Telethon donations down 5% to €90m

Organisers had feared a bigger decline after a rival charity accused the Telethon of 'leeching off people's generosity'

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SUPPORTERS of the Telethon donated €90m to charity this weekend, down 5% on last year but better than the 20% decline seen in the first few hours.

The annual event, which broadcasts non-stop for 30 hours on France 2 and France 3, brought in €90,107,555 compared with €95,200,125 in 2008.

Donations in the first 12 hours of the fundraising marathon stood at €7.15 million, down 20% on the €8.58 million raised in the same amount of time last year.

Organisers had feared there would be a significant drop, after the event was accused of "leeching off people's generosity" by the head of an Aids charity.

Sidaction president Pierre Bergé started a public debate two weeks ago by claiming muscular distrophy charity AFM was getting "too much money" from the annual fundraiser.

The Association Française contre les Myopathies - which has organised the annual Telethon since 1987 - said it was satisfied with the result and thanked everyone for their hard work and generosity.

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