As little as 10 per cent of the sale price of some charity Christmas cards is actually given to the good cause named on them, an Irish Timessurvey has found. Paul Cullen, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, reports.
An examination of more than 20 charity cards on sale reveals massive variation in the amounts passed on to charity, from 10 per cent up to 80 per cent of the retail price.
In the case of most Irish-produced charity cards, it is impossible to tell from the packet what portion of the price is donated to the charity. This contrasts with the UK, where card sellers are obliged by law to provide this information.
The only cards covered by the survey which did indicate the donation to charity were found in the Irish branches of British retailers. Marks & Spencer is selling packs of 20 charity cards for €8, of which 10 per cent is donated to Focus Ireland. Debenhams gives 20 per cent of the price of its cards to the ISPCC.
Buying cards directly from a charity, either in their shops or online, means much more money goes to the organisation. The Irish Cancer Society (ICS) says 80 per cent of revenue from cards bought in its Dublin shop or on its website goes to fund cancer programmes, but this figure drops to 66 per cent for cards bought in other shops.
Unicef Ireland says 75 per cent of the price of its cards goes to the parent charity; its cards are available from a shop in Dublin, its website and a small number of bookshops which do not receive a commission for selling the cards.
While charities such as ICS and Unicef produce their own cards, other charities allow their names to be used by commercial printers under licence agreements which see a small proportion of revenue given to the charity.
ICS, for example, also has a charity card arrangement with Boots by which it gets just 10 per cent of proceeds. Industry sources say some charities are settling for even less because the revenue gained is additional to its core fundraising.
Irish Charity Cards says it shares 25 per cent of revenues among seven charities. John Maguire of ICC estimates €1 million has been raised for charities over the past 15 years but the amount is declining as fewer people send cards and competition from overseas cards increases.
"Charity card makers cannot compete against people making cards with huge print runs for half nothing in China and elsewhere."
He says it could be "dangerous" to specify the amount being given to charity as consumers have "high expectations" that do not take account of the cost of producing cards.
In the UK, the Charities Advisory Trust says anything less than a 10 per cent contribution should not be called a charity card.
Director Hilary Blume says licensing deals have made many charities lazy and bigger ones in particular should be looking for a better deal.
"It's easy money for fundraisers, for whom it's lovely to have deals where you have to do nothing except get the cheque."
Dóchas, the umbrella group for Irish development charities, says it supports the provision of more information about the money earned by charities from Christmas cards.
"However, we believe that the effectiveness of a charity in pursuing its stated aims is a far more important factor than its success in raising money," says its director, Hans Zomer.
Ms Blume says consumers wanting to maximise their charitable giving this Christmas should buy their cards from charity shops or from the websites run by charities.
Irish people will send about 110 million Christmas cards this year, according to An Post.