Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryan
It is interesting that "National Breast Cancer Research Center" is a DBA (Doing Business As) name for the Walker Cancer Research Center out of Aberdeen, MD. They are registered in Florida as a charitble organization (Registration #CH47) and their latest filings with the State of Florida show that 52% of all money they raise goes towards fund raising activities, 1% goes to Administrative overhead, and 47% of their money goes to their program service expenses (i.e. this is what part of each donation is actually used for the organizations stated purpose). Probably not the best use of your charitable donation since less than half of your donation actually goes to charitable work and it is not local (Maryland-based).
The best way to check a charity out for Florida residents in through the Department of Agriculture web site. Every charity must register and must show how much of their money goes to fund raising, administration, and to support their activity. The web site to check out a charity is:
http://csapp.800helpfla.com/cspublic...versquery.aspx |
Bryon:
I think the reality is far worse than indicated by the numbers you cite.
In the fine print on the back of National Breast Cancer Research Center's solicitation, the Center breaks out the 47% that its Florida filing lumps together as "program service expense". As noted in my original post, only 4.2 points of the 47% go to "research program services", which is the stated purpose of the charity. The other 43% goes to "public education in conjunction with fundraising appeals". [Their language] Thus, the real percentage of the Center's revenue going to fundraising activities is almost 95% (according to the Center's own numbers, i.e., 51.7% + 43%).
I have seen a Villages golf cart bearing the charity's decal; so at least one Villager has apparently bought the Center's sales pitch.
BTW, perhaps a better way to check out a charity is through the Better Business Bureau website, since the BBB does an evaluation of the charity:
http://www.bbb.org/us/Find-Business-Reviews/ The Center refused to submit information to the BBB, a fact which should scare off any potential donor.