CHARITY BUREAU REPORTS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

The Cancer Fund of America, purporting to fund
no animal research, and apparently funding little or no
research of any kind, has again flunked the standards of both
the Council of Better Business Bureaus Philanthropic
Advisory Service and the National Charities Information
Bureau. Both agencies reported that the Cancer Fund failed
to provide sufficient information about itself in financial
statements. The NCIB added that the Cancer Fund does not
meet standards requiring “that promotional, fundraising, and
public information should describe accurately the organization’s
identity, purpose, programs, and financial needs; that
the organization spend at least 60% of annual expenses on
program activities; that the organization insure that fundraising
expenses, in relation to fundraising results, are reasonable
over time; and that the organization not have a persistent
deficit in net current assets.”

The NCIB also rapped the Fund for Animals for
having allegedly excessive reserves. Trying to build an
endowment by amassing contributions, The Fund at the end
of fiscal 1995 had assets of $13 million but an annual budget
of only $3.4 million. The NCIB holds that a charity should
not hold available assets of more than twice its annual budget.
Among the other 99 animal-oriented charities whose IRS
Form 990 filings ANIMAL PEOPLE abstracted last
December, only the Massachusetts SPCA, with a budget
of $23 million but assets of $62 million, including $56 million
in cash and securities, was even close to going over the
NCIB line. Much of the MSPCA money is in restricted
funds, only available for certain uses. The American SPCA
had a budget of $18 million, with assets of $36 million, but
shelters and offices accounted for nearly $16 million.