Public fundraising campaign has raised just £330
Howard Lake | 18 September 2009 | News
A public fundraising campaign as part of a £7 million target to refurbish the SS Nomadic, which ferried passengers to the Titanic, has raised just £330, according to a report from BBC Northern Ireland.
The pubic were invited to ‘Sponsor a Rivet’ towards the campaign but only a handful of people have responded. Moreover, less than £8,000 has been raised from corporate donors towards the campaign.
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Financial records indicate that a fundraising consultancy has so far been paid £60,000 for its work.
The project to restore the Nomadic has received a £500,000 grant from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, bringing the total pledged to £4m. More than £2 million of the £4 million raised has come from the European Union.
The Nomadic currently sits in dry dock, awaiting repair and restoration.
Denis Rooney, chairman of the Nomadic Trust, the charity charged with delivering the project, said their finances were strong.
But at one stage they had been perilous and Mr Rooney had to risk his own money when he acted as guarantor on a bank overdraft facility.
The hope is to have the Nomadic restored and ready for visitors for the 100th anniversary of its launch in 2011.
It is also understood that the relationship between the Trust and the Nomadic Preservation Society, a support group of enthusiasts, is very strained.
There is an ownership dispute over a Nomadic lifeboat, one of the project’s key artefacts, and the society has, so far, only given £470 to the trust from the many thousands of pounds it has raised for the Nomadic project.
www.nomadicbelfast.com
Photo: cuddesdon1971 on Flickr.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.