Charity Governance

PLEASE, PLEASE SENATOR GRASSLEY: SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE OVERSTEPS BOUNDS WITH AMERICAN RED CROSS

Come on, come on, come on, come on,
Please please me oh yeh like I please you.

Beatles

We are hardly advocates for the American Red Cross (Red Cross), but we see a politically-motivated witch hunt in Senator Grassley’s request  earlier this week for mounds of information from the Red Cross.  We refer to the sort of letter the Red Cross received as the “Please, Please Me” letter.  It doesn’t demand information, but makes a friendly request, prefacing every item on the lengthy list with the word “please.”  The senator is concerned about how governance lapses may have hurt the Red Cross’ response to Hurricane Katrina.  Everyone shares his concern, but it is time for Senator Grassley and his staff...

CORPORATE TRUSTEES CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PASSIVE CHARITABLE BENEFICIARIES AND CO-TRUSTEES

Last week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy published Loss of Trust: Donors, Foundations Say Banks Mishandle Charitable Accounts (Brad Wolverton), describing a shocking number of large financial institutions that have already settled class action lawsuits brought by charitable and other trustees over fees and a number of other administrative issues. The article describes a $21 million settlement with Northern Trust Bank of California, a $111.5 million court-ordered payment by Bank of America, a $23.5 million settlement by First Union, a $9 million settlement with Bank One, and a $42 million settlement by Wells Fargo & Company.  It should be noted that in some of these cases, the named organization is a successor to the organization that engaged in the behavior that resulted in the settlement or court decision--providing another lesson for those handling mergers and acquisitions regarding due diligence reviews.

One common complaint has been that trustees have been...

DON'T BE MISLED BY ADMINISTRATIVE AND FUNDRAISING RATIOS--THESE ARE LARGELY IRRELVANT NUMBERS

A number of relief organizations that are providing South Asia earthquake-tsunamis aid  are highlighting what we call efficiency ratios on their websites.  All of these ratios compare administrative and/or fundraising expenses to total revenues, or some variation thereof.  You are suppose to believe that the charity in question is more efficient as the percentage of administrative and/or fundraising expenses declines as a percent of total revenues.  Don't... 

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WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS DOING?

[WITH A MASSIVE OUTPOURING OF DONATED FUNDS COMES ACCOUNTABILITY: WHAT EXACTLY IS YOUR ORGANIZATION DOING WITH THE PUBLIC'S MONEY?  DON'T SPEAK IN PLATITUDES.  IF YOU CAN SHOW US PICTURES OF DEVASTATED PEOPLE, YOU CAN TELL US EXACTLY HOW AND WHERE YOU ARE SPENDING THE FUNDS YOU HAVE RAISED]

THIS PAGE WILL BE PERIODICALLY UPDATED (January 4, 2005 at 10:53 AM CST)

The money is now flowing to a number of relief organizations that are providing aid to South Asia earthquake-tsunamis victims.  That's good.  But what exactly is each organization doing?  We decided to take a look at press releases to learn exactly...

DONORS WHO WANT TO HELP EARTHQUAKE-TSUNAMI VICTIMS MUST TARGET THEIR DONATIONS CAREFULLY: DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS IS A CASE IN POINT

Kudos to Doctors Without Borders for posting the following information on its website: