I am known for donating to many causes ranging from political, environmental, educational, and many others which grab my attention and make the case for my unconditional financial support. The number of fundraising organizations that reach out and ask me personally for money via telephone, e-mail or snail mail has grown significantly over the past ten years. More recently many are for causes and groups I have never heard of and have no record of ever donating money to previously. Because my pocket is not a bottomless pit of financial largess I have had to institute a personal policy of background checking every fundraiser that contacts me, even those to which I have donated before.
One morning this past week my phone rang and it was a phone banker stating they were calling on behalf of the National Police and Troopers Association. The person calling immediately reminded me of my previous donor support of the organization and asked if I was onboard to repeat the same. Even though I have donated to this outfit over the past few years I made a point to ask the caller what the organization’s overhead was and how much of my donation would actually go to helping its intended beneficiaries. My query disrupted the caller from his solicitation pitch but said he could find out then promptly began negotiating a lower amount of donation, which is what fundraising phone bankers do. I stopped him again and told him I would do my own background check and he could call me back in one week and we could resume discussion of my donation. The caller ceased his negotiating pitch and agreed to call me back in one week. The call then ended after which I googled the soliciting organization.
As it turns out, the National Police and Troopers Association is part of the International Union of Police Associations, is affiliated with the AFL-CIO and is a (501 (c) 5) non-profit whose donations are NOT tax deductible. Their reported revenue for their fiscal year ending 31 March 2013 was just under $12,232,000.00, their total expenses were over $12,160,000.00 and the amount of donation that went for program services was just over $2,000,000.00 or roughly 17%! I could not find any info on CEO salary or specific overhead. After asking around, this 17% figure is better than many and that such organizations who could afford to pay a CEO to fund raise often do better than those that do not.
Given the level of need in my community, I can see my donations doing far more good locally than sending them to any national organization with such high overhead. Now, what do I have to do to get my name off those phone bank lists?