Charity

[At the time of this writing, I was a senior at University of Illinois Laboratory High School.]

This Thursday, the recently instituted annual fundraiser Volley for a Cure ("Block Out Cancer") is taking place. We have two such events a year, the other being the more popular Coaches vs. Cancer basketball game. In essence, these events raise money in a handful of different ways, all revolving around a school sports game hyped for weeks in advance. This money is then sent off to a charitable organization. Unfortunately, while the heart of these events is in the right place, their premise in execution fails to be helpful or worthwhile. Much of the money raised is lost to bureaucracy in the target charity, and the attached spirit of public display and competition leads to social side-effects. Of course, there is also the ever-present banner of spreading awareness.

Volley for a Cure donates to the poster child of all charities, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. (operating as Susan G. Komen for the Cure). The Coaches vs. Cancer beneficiary is the American Cancer Society. You would expect organizations of this size would have a financial overhead for its workers, but the numbers paint a picture far worse.

Just take a look at Form 990, which tax-exempt nonprofit organizations are required by law to submit annually to the IRS. On pages 1, 10, and 11, you can find the numbers necessary to tabulate charities' financial effectiveness. Here are the forms for Susan G. Komen and the American Cancer Society.

Susan G. Komen 2011 Financial Summary
Total Revenue: $208,956,027
Total Expenses: $192,438,599
Net Revenue: $16,517,428
Total Salaries and Benefits Paid: $24,232,513
Total "Travel", "Lobbying", "Business", "Advertising", and "Other" Expenditures: $92,000,784
Grants passed to other organizations: $76,205,302
Percentage of annual revenue with potential to be "charitable": 36%

American Cancer Society 2011 Financial Summary
Total Revenue: $374,019,492
Total Expenses: $373,462,873
Net Revenue: $556,619
Total Salaries and Benefits Paid: $92,142,421
Total "Travel", "Lobbying", "Business", "Advertising", and "Other" Expenditures: $120,791,072
Grants passed to other organizations: $113,106,262
Grants passed to other organizations, including "affiliates": $160,529,380
Percentage of annual revenue with potential to be "charitable": 30% / 43%

Last year, only 36 cents of every dollar received left Susan G. Komen's doors with even the hope of finding some use. The rest is either burned to expenses or paid out to employees. The American Cancer Society's figure is in the same ballpark.

Many institutional charities share the same financial pattern: the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the United Way, and more. (If you want to do more research on your own, look here. Be sure to examine the Form 990 PDFs. If you don't want to register yourself an account using your permanent email address, try this resource.)

The revenue for each of these events was shared via email soon after each one took place.

Coaches vs. Cancer 2010: $2200
Volley for a Cure 2010: $1200
Coaches vs. Cancer 2011: $740
Volley for a Cure 2011: $1459.52
Coaches vs. Cancer 2012: $2438

Especially with ~60% of each figure being taken off to start, these values make little to no impact. Considering the push each game gets, it's not worth it to say "every little bit helps."

Given all the publicity we were bombarded with in the days before each event, the major push to get t-shirts, and the "Cancer Victims Wall" in Kenney Gym, coupled with the fact that these events make such measly amounts, I am led to think these events are more successful in gathering the community together to publicly pat themselves on the back, a la conspicuous consumption. In addition, I have noticed a trend of injecting competition into charitable events in the form of money-wasting like pizza parties and pasta lunches for the most participation of any class. The most egregious example (sponsored by the Swim Team) further split each class by gender, which is a deplorable idea because it creates unnatural antagonism and a sense of separation, as Coach Merf once taught my sports class.

I'll admit that I bought a Coaches vs. Cancer shirt the first time around. I still wear it occasionally, because it is the only bright pink shirt I have, and it goes quite well underneath maroon.

A friend of mine once called me, quote, a "cynical bastard." I am not a friendless soul searching for something popular to complain about. Just last week I received word of another case of cancer in my extended family. Rather than trashing a genuine charitable spirit which is what inspired and drives management of these events, it is my hope that the Uni community can get its priorities straight and put an end to what end up being self-congratulatory wastes of time and money, instead refocusing on something better.

For the past few weeks in Student Council, we have been planning a school-wide blood drive to honor a parent with terminal leukemia. Even though students under 16 cannot donate blood, an event like this with tangible effects is orders of magnitude better than rallying around a sports game and shipping off a chunk of cash to a monolithic organization.

Shipping a few hundred dollars to a charity is a big waste of time. If you do want to contribute to a larger cause, I encourage you to do your research, either digging through the IRS forms, or using a charity calculator like Charity Navigator. The best ways to contribute to any cause are concrete works of charity, such as helping someone you know personally. This way, you make a real positive impact.

[Update.]