarity in the messages

appealing for donations. The overlapping of donation appeals, the similar names and closely

related missions of the Fondation de l’AP

-HP and the Fondation des Hôpitaux, and the

imprecision of the messaging which did not systematically include all the causes targeted by

the fundraising, may have

led to confusion and impaired donors’ understanding of how the

funds raised would be used. In addition, the application of the new accounting regulations since

1 January 2020 has resulted in some misinterpretations. Finally, the reporting on actions was

not systematically accompanied by financial data, which is necessary to provide donors with

the correct information. The audit includes two recommendations concerning the

establishment of a comprehensive record of the use of the funds and the accounting of the

donations in kind.

Read the report



At the same time, the Court is today publishing the proceedings of the symposium

“Guaranteeing the proper use of public donations”

which was held at the Court on 25

November 2021.



Please note: the order of 23 March 2022 provides that a public report will now be

sent to Parliament and the Government every two years to give an account of the main

lessons to be learned from the audit work carried out by the Court. The publication of this

first report is scheduled for October 2023

.

PRESS CONTACT:

Julie Poissier

◼

Head of Press Relations

◼

Tel. 06 87 36 52 21

◼

julie.poissier@ccomptes.fr

@Courdescomptes

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