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Moomin Characters Ltd raises £268,000 for Oxfam
Moomin Characters Ltd has raised £268,000 for Oxfam through sales of a special edition of The Invisible Child, a short story from the Tales from Moominvalley collection.
The story was sold in English (published by Sort of Books, £4.99), Finnish and Swedish and 400,000 copies have sold since the campaign launched in October 2017. In the UK the book was sold in branches of Oxfam and Waterstones as well as Moomin shops and Moomin.com.
The full £4.99 from each sale has been donated to Oxfam, in aid of the charity’s women’s projects worldwide.
Roleff Kråkström, m.d. of Moomin Characters, said: “We have seen with our own eyes how Oxfam helps women find their voices through empowering initiatives that range from courses in agriculture and entrepreneurship to family counselling. It is through projects such as these that we can make progress towards the total eradication of manipulation and exploitation of women and girls around the world.”
Sophia Jansson of Moomin Characters presents Oxfam's deputy director of fundraising, Nicola Tallett, with a cheque for £268,000 to support Oxfam’s women’s projects around the world.
Kråkström condemned the news of misconduct by former Oxfam staff in Haiti but added: “We believe it would be a great shame to allow their behaviour to detract from the great work that the majority of Oxfam staff and volunteers do and have always done for those in need. We are proud of our partnership with Oxfam and believe that supporting its projects is more important now than ever.”
Macmillan Children’s Books donated £1 per sale of the Pocket Moomin Colouring Book, and Finnish brands Fiskars and Finlayson contributed a proportion of sales of their Moomin products. There is also a range of The Invisible Child products available with a proportion of sales going to Oxfam, including a tote bag, tea towel and handkerchief.
Moomin Characters Ltd is the owner of the rights to The Moomins, a series of books written by the late author and illustrator Tove Jansson. The company is overseen by Jansson's niece, Sophia Janssen.
