Is the Czech NGO People in Need corrupt because it has not yet spent all the money it raised for flood relief in 2024? No, that's not true: The organization has regularly updated on allocating its funds. It has also said that it won't spend the funds all at once and explained the distribution of the aid will be carefully planned for and phased out until at least next year. Also, the NGO is audited regularly and publishes annual reports documenting its work and how the money is spent.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on December 16, 2024. The text overlay in Czech reads, translated into English by Lead Stories staff: "Shreds of truth about an organization co-founded by the CIA dear compatriots." It also adds in Czech, as translated:
People in Need gave away 168 million to people after the floods. That's noble but they collected 484 million. That is how money also disappears in UA.
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Dec 23 10:17:13 2024 UTC)
The "UA" in the text overlay in the above video stands for Ukraine, as pro-Russian trolls often use the argument that any aid to the war-torn country is useless because the money is misused due to high levels of corruption. Such a claim is beyond the scope of this fact-check.
People in Need, a Czech NGO referred to in the TikTok, was founded in 1992 as the Lidove Noviny Foundation by a group of war correspondents and journalists who, no longer satisfied with bringing back information about ongoing conflicts from their travels abroad, began exporting aid to conflict zones, according to the organization's website (archived here). The NGO gradually established itself as a professional humanitarian organization to help in crisis areas and promote respect for human rights around the world, it says.
Its history is described on its website. For example, here (archived here), it explains that in 1994 it was renamed "People in Need Foundation Czech Television." Then in 1999-2007, the NGO was called "People in Need - Society at Czech Television," which changed to its current name "People in Need" in 2007. Its website also states that the organization no longer has any financial links with Czech Television.
Besides the Czech Republic, the organization has been active in many other countries (archived here) including Afghanistan, Angola, Ukraine, Yemen, and Syria. In 2019, it was banned from Russia (archived here).
The above video quotes figures from the NGO's Czech flood appeal update published by the organization on its website on December 2, 2024 (archived here). According to the report, the NGO provided more than 168 million Czech korunas to households affected by the floods that hit the country in September 2024 (archived here). The biggest challenge for the affected households remains proper drainage, which can take months, and the NGO is also providing psycho-social support and counseling in some regions and will remain on the ground until at least the middle of next year, the report says. The report also states the amounts that donors have contributed to the NGO's SOS Flood Appeal.
According to Tomas Urban (archived here), the head of the media department at People in Need, the claims in the TikTok video are made up to "give the impression" that the NGO is "keeping something," or acting "dishonestly and illegally" with no basis. People in Need "has been transparent from the beginning that we will not give the money away all at once, but the aid is well thought out and planned through at least next year," Urban wrote in an email to Lead Stories on December 16, 2024.
Urban also added that People in Need is currently buying 850 tonnes of wood fuel briquettes for households that have lost their fuel, is preparing grants for the renewal of heating systems, and is starting the next phase of individual aid for the flood-affected regions. The NGO is a "professional organization" that has been helping with flood relief since 1997 and has never been involved in any embezzlement. People in Need is also audited annually by "dozens of small and large auditors" and randomly by Czech and international institutions, Urban added.
On December 16, 2024, People in Need also published another report (archived here) outlining its flood relief activities in the Czech Republic. Among other things, it states that since October 2024 the NGO has provided financial aid of 50,000 Czech korunas to flooded households, assisting, in total, 3,600 households, and material and food aid for the flooded areas worth 16 million Czech korunas.
A Google News search (archived here) carried out on December 23, 2024, for the Czech phrase "Člověk v Tísni zpronevěra peněz", or "People in Need money embezzlement" translated by Lead Stories staff, brought only one relevant result, which is a fact-check (archived here) from the Czech state radio broadcaster Cesky Rozhlas debunking a chain email stating that NGOs like People in Need "steal" from people.
People in Need publishes audited annual reports, including the most recent one for 2023, on its website. A snapshot of how the organization used the funds in 2023 can also be found here (archived here).
There is also no evidence to support the claim that People in Need was co-founded by the CIA, as claimed in the TikTok. A Google News search carried out December 23, 2024, for the phrase "Člověka v Tísni založila CIA", or "People in Need was founded by CIA," translated by Lead Stories staff, yielded no results. (archived here).
