Many of those running charity organisations now say they are forced to be extra careful on what they spend their money on as donations from the public have dropped sharply.
Speaking to FMT, Good Samaritan Home director Albert Ong said they were extra careful in managing their savings as the organisation was dependent on public donations for its survival.
“We have managed to sustain ourselves through public donations all this while but nowadays the donations have dropped quite a lot.
“There are still donations made but the amount is half of what we used to get.
“We can still survive because we have our savings but we need to control our daily expenses,” said Ong.
Ong, 60, has been running the charity home for children in Klang, Selangor, for 19 years. He said he was grateful however that the monthly rental of their premises has remained the same despite the escalating cost of living.
Meanwhile, Founder of The House of Love, Joseph Tan, 41, said the organisation had taken to growing its own vegetables in an effort to bring down its day-to-day living expenses.
Tan said The House of Love, which offers refuge to neglected, abused, abandoned and orphaned children, often spread the word about their organisation on Facebook to create awareness about their needs.
“For instance, when we were short on food or medicine, people responded to our postings but the number of donors has dropped by more than half,” he said.
Meanwhile, Humanitarian Aid Selangor vice-president Badariah Abdul Hamid said the organisation had been short on funds for a while now.
“The funds are not enough to meet our monthly expenses. We have to work extra hard to create awareness about our organisation on social media so that more people will donate to us,” she said.
Badariah blamed the unfavourable economic conditions for making the situation worse for them.
“The donations have decreased tremendously compared to previous years,” she said, adding that the rental for their premises had also gone up by RM500 from last year to RM5,500.
Humanitarian Aid Selangor provides services to the most marginalised and vulnerable communities regardless of religion, ethnicity, nationality or political affiliation.
Currently, it works closely with the Rohingya, providing them with education, healthcare, food and skills training apart from other services.