I'm skeptical of any bright-line rule that says that a nonprofit is no good because it spends too great a percentage of its revenue on administrative overhead. In fact, what I tend to see is the exact opposite: nonprofits that starve their administrative side in an effort to please the raters, which only sets them up for terrible problems of the gravest sort, including embezzlement, failure to find or retain good people, employment and wage claims, etc. The bottom line is that nonprofits are small businesses, and running small businesses is not easy, especially newer and smaller ones. So bright-line cutoffs are usually to be taken with a big grain of salt.
Ok, that said, here are some outfits that require a charitable interpretation of the word "charity" just to be considered as one. In other words, these aren't close -- these are the stinkers that cause good nonprofits such problems, because when the public gets a whiff of these stinkers, all nonprofits get a bad name. The best thing to do with this list is check it before you write your end-of-year gift checks -- and make sure you avoid these outfits. I'll just give the top three -- download the full list of 20 below.
Organization Average Annual Percent Spent
Expenditures Charitable Cause
Law Enforcement Education Program $2,299,994 2.7%
Troy, MI
Shiloh International Ministries $846,340 3.2%
La Verne, CA
American Medical
Research Organization $783,217 4.2%
Sarasota, FL
(I'm pleased to note that there are no Oregon nonprofits among this "Worst 20" list, although sad to see several in Everett, Washington.)
Ok, that said, here are some outfits that require a charitable interpretation of the word "charity" just to be considered as one. In other words, these aren't close -- these are the stinkers that cause good nonprofits such problems, because when the public gets a whiff of these stinkers, all nonprofits get a bad name. The best thing to do with this list is check it before you write your end-of-year gift checks -- and make sure you avoid these outfits. I'll just give the top three -- download the full list of 20 below.
Organization Average Annual Percent Spent
Expenditures Charitable Cause
Law Enforcement Education Program $2,299,994 2.7%
Troy, MI
Shiloh International Ministries $846,340 3.2%
La Verne, CA
American Medical
Research Organization $783,217 4.2%
Sarasota, FL
(I'm pleased to note that there are no Oregon nonprofits among this "Worst 20" list, although sad to see several in Everett, Washington.)
| attorney_generals_20_worst_charities_2012.pdf |
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