Where Most Needed

Cattaca: Genetics for Cats

A small foundation supports some fascinating research into the origins of cat varieties. But their IRS reporting is quite a bit less enlightening.

A curious article about genetic research on cats showed up in the Washington Post (Rob Stein). Sure enough, the article mentioned involvement of a nonprofit, the Winn Feline Foundation (EIN 23-7138699 Form 990), as a funder of the research. The research was based on genetic data from 1,100 cats, including twenty-two breeds and seventeen random-bred populations on five continents and attempted to trace the migration of cat populations from their presumed site of domestication in the Middle East. The Post article covers the highlights, but anyone so inclined can read the complete author's manuscript provided free by the National Institutes of Health.

Of course, my interest lies more in cat organizations than in cats, so I took a closer look at the Winn Feline Foundation. It appears to be an all-volunteer organization, with no salaries reported. There is an executive director, but she received only $13, 070 in the column for expense accounts and other allowances. The foundation took in just shy of $400,000 in the fiscal year ended April, 2007 and spent a bit over $270,000. The rest went into increasing the organization's kitty (last cat pun, I hope) to about $1.2 million in investments and cash.

Most of the spending went for grants of about $191,000. This is reported on the line for grants from donor-advised funds, but I suspect that could be an error due to the new format of the Form 990 that separates out grants from donor-advised funds and lists them first. To further confuse matters, the form indicates that the grants consist of $243,398 in cash and no non-cash grants. Obviously , this doesn't add up. In addition, there is no scheduled attached detailing the recipients of the grants (the new Form 990 helpfully reminds the preparer to "attach sch").

Let's note here that on page 9 we learn that the Form 990 was prepared by the unpaid treasurer of the organization.

While the Form 990 indicates that the organization doesn't have a website, I found it anyway. And lo and behold, it offers a list of the grants made in 2007, eight studies funded for a total of $127,544, yet another number inconsistent with either of the ones reported in the Form 990.

I also note on the web site that the Foundation was started by the Cat Fanciers Association (a 501(c)(4) social wefare organization, EIN 21-0700441 Form 990), with which it shares a mailing address. It's not clear whether there is any formal relationship between the two. The Cat Fanciers did provide $5,000 in funding to the Winn Foundation and they share an address, but that isn't conclusive. Neither organization reports the other as related; however, the Cat Fanciers don't even acknowledge their association with their own CFA Foundation (EIN 22-3372295, too small for a Form 990).

The Cat Fanciers Association is reasonably large, with over $2.2 million in revenue, mostly program service revenue from registration fees for pure bred cats. Officers receive minimal compensation (the president received $8,000). Staff expenses are reported as over $800,000. The web site of the CFA (likewise missing from the Form 990) indicates that there is a staff of twenty-one. However, line 90 of the Form 990, which is supposed to show the number of staff, is blank. Unlike the Winn Foundation, the CFA form was prepared by a CPA.

Private Philanthropy Puts Yale in the Drivers Seat in New Haven

Gleaming new campus buildings arise while the city's infrastructure crumbles around them.

One of the enduring paradoxes of charity is that it is often easier for institutions to build than to serve. The New York Times (Louis Uchitelle) recently reported on the massive construction projects being undertaken by Yale University (EIN 06-0646973 Form 990), while the city of New Haven struggles to pay for much needed improvements in highways.

The contrast: Yale is spending $400 million a year on capital construction, New Haven just $137 million.

But the more notable point of the article is that there are no effective advocates for increased infrastructure spending. In decades past, major local businesses promoted road building and other projects that would make the city more efficient. But now the manufacturing businesses have gone, leaving only Yale. And Yale is not that interested in infrastructure projects unless it is of direct benefit (like streets and sidewalks around its own campus).

Also worth noting (although it is not in the article) is the double standard that applies to capital giving. Charity watchdogs are always paying attention to the percentage of charity spending that goes directly to programs. However, that standard goes out the window when capital spending is concerned. Charity capital campaigns raise billions of dollars, not a penny of which goes for programs. Typically construction only provides a charity with a reduction in ongoing occupancy costs, which is usually just a small percentage of total spending.

