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Hawks got $1m secret donation
CARLTON'S billionaire president Richard Pratt, who last week matched a million dollars-plus in donations with a seven-figure sum of his own, is not the only president to have made a million-dollar gift to his club.
Before being replaced by Jeff Kennett at the end of 2005, Hawthorn president Ian Dicker gave the Hawks a parting gift of a cheque for about a million dollars — a donation that Dicker chose to keep secret, and which enabled the club to post a $90,937 profit instead of a loss of about $900,000.
Dicker made the donation late in 2005, when it became clear the Hawks would not record a profit without substantial additional funds. The club launched a fund-raising campaign, "Brown and gold in the black", to ensure that it retained its record of posting profits during Dicker's nine years as president.
What is most striking about the gift was its secrecy — the seven-figure sums donated by Pratt last week and Joseph Gutnick as Melbourne president were acknowledged and known immediately.
To this day, neither Dicker nor the Hawks will comment on how much he gave, but sources confirmed that it was in the vicinity of a million dollars — a staggering amount considering that while Dicker, the former Ansell boss, is a very wealthy man, he is far from Pratt's league.
Hawthorn's financial statements for 2006, released in December, contain a clue that points to Dicker's hidden gift. They show, in 2005, under the heading of "gifts and special fund-raising efforts", the amount of $1,582,269. The 2006 figure for gifts and special fund-raising, in the next column, was just $276,288 — a drop of more than $1.3 million.
Dicker would not comment when asked to confirm his donation. "I'm not going to comment on any donations that I made. I made many contributions and that's not really the issue, but the key thing we had a big fund-raiser — not as big as ****'s (Pratt's) — but we had one auction and we raised over $300,000 in one night, which was a lot for us … That was the main thing we did to raise money."
Hawthorn chief executive Ian Robson also would not disclose the amount Dicker had given, "out of respect to confidentiality".
The club's cash profit for 2006 was $1.178 million, the "paper" figure reduced to $308,632 by writing off Glenferrie assets in the move to Waverley Park. If Dicker's donation is subtracted, the club achieved an operating turnaround of about $2.2 million in 12 months.
It is possible that Dicker might have made the donation through the Australian Sports Foundation, which would make some tax deductible.
Dicker would not be drawn on whether any donation, regardless of the amount, was through the ASF. Pressed again, Dicker said: "It's not really relevant … I did things over the years. I did little things and bigger things — nothing like ****. But I said when we went out to Waverley, 'Do everything the right way and if we get stuck, I'll make a contribution', rather than trying to cut corners … I read ****'s doing the same things."
CARLTON'S billionaire president Richard Pratt, who last week matched a million dollars-plus in donations with a seven-figure sum of his own, is not the only president to have made a million-dollar gift to his club.
Before being replaced by Jeff Kennett at the end of 2005, Hawthorn president Ian Dicker gave the Hawks a parting gift of a cheque for about a million dollars — a donation that Dicker chose to keep secret, and which enabled the club to post a $90,937 profit instead of a loss of about $900,000.
Dicker made the donation late in 2005, when it became clear the Hawks would not record a profit without substantial additional funds. The club launched a fund-raising campaign, "Brown and gold in the black", to ensure that it retained its record of posting profits during Dicker's nine years as president.
What is most striking about the gift was its secrecy — the seven-figure sums donated by Pratt last week and Joseph Gutnick as Melbourne president were acknowledged and known immediately.
To this day, neither Dicker nor the Hawks will comment on how much he gave, but sources confirmed that it was in the vicinity of a million dollars — a staggering amount considering that while Dicker, the former Ansell boss, is a very wealthy man, he is far from Pratt's league.
Hawthorn's financial statements for 2006, released in December, contain a clue that points to Dicker's hidden gift. They show, in 2005, under the heading of "gifts and special fund-raising efforts", the amount of $1,582,269. The 2006 figure for gifts and special fund-raising, in the next column, was just $276,288 — a drop of more than $1.3 million.
Dicker would not comment when asked to confirm his donation. "I'm not going to comment on any donations that I made. I made many contributions and that's not really the issue, but the key thing we had a big fund-raiser — not as big as ****'s (Pratt's) — but we had one auction and we raised over $300,000 in one night, which was a lot for us … That was the main thing we did to raise money."
Hawthorn chief executive Ian Robson also would not disclose the amount Dicker had given, "out of respect to confidentiality".
The club's cash profit for 2006 was $1.178 million, the "paper" figure reduced to $308,632 by writing off Glenferrie assets in the move to Waverley Park. If Dicker's donation is subtracted, the club achieved an operating turnaround of about $2.2 million in 12 months.
It is possible that Dicker might have made the donation through the Australian Sports Foundation, which would make some tax deductible.
Dicker would not be drawn on whether any donation, regardless of the amount, was through the ASF. Pressed again, Dicker said: "It's not really relevant … I did things over the years. I did little things and bigger things — nothing like ****. But I said when we went out to Waverley, 'Do everything the right way and if we get stuck, I'll make a contribution', rather than trying to cut corners … I read ****'s doing the same things."
