A total donation of Lm815,000 during L-Istrina last Sunday is not a small amount for a country like ours, especially considering that most of it was raised in 13 hours. This means that every Maltese citizen contributed, on average, Lm2.05. Recently, in Italy, every inhabitant there gave a mere 19 cents on average when the annual Telethon Marathon was held.

It was a known fact that the Maltese never say no when it comes to donating money, especially to charity. In the words of one of the organisers, Lou Bondi, the Maltese are still, by far, per capita the biggest benefactors in the world.

But the failure to reach the target set before the fund-raising marathon, which was of Lm1 million, brings up several questions. First of all, should a target be set, thereby raising the expectations of the beneficiaries, and ending up giving them 80 per cent of what they were expecting? Would it not have been better not to mention a target?

Secondly, the organisers should think hard as to what led the Maltese to contribute less than they did last year, and this in spite of raising the total amount of prizes that were handed out from Lm140,000 in 2003 to Lm230,000 this year.

There are various reasons for this decline. It must be admitted that there are too many fund-raising activities held throughout the year. We Maltese have the tendency to copy everything others do, and from one fund-raising activity we have moved on to several of them, all practically doing the same thing – offering prizes in exchange of donations.

Apart from raising money for the needy, political parties also hold their fund-raising activities, with the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party doing their own event on 13 December, just two weeks before L-Istrina.

This means that the funds collected over a given year are spread out even more and among more beneficiaries. And, let us face it, there is a limit as to how much one can give.

With the country’s economy being what it is, people tend to give less in the circumstances. Following several measures announced in the last budget – including the rise in the price of kerosene, bus tariffs and eco-tax – people are not in a position to contribute as much as they did in the past.

It was rather ironic, for example, to listen to the PBS news bulletin several times during last Sunday’s show urging people to give more, with the second item that followed being the announcement that the price of bread was going to increase as from the following day. This must have put off many people from handing in their donation, or at least reducing the amount they were planning to give.

Many must have also felt pangs of guilt because, after all, donating to L-Istrina – as in other fund-raising activities that have taken the cue – is another form of gambling, considering the amount of prizes that were on offer. As said earlier, the amount of prizes given out in exchange for donations rose by nearly Lm100,000 this year. Many have thought it fitter to give donations privately without aiming to get something in return.

The decision to include schoolchildren in the scenario was interpreted by many as being too greedy on the part of the organisers, considering that children get their money from their parents who, in turn, contribute directly. It was a case of asking people to contribute twice, apart from the cases of bullying that ensued in schools and the fact that teachers were keeping lists of students who gave in their donation.

All these are factors that should make the organisers think hard when they do a post mortem of the event. While doing so, it would also be worthwhile to consider whether it is a good idea to have just two presenters for a 13-hour how. Peppi Azzopardi was on air practically throughout, several times even giving the side to his co-presenter Valerie Vella. It would perhaps be better to have different presenters having two-three hour slots each.