Chaotic management and a lack of responsibility at a Red Cross Society of China branch in southwest Chengdu City were to blame after banknotes donated for victims of the massive 2008 Sichuan earthquake went moldy in streetside donation boxes, an investigative report said yesterday.

The organization's Chengdu branch was found to have carelessly signed a contract with two advertising companies to set up the donation boxes, but it later broke the contract and left the boxes untended.

The report was released by the Red Cross Social Supervision Committee, a group of independent experts financially separate from the charity, officials said.

The report said the Chengdu branch put hundreds of donation boxes in public venues after the devastating earthquake on May 12, 2008, to raise funds to aid earthquake victims, but it didn't collect the money until June 2012. The earthquake left about 90,000 people dead and missing.

It signed a contract with the companies on June 25, 2008, to set up the boxes. According to the contract, the companies paid for the boxes and were allowed to play advertising videos on screens on the top of the boxes to make money. The contract required that the Chengdu Red Cross collect cash from the boxes regularly. The deal was to last 20 years and it was signed by the branch and approved by the Chengdu city government, said the report.

But in September 2008, the branch had some major personnel changes and many new staff members were not fully aware of the contract's terms.

Since then, many boxes were left on the streets untended, with about 30 being stolen and some shut down as electric bills weren't paid in time.