“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
-John Wanamaker, US department store merchant (1838 - 1922)
What about the money I send to charity? I really don’t know how much of the money I send every year to my charities is wasted. I do know it’s greater than 0%, and certainly less than 100%. I give to some good organizations - WBUR in Boston, Boston Coalition for the Homeless, and many others. I give to UConn and Babson (schools I attended) and perhaps 20 other organizations.
Each of these organizations spends some % of their budget on programs, some on administration, and some on fundraising. The numbers are in their IRS 990 tax forms. But, the numbers can lie. Reported spending on programs often can contain costs that should be considered administration or fundraising, but there are enough loopholes and uncertainties in the reporting rules that nonprofits can do this legally.
So, I can’t help wondering… what is the % of my charitable contributions that ACTUALLY get used for providing education, music, news, food, shelter, research, etc? I may never know, and that troubles me.
Filed under: Givving is Broken | Tagged: donations, effectiveness
