By TONY WALL
Hundreds of thousands of dollars raised by last year's Fight for Life boxing event went to organiser Dean Lonergan, although it was implied that all proceeds would go to charity.
The Weekend Herald has learned that the high-profile event raised almost twice as much as was disclosed at the time. Almost half the proceeds went towards covering costs and Mr Lonergan's cut of $411,000.
Advertising for the Fight for Life stated that all proceeds would go to the Yellow Ribbon youth suicide prevention programme.
What was not disclosed was that Mr Lonergan had agreed in advance with Yellow Ribbon that he would collect 30 per cent of the net amount raised as his management fee - an arrangement queried by the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand.
After the June event, which pitted celebrities - including National Party leader Bill English - against one another in boxing matches, the public was told that $1 million had been raised for Yellow Ribbon.
But the organisers have now told the Weekend Herald the actual total income generated from public donations, sponsorship, ticket sales and other sources was $1.9 million.
Mr Lonergan and the acting chairman of the Yellow Ribbon Youth Suicide Awareness Trust, Marco Marinkovich, supplied the figures yesterday.
Mr Marinkovich said that after the $1.9 million came into Yellow Ribbon, bills totalling about $520,000 for running the event were paid. Then Dean Lonergan Events Ltd took its 30 per cent fee of $411,000.
That left Yellow Ribbon with about $960,000, and Mr Lonergan donated back about $40,000 to allow the charity to clear $1 million, which was the total it had hoped to raise.
Mr Lonergan acknowledged that the percentage fee arrangement caused confusion and he needed to "clean it up" for the next event in August.
He said the organisations had not revealed the total gross income, only the $1 million, "because that is what the charity gets and that is the most important thing".
The president of the Fundraising Institute, Dianne Armstrong, said event organisers should charge fixed fees in the interests of transparency.
She was concerned that event organisers working for a percentage of funds raised could use tactics to convince people to become involved, knowing their fee would be greater.
Mr English, whose participation in Fight for Life greatly raised its profile and revenue, said he had "no idea" whether the amount paid to Mr Lonergan was appropriate "because I don't know his structure, I don't know who's with him, I don't know what the arrangements with Yellow Ribbon [are], all I know is he raised $1 million".
Mr English, who was not paid for his participation, said he would not box again.
After the Weekend Herald began asking questions about the Fight for Life finances, Mr Lonergan offered to "open up the books entirely", but yesterday he said he would prefer that the figures were not made public because he did not want to give away the "intellectual property" he had built up over three years.
There was confusion within Yellow Ribbon about how his fee was arrived at. Executive director Thelma French said this week that the charity received a cheque for $1 million, from which Mr Lonergan's 30 per cent fee was paid.
But Mr Marinkovich suggested yesterday that she was "bamboozled" as "the financial stuff is not her area". He said Yellow Ribbon definitely cleared $1 million, to be used for its suicide prevention programmes.
Mr Lonergan insisted he did "not touch a cent" of the money donated by the public on the night, but confirmed that his 30 per cent was calculated from the total income, including the public donations.
He would come up with a new approach this year. "I've got no blueprint to go on, but we will probably end up taking money from the people who buy seats and tables and that's it. I think it's a fairer way to go ... It [the percentage fee] does cause confusion, and what I've got to do is clean it up."
There was also confusion over what period the management fee covered. Mr Lonergan said he did the first Fight for Life in 2001 free, but Mr Marinkovich said the 30 per cent fee was also to cover his lack of payment in the first year.
Mr Lonergan agreed that seemed contradictory. "It's a fair bloody point. It's probably a reflection of the financial position I ended up in [in 2001]. My mortgage went from nil to massive.
"This thing [Fight for Life] doesn't and hasn't made us any money."
The event "cost a fortune" to run - the catering bill alone was $150,000 - and he wanted to pay people a fair price for their services.
He said his management fee had to cover his company's costs, including employing one person full-time and two more on the night of the fight. He was reluctant to give details of what sponsors provided for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
The Herald reported at the time that the $1 million for Yellow Ribbon came from phone donations ($550,000), a text-messaging contest ($150,000), corporate sales ($200,000) and TV3 ($100,000).
Mr Marinkovich and Mr Lonergan said the $900,000 that was not disclosed came mainly from sponsors and ticket sales - "a mixture of stuff," said the former.
Mr Marinkovich believed 30 per cent was a fair figure for Mr Lonergan, as he had "worked his arse off" and the resulting media coverage had been worth millions to Yellow Ribbon.
"Without Dean Lonergan and Fight for Life, we would not be here."
Mr Marinkovich said Fight for Life had been so successful that "we've created a bit of a monster." He suggested there were people "gunning" for Yellow Ribbon. "It's the old tall poppy syndrome, we've gotten too big ... There's politics involved."
This week he and Mr Lonergan went to Wellington to lobby ministers and officials after the Ministries of Health, Education and Youth Affairs wrote to trustees and principals last year suggesting the Yellow Ribbon approach to youth suicide could actually be linked to deaths.
Other event organisers spoken to said they preferred to work on a fixed-fee basis with quotes provided beforehand. Jane Sheetz of P10 Special Events, which organises charity events such as the Starlight Symphony appeal, said that when working with charities "which don't have any money" transparency was important.
Ted Jones of Avenues Event Management in Wellington said fixed-fees were preferable. The Fight for Life fee sounded "absolutely huge".
Mr Lonergan also organised a Fight for Life in Australia last year, but had a different arrangement. Fundraising manager for Yellow Ribbon Australia David Oliver said Yellow Ribbon took all the money donated on the night, about $180,000, and left Mr Lonergan to recover his costs from door sales and corporate tables.
Mr Lonergan said he did not make money out of that event.
* Disclosure: Gavin Ellis, editor in chief of the New Zealand Herald, who played no part in preparing this story, is a member of the Yellow Ribbon Youth Suicide Awareness Trust.
Charity planner gets $411,000 cut
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