Charitable giving

One thing we can say about local organizations that contribute to the community is that their administration costs are VERY low. They are volunteer run. You can be pretty sure the dollar you give will be put to good use.

This is not true of a lot of charitable giving where administration costs can exceed 50%. There is an interesting article,  20 Worst charities in America, on the Mainstreet.com website.  It hi-lites 10 organizations who spend too much on professional fund raising contractors.  Top one 94.3%.

The Charity Navigator website tracks the expenses of charitable organizations based on the IRS filings and disclosure they are required to make.  You won’t find any of us listed there but it is interesting. It hi-lites 10 organizations who spend too much on professional fund raising contractors.  Top one 94.3%.

Think about it.  Maybe your annual charitable giving could be better spent in our community.

Interesting tidbits: Please add your tidbit in the comments section.

Volunteerism in Canada:

Statistics Canada reported for 2004 — The total amount of time volunteered through groups and organizations amounted to about 2.1 billion hours, which was equivalent to almost 1.1 million full-time jobs.  On average, volunteers contributed 166 hours each.