Postimehe’s economic history shows how several foundations receive millions of euros, much of which is simply spent on the salaries of the foundation’s employees. For example, the sole board member of the Civic Society Endowment Fund received a monthly salary of almost 3,000 euros, plus travel expenses. The current Minister of Economy and IT Tiit Riisalo (Estonia 200) received an average monthly salary of 7,215 euros at the international development cooperation centre.
This does not mean that all foundations should be closed. Some foundations include, for example, a museum, which is usually underfunded and whose employees work mostly with enthusiasm. However, there are big question marks for foundations dealing with image-building and marketing projects, the benefits of which are very difficult to measure. Does anyone remember the “vomiting hedgehog”? This is how people named the brand Boulder, managed by the Enterprise and Innovation Foundation (EISA), in 2017.
This kind of juggling with state money comes at a time when Estonian news is full of stories about new or rising taxes, the threat of a teachers’ strike over low wages, and the government’s general attitude that there is no money everywhere. That you have to tighten your belt. At the same time, some state institutions live as if in a parallel universe where money is infinite. People’s sense of justice is seriously offended by this type of use of money. Ironically, one could say that teachers could create a foundation and then the money would start arriving from the state.
Easy and opaque money usually generates a place where all kinds of scammers and fortune hunters come across.
Easy and opaque money usually generates a place where all kinds of scammers and fortune hunters come across. We have already seen this when thinking about donations in Ukraine, where fundraisers failed to adequately explain the flow of money. And once again the people’s trust has been betrayed. Big money always creates corruption, and the entire foundation system was probably created by people who make a living only by using and directing public money.
2023-12-07 22:02:00
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