So the contrast continues, as we have already seen in New Orleans and Pittsburgh. Private (and occasionally public) universities (with their associated hospitals forming the Eds and Meds sector) are the dominant economic force in many of the second-tier cities in the US (those past the top fifteen or so, metro areas with less than 3 million in population). They have yet to step up to their responsibilities to the cities that host them.

Roger Clemens Foundation Could Use Some Juice

The pitcher's charity foundation stages a golf event and sells memorabilia, and a significant amount of grants go to places that aren't mentioned in the organization's web site.

A reference in the comic strip Tank McNamara let me to Roger Clemens video on YouTube in which he denied using steroids or human growth hormone. Early on in the video Mr. Clemens mentions phone calls of support made to his foundation, which of course got my attention.

Roger Clemens Foundation (EIN 76-0378319 Form 990) appears to be a very modest undertaking. The Form 990 claims that the organization doesn't even have a web site, but a search on Google turns up the official Roger Clemens web site, which claims to represent the foundation. The web site includes a sound clip from Sir Elton John's song "Rocket Man," playing off Mr. Clemens' nickname "the Rocket."

The organization's gross receipts of $578,336 comes from a number of sources in the year ending June 30, 2006, starting with special events, bringing in $290,357. These include a golf tournament, something called "Academy Kids," and the Roger Clemens award banquet, which honors the college baseball pitcher of the year, as well as a number of other smaller events.

Then there is the sale of merchandise, which brings in $123,924 a year. The web site sells memorabilia like signed baseballs ($350) and a Rocketman TPX Glove (not game worn) signed with a silver paint pen (list $999, your price $829), and a number of photos, prints, and posters in the $75 to $150 range.

After that there were cash contributions of $87,903 and in-kind contributions of $71,270.

On the expense side, the foundation distributed $293,587 in cash contributions and $146,655 in kind, plus $5,285 in assistance to individuals. There were $220,347 in other expenses including $112,980 in salaries and wages, but the executive director Janice Wilde is listed with no compensation. The books are kept by a company called Hendricks Management, which represents Mr. Clemens.

What I note in the listing of grantees is the contrast between the children-oriented charities listed on the web site and big winners among the grantees in the Form 990. The single largest gift was $75,000 to the University of Texas, followed by $50,000 to the Gulf Coast United Way and $22,000 to the Texas Museum & Hall of Fame.

Rather than cash, most charities receive in-kind gifts of Astros Tickets (largest beneficiary is not a health-related children's charity but the Girl Scouts, 400 tickets) or memorabilia. And there is a long exhibit listing the items donated for charity auctions, their cost, and the amount raised—lots of photos and baseballs, fewer autographed gloves and jerseys.

All in all, it's a pretty low key and unfocused charity for one of the major players in baseball. On the accountability side, we note that the only directors of the charity are Mr. Clemens and his wife Debbie.

Doors Closing for Small Scale Advocacy Organizations

Changing priorities at two foundations affect funding for hundreds of small scale advocacy groups across the US. It looks as though free lance advocacy is losing out to the broader strategic objectives of political campaigning.

The mainstream press has missed a noteworthy development at a couple of relatively small foundations—which nevertheless have been a mainstay of support for certain types of nonprofit advocacy. The Chronicle of Philanthropy (Michael Anft) reported that the Public Welfare Foundation (EIN 54-0597601 Form 990) under its new president Deborah Leff was limiting its focus to a few key issues. As a result, many of the 400 groups a year that annually benefit from the foundation's grants (typically in the five figure range) would most likely have to cut back.

Unfortunately, many of the articles mentioned in this article are behind subscriber walls, and some aren't even on the Internet yet, but that's just the point. Mainstream news outlets aren't even noticing this story and the underlying trend it reflects.

This drew a notably vehement response from Chronicle columnist Pablo Eisenberg, a long-term proponent of grassroots advocacy. Mr. Eisenberg made it personal by criticizing Ms. Leff's new policy and the transparency of the process by which it was arrived at:

Ms. Leff says she consulted with many grantees during the planning process. That does not seem to be borne out by many grantees whose names had been submitted for consultation by the staff. Nor does the president seem to take much, if any, time to listen to visiting grantees or grass-roots organizations.

