Goal and Oxfam Ireland begin merger talks
Howard Lake | 21 February 2017 | News
Goal and Oxfam Ireland’s recent announcement that they are entering formal discussions on a potential merger will create an organisation which has a combined turnover of around €220 million based on recent income.
Tentatively called Oxfam Goal, both charities had a combined fundraising income of over €17 million based on accounts for Goal in 2015 and for Oxfam in 2016.
Goal has been at the centre of a major investigation into its spending of United States aid money in Syria, its biggest source of income in 2015 at €70 million. Following the investigation a number of Goal staff resigned. The majority of the funding that the Irish Government withheld in 2016 as a result has now been released to the charity.
Oxfam Ireland’s total fundraising income in 2015 was €12.6 million, of which €7.4 million was from trading. Net trading income was €0.6 million. Voluntary income from donations, legacies and events was €5.2 million. Fundraising costs was €2.5 million.
Goal’s fundraising income was €4.5 million in 2015. Donations and legacies brought in €4.2 million while events income was €1.3 million. Fundraising costs were €2.4 million.
Delighted that @GOAL_Global & @OxfamIreland in discussion to bring 2 great Irish NGOs together for greater impact in fight against poverty https://t.co/Y30oRelnVC
— Jim Clarken (@JimClarken) February 14, 2017
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We are exploring the exciting possibility of a merger with @OxfamIreland to save more lives & support more people https://t.co/qrABBGcGJR
— GOAL Global (@GOAL_Global) February 14, 2017
Oxfam chief executive Jim Clarken said the prospective merger would increase the scale of both organisations which he said “means we can deliver greater impact for people in poverty and in crisis.”
Media reports suggest that Goal had considered a merger with another major development charity, Concern, before opting to begin discussions with Oxfam Ireland.
The merger discussions and due diligence activities come as Oxfam and other NGOs respond to the confirmation of famine in South Sudan:
Heartbreaking to have the first famine declared in several years in #SouthSudan We must do everything we can to prevent it getting any worse https://t.co/r8eQIKJdXJ
— Jim Clarken (@JimClarken) February 20, 2017
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.