Madeleine McCann: people are still donating to the find Maddie fund

by Guest 23.01.15 9:16

by Anorak | 22nd, January 2015

News on Madeleine McCann, the innocent missing child, has been thin on the ground. But today the Sun has some news:

Find Maddie fund dries up as donations shrink

Donations to the fund have dropped. Well, the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Grange is on the case. So. Why donate to private detectives who have in years of looking and earning come up with zilch? And The Met is having some success, as the Indy reports:

Operation Grange, which is believed to have cost in the region of £7.3 million, has uncovered a number of significant leads.

The Sun adds:

PUBLIC donations to a fund set up to find missing Madeleine McCann dwindled to just £21,000 in the last financial year, latest accounts reveal.

That sounds pretty generous.

The Find Madeleine campaign made £21,264 from fundraising in the 12 months to March 31, 2014. That figure compares to £70,250 the previous year and £306,393 the year before that.
It raked in £1.8million at its height shortly after Madeleine, three, vanished from a holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.
The £21,264 of donations last year were made up of £2,744 in wrist band and T-shirt sales, with the rest collected.

Money for Maddie used to be big. Remember the News of the World’s huge reward? Hey, remember the News of the World?

Madeleine McCann: people are still donating to the find Maddie fund PA-4651745

Madeleine McCann: people are still donating to the find Maddie fund PA-4651745

The Sun goes on:

But administration costs such as accountancy fees and an audit swallowed up £21,005 of that cash.

So much for charity. No-one has to work for free.

But papers filed with Companies House in London last week show the charity’s account still currently has a healthy total balance of £753,056.

That’s a lot of money. If that’s just sitting there, why give more?

That is through unspent money brought forward from previous years and around £1million from mum Kate McCann’s 384-page best-seller Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her.

Madeleine disappeared from her bed in the family’s apartment on May 3, 2007, while Kate and dad Gerry were eating at a nearby tapas restaurant.

A spokesman for the McCanns, who are from Rothley in Leicestershire, said: “Kate and Gerry and the board of directors remain extremely grateful to everybody who has helped in the search for Madeleine by donating to the fund.”
Just last month Kate and Gerry, both 46, said they had been “amazed” by the support they have received.
The organisation, which has six directors including Kate and Gerry, pays for a 24/7 helpline for tipsters to call.

Or you could just call the police…

http://www.anorak.co.uk/413731/madeleine-mccann/madeleine-mccann-people-are-still-donating-to-the-find-maddie-fund.html/

by sar 23.01.15 10:05

Thanks for posting

"...raking it in..." courtesy of the OED maybe not the most sensitive?

Phrasal verbs

rake something in

1
informal Make a lot of money:the shop’s raking it in now
MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

You've got to have a lot of time to put into investing in stocks in order to do it right and rake the money in.
They want to continue raking the cash in by sitting on the boards of companies.
I know someone who erects TV aerials around the local area and he's raking it in.
GET MORE EXAMPLES

SYNONYMS

by suzyjohnson 26.01.15 23:22

£21,264 donated to the fund last year, and just £259 of that left for actually searching?

by Okeydokey 27.01.15 1:28

"Rake in" is one of those clever journo phrases that aren't potentially libellous but suggest something...

by **PeterMac** 27.01.15 8:19

Anyone who donates now could be in for a massive payout, exemplary damages etc when it is all finally would up.
Could represent a very significant return on investment !

by Smokeandmirrors 27.01.15 8:50

It's disgraceful to spend the same amount on administration as donated. All the donors have done is make a payment direct to the accountants. And it is disgraceful to keep a fund open when over 7 million taxpayers pounds have been spent on the investigation. They should wind the fund up NOW and donate the residual balance to a proper charity. That is what HONEST people would do.

by plebgate 27.01.15 9:14

Fools and their money are soon parted. How can anybody think of donating to this fund whilst there is a SY investigation ongoing?

I believe they should remove the donate button (at least) until the investigation is finished as they are not actively searching as far as we know whilst SY are.

Ambassador for missing people imo would get many thanks from lots of families if any money still in the fund was donated to the charity and I think if a member of my family was missing I would be writing to ask for help from the fund - being as £10 million of taxpayers' money has been allocated for the search for poor little Maddie.

by woodforthetrees 27.01.15 9:15

PeterMac wrote:Anyone who donates now could be in for a massive payout, exemplary damages etc when it is all finally would up.
Could represent a very significant return on investment !

I like the thinking PeterMac, though looking at the remaining 'pot' they have after the Amaral case goes against them, i suspect any fraud payouts from their side will be met with a firm silence and a declaration of bankruptcy from both the McCanns and the company.

by plebgate 27.01.15 9:25

Interesting point PeterM about donators possibly being able to claim at some point. Would the directors of The Fund possibly be included in any such action I wonder?

by **PeterMac** 27.01.15 9:58

I believe they got round that by limiting themselves to £1 each.
Neat.
What you pay expensive lawyers for. In advance !
Though of course if Fraud could be proven, that would make it criminal, and therefore a whole different set of laws would apply.

by plebgate 27.01.15 10:04

yes, very neat PeterM, very neat indeed.

Would they have paid out of their own pockets for this legal advice I wonder?

by Rogue-a-Tory 27.01.15 11:07

'A fool and his money are easily parted' as my grandma used to say big grin

by jeanmonroe 27.01.15 12:47

Lest we forget.

Esther McVey (Conservative MP) WAS a 'director' of Madeleine's 'fund' when 2 (monthly) MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS for the McCann's were 'approved' by the 'board' she was a member of.

She 'disapproved' of 'legal' assistance (lawyers 'fees') but DID 'approve' mortgage 'repayments', TWICE, funded with help from handicapped kiddies 'donations' to Madeleine's Fund, a registered private ltd 'company'.

Just to add: Esther McVey is BEHIND in 'the polls' in her constituency 'seat'

Better send for PCC Pinky, for Brighton Pavilion, to 'bolster' and 'spin' her campaign, to stay on the Westminster 'gravy train'!

by Doug D 27.01.15 16:21

She was starring on CM’s twitter yesterday, (although she seems to keep her clothes on nowadays!)

Clarence Mitchell retweeted

Beth Prescott ‪@Beth4Pontefract
·
23h
23 hours ago
Esther McVey "More jobs were created in Yorkshire last year than in the whole of France". Proof our plan is working.

Madeleine McCann: people are still donating to the find Maddie fund B8SsFNECQAAf_7V