There's been a 40% cent drop in donations to charities in the two weeks since the scandal about top-ups to executives' salaries was revealed.

Fundraising Ireland says things have reached crisis point in their sector and charities are taking calls every hour from people looking to cancel donations or complain about the controversy.

The group says the issue has undermined the years of work that charities have done.

Anne Hannify CEO of Fundraising Ireland says that this one incident has had a domino affect on other causes:

Fundraising Ireland has described the massive impact one incident has had on a sector with 8,300 charities as frustrating.