Finances

Income

UNICEF derives its income entirely from voluntary contributions. Income is divided into regular and other resources. Regular resources are unrestricted in their use and are employed by UNICEF to fund its country programmes, along with programme support, management and administration activities approved by the UNICEF Executive Board. Other resources are restricted in their use and are contributed by a donor for specific, board-approved purposes within the country programme; they are further categorized into ‘regular’ and ‘emergency’ contributions.

Increased resources

In 2005, income to regular and other resources increased respectively by 3 per cent to $812 million and by 64 per cent to $1,950 million, and other resources accounted for 71 per cent of total income. Private sector response to the Indian Ocean tsunami and South Asia earthquake emergencies resulted in an almost threefold increase in contributions to other resources (emergency), from $391 million in 2004 to $1,129 million in 2005.

UNICEF introduced thematic contributions in 2003 to support the five organizational priorities, in addition to humanitarian assistance, and to foster efficiencies in programme budget allocation, accounting and reporting. In 2005, thematic contributions increased to $592 million.

In 2005, governments and intergovernmental organizations contributed $1,472 million to UNICEF, an increase of 15 per cent over 2004; 109 governments and six intergovernmental organizations contributed $469 million to regular resources and $1,003 million to other resources, which resulted in increases of 7 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, compared with 2004.

The United States contributed $234 million and was the largest government donor. The European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) contributed $45 million, of which $42 million was allocated to emergencies, and was the largest contributing intergovernmental organization.

In 2005, the private sector, including non-governmental organizations, contributed $1,236 million to UNICEF, an increase of 96 per cent over 2004. Contributions to regular resources decreased marginally from $292 million in 2004 to $289 million in 2005 (due to exchange rate fluctuations, despite an overall increase in local currency amount), while contributions to other resources increased significantly – from $340 million to $946 million.

The majority of private sector contributions to UNICEF are raised by the National Committees. In 2005, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF contributed $217 million and was the largest National Committee donor. As in previous years, Japan was the largest National Committee contributor to regular resources, with $84 million.The largest contribution by a non-governmental organization was $71 million, from the United Nations Foundation.

Note: Figures in some tables may not add up due to rounding.