Marigold Foundation spent half its donations on events and adverts

The Marigold Foundation, chaired by Michelle Muscat, wife of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat, spent nearly half the funds received in donations for charity on events and advertising, according to audited accounts for 2021 recently submitted.

The stated goal of ‘The Marigold Foundation – BOV in the Community’ (it carries the bank’s name as it was launched as part of BOV’s corporate social responsibility programme) is to support the philanthropic NGO sector by allocating donations received to partner organisations.

The sparsely detailed accounts show that of the €146,379 received in donations, 47% or €68,956 were spent on “campaigns, events and other operating expenses”.

At the end of 2021, the Foundation held a balance of €742,255.

Foundation administrator Robert Xuereb listed only three in-person events held by the Foundation, with one additional online event.

Muscat’s ‘long-distance swimming challenge’, cited as “the main fundraising activity for the Foundation”, was not held “since the Chairperson [Michelle Muscat] was advised not to perform the challenge due to health reasons brought about by Covid-19”.

In 2019, Muscat was embarrassingly exposed on Twitter as wildly exaggerated claims of her achievements during the long-distance swim were widely publicised. Seemingly in response to the previous year’s controversy, the challenge did not have a measured distance in 2020. In 2021, it was cancelled entirely.

The administrator’s report further said that “the usual annual activities could not be held due to Covid-19 restrictions and the long absence of the Marigold Foundation staff from the office”. Nevertheless, the annual Pink October/Movember gala dinner was held on 30 October, officially the Foundation’s only fundraising event for the year.

The report also stated that “as in previous years, awareness was increased further through billboards, educational adverts on TV and radio stations as well as bus stops, TV appearances, motivational sessions for survivors and meetings with various health professionals”, refraining from listing any further details on how the money was spent.

The Marigold Foundation was initially set up by Bank of Valletta in 2014. But Michelle Muscat was effectively handed over control in 2019 through a token sum of €100 with an amendment to the Foundation’s deed.

Between 2017 and 2019, more than €300,000 in taxpayer funds were donated to the Foundation, with more than half a million euros in public funds having been donated since Joseph Muscat became prime minister in 2013.

Despite hundreds of thousands in donations and funding, The Marigold Foundation is yet to set up a website or pen a formal statute declaring its exact purposes and aims.