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April 16, 2008, 08:25 PM ET
Recovering From a Fund-Raising Scandal
In an effort to reassure donors after a fund-raising controversy, the German arm of Unicef last week elected a new eight-member executive committee.
The chairman of the new committee, Juergen Heraeus, a German businessman, pledged to “reform” the children’s charity, according to a statement in German on the group’s Web site.
In February, the German Central Institute for Social Issues, a nonprofit watchdog, criticized the organization for what it described as a secret practice of paying exorbitant commissions to fund raisers. For example. it said the group awarded a $45,000 bonus to a fund raiser, but failed to show that it received “any demonstrable service in return.”
As a result of the bonuses and other concerns, the watchdog removed its seal of approval for the charity.
“Unicef Germany has violated the principle of the economical and careful use of funds,” the institute said in a statement in German.
According to Der Spiegel, Unicef’s executive committee chairwoman, Heide Simonis, resigned after drawing attention to the improprieties, and the group’s chief executive, Dietrich Garlichs, quit shortly thereafter.
Once the scandal broke, roughly a quarter of the humanitarian group’s 20,000 registered supporters said they would no longer contribute to the organization, the magazine reports.
To rebuild trust, the new executive committee promised to create a code of conduct on management and financial issues and be more public about its operations.
This is not the first time Germany’s Unicef has gathered negative attention for questionable fund-raising practices. Last year, the group created a stir with appeals for Africa that some called racist.
What do you think? What else can the organization do to recover from the scandal?
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