An old friend of the family who was a senior member of the Salvation Army had a wonderful saying about tainted money. He always said that the only problem with tainted money was that there t’ain’t enough of it. It is certainly a sentiment that Starship Foundation should adopt after they turned down $570,000 from a Waikato horse breeder.
The Starship Foundation, which is currently fundraising for its National Air Ambulance, has been forced to front after it rejected a donation of $570,000 from a Waikato horse breeder.
Waikato Stud principal Mark Chittick offered the charity 10% from a $5.2 million win at the NSW Golden Eagle race event on October 29.
His horse, I Wish I Won, won big and Chittick gave Starship Hospital first dibs.
In a statement to 1News earlier today, Starship Foundation’s CEO Aisha Daji Punga said Starship’s partnership obligations were behind the donation rejection but in a statement this evening, contradicted this, saying time constraints prevented the foundation from doing their due diligence.
1News
The problem for Starship is that they originally said they would take money tainted by gaming or racing. They’ve not so much as walked that back, but rather they’ve remained silent on the issue as they issue a statement to downplay the issue after a public backlash.
The joint statement from the Starship Foundation and Waikato Studs reads:
“The Starship Foundation welcomes donations from gaming societies and the horse racing industry, and has long been the grateful beneficiary of donations of this nature. Donations are the life-blood of the Starship Foundation and every single dollar enables Starship Children’s Hospital to deliver world-class healthcare for children.
“Mark Chittick’s offer to be involved with and become the potential beneficiary of the charity component of the Golden Eagle Race, came in at 3pm and required us to make a rapid decision by close of business the same day. As with any charity, due diligence is an essential part of our responsibility to accept donations. In this instance, considerations around the size and off-shore nature of the donation regrettably could not be resolved within this timeframe.
“We are tremendously disappointed that we could not meet the deadline and become the beneficiary of this incredibly generous donation. If we had had more time, the decision may very well have been different.
“We have spoken directly to Mark this afternoon and he too is disappointed at the outcome, but acknowledges there were time pressures involved. He would have loved to be involved in the Golden Eagle with the Starship Foundation as the beneficiary and he remains a huge supporter of the incredible work the Hospital does for children and families in need,” the statement said.
“Both the Starship Foundation and Waikato Stud have a huge amount of respect for each other’s work and industries and intend to work together to build a partnership in the future.”
1News
That’s nice but it rather ignores their previous position.
It’s not clear why Punga originally said Starship’s partnership obligations were behind the donation rejection.
“While we are grateful to accept contributions outside of our established partnership programme, providing the Starship Foundation’s branding and promotional material is not always possible in order to uphold our existing partnership obligations. In this instance, we were unable to be the nominated charity due to these considerations,” the earlier statement said.
1News
Starship Foundation must have sought backflip and reverse-ferreting advice from Labour Party public relations people.
If Starship Foundation can look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, then they really shouldn’t be grifting for donations elsewhere.
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