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Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

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Charity won’t use £41m legacy to cover donation dip

This news post is over 5 years old
 

​Cash won't be used or shortfalls or running costs

A £41 million legacy windfall will not be used by Oxfam to cover income shortfalls, the international NGO has said.

The charity has faced a donations dip in the aftermath of the scandal surrounding some staff using prostitutes in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.

It was recently announced that a £41m legacy from Richard Cousins, who owned Compass Catering, and who died in a seaplane crash with his fiancée, two sons and daughter on Hogmanay in Australia, would come to Oxfam.

He left instructions a year before the incident by way of a "common tragedy clause" so that if he and his family were to die at the same time, his fortune would go to charity.

To put the donation in context in its last annual report for 2016-17, the charity received a total of £19m from wills.

A spokeswoman for Oxfam said the cash would not be used to cover shortfalls in funding.

She said: "We are in discussion with the Cousins family and our trustees about how best to use the very generous bequest to make the biggest difference for people living in poverty.

"We will not be using it to make up for shortfalls in income or on organisational running costs."