Veterans Whine As Executives Dine
posted on: Monday, January 05, 2009
By Gary Snyder
Nonprofit organizations continue to get fleeced. This is the first in a series of articles on how charities, and their leaders, are not meeting their fiscal responsibilities.
In 2001, the Congress set up a nonprofit to help veterans start and expand small businesses. The National Business Development received $17 million from the federal government to operate walk-in small business centers for veterans. A recently released Congressional study discovered that only 15 percent a year, on average, was spent running the centers and in fiscal 2008, that percentage slid to 9 percent. In spite of assertions to the contrary by the Veterans Corporation, its claims are being dismissed because there has not been a separate external audit done in two years. Audits are required for organizations the size of the Veterans Corporation.
According to charity watchdogs the average spent on program expense, as opposed to management and fundraising, is 85%. Several veteran organizations such as Paralyzed Veterans of America (used 62% toward charitable purpose), National Veteran Services Fund, Inc (25.1%), American Veterans Relief Fund (7.1%), Disabled Veterans Associations (2.3%) and the Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans (0.1%) are at the bottom of the list and have not met the minimum threshold by a wide margin.
Fundraising efficiency is another focus of charity watchdogs. Stellar fundraising expenses are 10%, but 30% is the most that is acceptable. At the bottom are several veteran organizations that spent in excess of that amount---Veterans of Foreign Wars (60%), Disabled Veterans Associations (96.7%), American Veterans Relief Foundation (83.6%), National Veterans Services Fund, Inc (73.7%).
For every dollar spent on management or fundraising is a dollar spend not meeting the charity’s mission.
Gary R. Snyder is the author of Nonprofits: On the Brink. He is a frequent lecturer and author of articles in numerous publications and blogs. His email is gary.r.snyder@gmail.com; website: www.garyrsnyder.com, phone: 248.324.3700.Labels: nonprofit, nonprofit embezzlement, nonprofit fraud
Nonprofit organizations continue to get fleeced. This is the first in a series of articles on how charities, and their leaders, are not meeting their fiscal responsibilities.
In 2001, the Congress set up a nonprofit to help veterans start and expand small businesses. The National Business Development received $17 million from the federal government to operate walk-in small business centers for veterans. A recently released Congressional study discovered that only 15 percent a year, on average, was spent running the centers and in fiscal 2008, that percentage slid to 9 percent. In spite of assertions to the contrary by the Veterans Corporation, its claims are being dismissed because there has not been a separate external audit done in two years. Audits are required for organizations the size of the Veterans Corporation.
According to charity watchdogs the average spent on program expense, as opposed to management and fundraising, is 85%. Several veteran organizations such as Paralyzed Veterans of America (used 62% toward charitable purpose), National Veteran Services Fund, Inc (25.1%), American Veterans Relief Fund (7.1%), Disabled Veterans Associations (2.3%) and the Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans (0.1%) are at the bottom of the list and have not met the minimum threshold by a wide margin.
Fundraising efficiency is another focus of charity watchdogs. Stellar fundraising expenses are 10%, but 30% is the most that is acceptable. At the bottom are several veteran organizations that spent in excess of that amount---Veterans of Foreign Wars (60%), Disabled Veterans Associations (96.7%), American Veterans Relief Foundation (83.6%), National Veterans Services Fund, Inc (73.7%).
For every dollar spent on management or fundraising is a dollar spend not meeting the charity’s mission.
Gary R. Snyder is the author of Nonprofits: On the Brink. He is a frequent lecturer and author of articles in numerous publications and blogs. His email is gary.r.snyder@gmail.com; website: www.garyrsnyder.com, phone: 248.324.3700.
Labels: nonprofit, nonprofit embezzlement, nonprofit fraud
posted by Gary at
3:52 PM
3 Comments:
Gary,
Do you really believe that "every dollar spent on management... is a dollar spent not meeting the charity's mission"? This seems to imply that charity's can increase impact by firing the executive director. Can nonprofits perform highly without high performing management?
I'm not defending the veteran charities you profile. I'm just focusing on your last sentence and the way you apply the statement to the nonprofit field as a whole.
By
Sean Stannard-Stockton, at 9:51 AM
I would hope that most readers understand that statement to mean that excessive administrative and fundraising abuse, to which the entire is focused, would diminish the opportunity to fulfill the mission. Sorry for the confusion.
Gary
By
Gary, at 5:14 PM
Gary, What can a citizen do to take down these NGO's that are not really serving veterans. Could a technical adjust to the IRS code include some language to stop abuses in the name of veterans?
By
Henry, at 5:57 AM
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