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It collected just $1.1 million in the last seven months, down from the $9.3 million that came in over the same period last year.
The blow to the Buddhist medical charity's coffers comes from the cancellation of its televised charity show, which used to bring in $6 million to $7 million; it has also lost its Institute of Public Character (IPC) status, which allowed donors tax exemptions.
Its fund-raising activities skidded to a halt last November, when the Health Ministry ordered a probe into its books and suspended its IPC status.
On Tuesday, its former chief executive officer Ming Yi was charged with forgery, helping to falsify its accounts and defrauding the charity of about $300,000.
More than 300 individual donors have cancelled their monthly Giro donations since last November. This loss of 11 per cent of its Giro donor pool has shrunk its monthly Giro takings by $8,000 - from $62,000 to $54,000.
Ren Ci chairman Chua Thian Poh, who is property developer Ho Bee Group's chief, said: 'If donors withdraw during this period, we can't blame them. We've got to prove ourselves to win them back.'
The charity, the second biggest in the health-care sector after the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), still has $28.6 million in its reserves.
The Health Ministry has said it will continue giving Ren Ci $9 million in patient and rental subsidies annually. With this grant, the reserves should last some four years without donations coming in.
A press conference called by the Ren Ci leadership yesterday bore an uncanny resemblance to the aftermath of the NKF scandal in July 2005.
Mr Chua, formerly a vice-chairman on the Ren Ci board, assumed chairmanship last September after the Health Ministry called on the charity to separate the roles of chairman and CEO, both then held by Ming Yi.
Yesterday, he laid out Ren Ci's priorities: strengthening its corporate governance, regaining its IPC status and winning back donors.
Two other board members barely a year into their roles, Singapore Technologies Electronics president Seah Moon Ming and KPMG audit partner Tan Huay Lim, gave a run-down of steps taken to tighten checks and balances.
Among these are guidelines to prevent board members from profiting from their links to the charity; the charity will no longer grant loans to other organisations or invest in businesses.
It has also implemented most of the recommendations made earlier by the Health Ministry, and hopes to regain its IPC status soon, Mr Seah said.
Of the $18 million or so Ren Ci spends yearly on the 415 patients in its two hospitals, home medical services and 319 staff members, it has to raise about $7 million; it has already had to draw on about $1.4 million of its reserves in the last few months.
Ren Ci has also asked for an additional $9.4 million from the Health Ministry to cover the cost of completing its community hospital. The extra costs of the now $42.4 million facility come from ballooning construction costs and the price tag on an IT system that will link it to the neighbouring Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
The charity is also looking for a new chief executive to replace Ming Yi and new board members with professional experience.
Despite the criminal charges on Ming Yi's plate, the Ren Ci management said that these did not negate his efforts for the charity since founding it 14 years ago, and thanked him.
