From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2000 Who Gets The Money? -- 11th annual edition I n t r o d u c t i o n

 

Starting on page 14 is our 11th annual report on the budgets,
assets, and salaries paid by the major U.S. animal-related charities and
miscellaneous local activist groups, humane societies, and some prominent
organizations abroad. We offer their data for comparative purposes.
Foreign data is stated in U.S. dollars at average 1999 exchange rates.
Most charities are identified in the second column by apparent
focus: A for advocacy, C for conservation of habitat via acquisition, E
for education, H for support of hunting (either for "wildlife management"
or recreation), L for litigation, N for neutering, P for publication,
R for animal rights, S for shelter/sanctuary maintenance, V for focus on
vivisection, and W for animal welfare. The R and W designations are used
only if a group makes a point of being one or the other. Charities of
unique purpose may not have a designation letter.
While many groups are involved in multiple activities, space
limits us to providing only three identifying letters.
Except where otherwise stated, the financial data comes from
current Internal Revenue Service Form 990 filings, covering either
calendar year or fiscal year 1999.
The basic income, expense, and data figures on any U.S. charity,
but not the salary data, are available to anyone--free--at>>www.guidestar.com<<.

We provide further context, in part by applying standards
developed and used by the National Charities Information Bureau prior to a
recent merger with the much less strict Philanthropic Advisory Service of
the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The NCIB required approved
charities to spend at least 60% of their budgets on programs, not including
direct mail associated with fundraising. This standard is stricter than
the IRS rules, which allow charities to call some direct mail costs
"program service" in the name of "public education."

Our % column states each charity's overhead and fundraising costs
as declared to the IRS. The ADJ column states those costs as they appear
to be under the former NCIB guidelines. We ask of any mailing, "Would
this have been sent if postal rules forbade soliciting a donation?" If the
answer is no, the mailing should be called "fundraising," not "program."
Differences between the declared and adjusted balance between
program and fundraising/overhead spending appear in boldface. For certain
smaller charities, which use Form 990-EZ instead of the longer Form 990,
we cannot accurately separate program expenses and overhead. However,
since such charities rarely have paid staff or do much fundraising, one
can presume a heavy tilt toward program service.

The practice of ascribing direct mailings to program service
instead of fundraising reflects the common but erroneous belief that low
fundraising and overhead costs indicate good management. In truth, many
older organizations derive half or more of their income from interest on
large endowments, which consist of funds not spent to directly address the
problems they were given to solve. Such organizations may have "low"
overhead expense only because they are not obliged to spend as much on
fundraising to maintain their programs.

Small shelters, sanctuaries, and some activist groups which rely
heavily on volunteer labor and donated supplies conversely may appear to
have "high" overhead because much of their program service doesn't show up
in cash accounting.

To fairly assess what % and ADJ mean, look also at the Assets
columns--especially Cash/Securities.

Italics indicate a deficit. Note that shelters and sanctuaries
tend to have more fixed assets (property and equipment) due to the nature
of their work. Do not expect total assets to match the sum of fixed assets
plus cash and securities. These are the major asset categories, but the
totals include others such as inventory, and may also be reduced by
liabilities.

The NCIB also suggested that, "Usually, the organization's net
assets available for the following fiscal year should not be more than
twice the higher of the current year's expenses or the next year's budget."
Use of some Cash/Securities reserves may be restricted, but usually these
assets are readily available. Bold in this column indicates an apparent
excess.

NOTE THAT DUE TO THE TABULAR DATA FORMAT UTILIZED IN THESE REPORTS. SOME BROWSERS MAY HAVE

DIFFICULTY SETTING UP THE REQUISITE COLUMNAR HEADINGS. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THIS INCONVENIENCE.

TAKE ME TO THE REPORTS---->