The desire of donors to ensure their dollars are spent wisely has led organizations to become increasingly transparent about their budgets and facilitated the rise in popularity of sites designed to offer clear data about many charities, such as Charity Navigator. Despite the ever increasing access to good information, some charities persist in practices that result in a very small percentage of their income being used to do actual charitable work.
CNN partnered with the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting to identify America’s 50 Worst Charities based on those organizations that blow the most money on soliciting costs.
As a group, the 50 worst charities paid nearly $1 billion to solicitors resulting in only $49.1 million of direct cash aid. This is not just poor management, it is completely unacceptable. The worst of the worst are so bad they don’t deserve to be called charitable organizations.
So What?
When fundraising costs are the number one expense of a charitable organization something is wrong. We must say so. We must express our opinion with our words and in our giving.
- Do you know what percentage of your gift goes to fundraising at your church? at other nonprofit entities you support?
- How much is too much? Put differently, what do you think is the maximum percentage of an organization’s budget that should be allowed to be used to pay administrative costs related to fundraising?