When I was invited to become president of the non-commercial Inspire Foundation, combining the Eden Foundation, a monument to Josie Muscat’s commitment to the disabled, and Razzett tal-Ħbiberija, a sterling example of (the late) Paddy and Janatha Stubbs’ philanthropy, I accepted with trepidation, not being sure that I would be able to contribute much. I now feel I am lucky to have done so.
Helping Inspire stay afloat should not be an unachievable task for the Prime Minister and his team- Lino Spiteri
Janatha and the trustees have greatly improved my awareness of what it means to give selflessly. From the indefatigable Nathan Farrugia, Inspire’s CEO, I have increased my belief in people who give far more than they receive. I have also been exposed to dealings with Cabinet ministers from the other side of the fence.
Inspire deploys a staff of 160 employees and professional freelancers, plus the welcome service of many volunteers. Together they provide nine programmes and services under three institutes to at least 300 children and babies and 100 adults with developmental disability. Other NGOs bring in excess of a further 600 clients who use Inspire’s heated pool free of charge (hospice, adult training centres, and so forth).
Inspire spends around €2.8 million to provide all these services and to cover the deficits of two of its institutes that give therapeutic and independent living services.
Broadly, 60 per cent comes from year-round fundraising and commercial activities such as its gym. Ten per cent is received from parents who contribute just under one-sixth of the cost of their child’s programme (some are accepted as unable to contribute). Another 30 per cent is paid by government for services given by Inspire to children referred by it.
The initial arrangement with the government was between the Eden Foundation and the Education division, effective January 1, 1996, for provision of educational and therapeutic services to children with developmental disability. An allocation of around €560,000 continued to be made annually in the Government Estimates up to 2002.
The provision was cut by 10 per cent in 2003 in line with the government’s general cost-cutting, notwithstanding that the original amount had never been adjusted for statutory cost of living increases to staff, and was therefore substantially eroded by inflation. As a consequence of the cut, and despite Eden’s intensified efforts to fund-raise, the foundation’s financial results deteriorated annually, reaching a deficit of €291,000 during 2006 when all of Eden’s liquidity had been absorbed. Solicitations for additional vital financial support were made to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi early in January 2007. The General Estimates for 2008 eventually increased the allocation to Eden to €969,000.
This amount was also provided during 2009, giving Eden and Razzett tal-Ħbiberija, now combined under Inspire, the opportunity to operate their philanthropic services on a cash break-even basis (that is, ignoring depreciation) during the first two years of its new life. (With depreciation included, Inspire still had a deficit of €200,000).
In 2009, the Education division insisted on a re-negotiation of the original Eden/Education contract to exclude therapeutic services. As a result, the funds covering services rendered by Inspire for the years 2010-12 were to reduce by close to €200,000 annually, again without provision for the statutory cost-of-living increases for the further three years. Education argued it was not responsible for therapeutic services, which were the responsibility of the Health Ministry.
Education also argued it could not fund programmes for individuals with a disability aged over 16. (Inspire supports a number of over-16 individuals at a charge, though partial fees paid fall well short of cost recovery.)
Inspire then approached the Employment and Training Corporation (which is also part of the Education Minister’s portfolio) and the Health Ministry.
Results have been mixed. ETC relatively quickly offered partial tangible replacement of funding for a few of Inspire’s adult courses.
The Health Ministry, which had been indicated as ultimately responsible for the therapeutic services, could only recently come up with a contract for new services to totally different clients from those already at Inspire for a relatively insignificant total of €35,000, leaving the very necessary therapeutic health services costing €200,000 already being supplied to Inspire’s existing disabled clients wholly unfunded.
It therefore comes as no surprise that Inspire ended 2010 and will again end 2011 with an overall cash deficit of around €200,000 – equivalent to the ‘lost €200,000 annually’ from the original Education division services agreement. This amount is unlikely to be found from already hard-pressed parents, or from additional fundraising, given the competing claims for it by L-Strina and other NGOs.
Sadly, if the shortfall is not made up by government immediately re-starting to buy services from Inspire at 2008 and 2009 levels, quality support to Malta’s disabled by two wholly philanthropic and socially-conscious institutions with a joint history of over 40 years will soon have to be seriously reduced or, God forbid, eventually withdrawn altogether, leaving parents to clamour for such health services to which they are so evidently entitled to be provided by the state directly, irrespective of the certain greater cost.
The government has untold demands on its finances, I know. Still, public funding for €200,000 worth of therapeutic services hitherto given by Inspire, and until 2009 funded by government, need to be reinstated without prevarication.
My belief is that all this has come about mainly because the government has a much bigger picture to deal with.
Within that picture there is a great deal of social provision, which next year will also increase with an allocation for a start to a supported living proposal for the many maturing disabled who lose their parents.
Helping Inspire stay afloat should not be an unachievable task for the Prime Minister and his team. Their heart, I’m sure, beats in the right place.