Do you think Charitable institutions are doing business?

Question

I have had close contact with some of the big names in Charities. Some Cancer Care Societies, Medical research foundations, United Ways, and some others. All the people working in these work on targets to raise donations. They publish these numbers of how much they raised this year. None of these ever publish numbers of where they spent these dollars. They even get permission from the governments to run lotteries for raising funds.

Some charities have the ratio as low as 12 cents spent of charitable cause for every dollar they raise. The balance 88 cents are spent on their staff and advertising budgets. Are they really doing business by showing emotional advertisements to us. Or is it my mis-conception.

If you are a simple / emotional / gullible person, who donates a few dollars from modest earnings. Have you ever tried asking these establishments "How much donations they raised last year and how much was spent on what?"

Answer 1

United Way agencies and other legitimate "big names" publish annual reports every year, and these always show how much money they spend and how much money they make in terms of grants, individual donations and fees.

There are some organizations out there with official sounding names, or names that sound similar to legitimate "big names", that claim to be raising money for veterans, the homeless, cancer, etc. My rule is to NEVER donate to organizations over the phone, since so many are these kind of scams -- if they call, I ask for a web address for more information. And if that web site doesn't provide full financial disclore, and if a Google search of the organization's name returns verifiable and negative stories, no donation.

Before donating to any organization, ask to see its latest annual report, and the web address of the organization so you can review the info. If they cannot provide this, then don't make a donation -- it's that simple.

Legitimate nonprofit organizations have many expenses, and do, indeed, operate as businesses: they must adhere to all the same personnel and financial requirements of any business and, therefore, must hire professional human resource managers and accountants, for instance. They must also pay rent, utilities and insurance. Homeless shelters, for instance, don't hand out money to those they help but, rather, provide services -- career counseling, help with applying for government aid, counseling in finding a home, mental health services, referrals to other agencies, etc. -- and these programs require paid staff with extensive training, often at the university level. So money that is used to pay salaries is, in my opinion, money used to provide the very service that the nonprofit is supposed to be providing, and is therefore money very well spent.