Later on, Mr. Eisenberg discloses the reason for his impassioned reaction:

Probably half of all the local grass-roots environmental-justice programs in the country have depended on Public Welfare money. Another quarter of foundation support came from the Beldon Fund, which has shut its doors and plans to spend all of its assets by 2009. So from where will the money for this important movement come? What other foundations are ready to step up to the plate?

The Beldon II Fund (EIN 38-2756784 Form 990) confirms on its web site its intention to go out of business in 2009. So it was the double blow to Mr. Eisenberg's favored constituency that aroused his fury.

And other notable details emerged in the response to the column. Gara LaMarche, CEO of Atlantic Philanthropies came to the defense of Ms. Leff, noting:

[I]n her early months at Public Welfare [Ms. Leff] launched a million-dollar initiative to promote paid sick leave policies. She's off to a great start.

We have previously talked about Atlantic Philanthropies, a Bermuda-based charity that reveals little information about itself, though it does operate a US-based charity, the Atlantic Foundation of New York (EIN 13-3562971 Form 990), which discloses no information about salaries. Like the Beldon Fund, Atlantic Philanthropies has set a sunset date for itself in 2020.

This gives us a hint of what has happened at the Public Welfare Foundation. Instead of hundreds of grants in the $25,000 to $75,000 range, there are now are far fewer grants of much larger denominations.

But I was curious about the choice of issues. Paid sick leave policies? A little digging turned up a likely rationale: ballot initiatives about paid sick leave are making progress in Ohio and possibly other states expected to play a key role in the 2008 presidential election. It's part of a get-out-the-vote strategy similar to the role played by gay marriage ballot initiatives in 2004.

I think I get it. Sorry, Pablo, but that grassroots advocacy stuff is so 1970s. Now it's all about the vast strategic designs of presidential campaigns and the huge piles of money they demand for their execution. The truth is, your favorite grassroots efforts at environmentalism haven't anywhere near the impact of a mass media project like An Inconvenient Truth, which not only raised awareness but actually provided a return on investment.

So, half a bravo for Deborah Leff and the Public Welfare Foundation for trying something different that actually might work. Still—paid sick leave? I really doubt that it's going to rally the Democratic core the way that a ban on gay marriage did for the family values Republicans , but I'll keep an open mind.

Fearful Symmetry in San Francisco

Christmas Day tiger escape is a grim reminder of the risks of nonprofit mismanagement and the flaccid oversight that comes with self-regulation. No one is keeping an eye on the tiger, or its keeper.

Since the fatal attack of the Siberian tiger on a zoo visitor, plenty has emerged about the management practices at the San Francisco Zoo (EIN 94-1429538 Form 990) and about the process of zoo accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquarioums (EIN 55-0526930 Form 990). As might be expected, the San Francisco Chronicle provided intensive coverage, but I was struck by how extensive it was, with several days of headlines that convey an impression of an organization, if not a whole industry, out of control:

Outrage at City Hall: Newsom, supes demand changes (Cecilia M. Vega, Wyatt Buchanan - December 27)
Tiger grotto wall shorter than thought, may have contributed to escape and fatal attack (Kevin Fagan & other staff - December 28)
Security cameras, emergency lights too expensive for most zoos (Steve Rubenstein - December 28)
Zoo workers did not announce tiger escape, failed to follow rules (Steve Rubenstein, Kevin Fagan - December 29)
Police, fire logs in S.F. tiger mauling show scene of chaos, delay (Jaxon Van Derbeken, Kevin Fagan - December 29)
Big-cat experts say a determined tiger could get over a 12-1/2 foot wall (Erin Allday - December 29)
S.F. Zoo's history of mismanagement; morale down under new director (Patricia Yollin - December 30)
Beloved but beleaguered zoo. Grotto design: Keepers say many people were aware of potential for tigers to escape (Steve Rubenstein - December 30)

Outside of San Francisco a few newspapers went further than the AP stories:

The Washington Post (Marc Kaufman and Sylvia Moreno) and LA Times (Charles Piller and Tim Reiterman) expanded on the incident a year before when Tatiana, the same tiger that escaped, had injured a zoo keeper. Many stores quoted zoo director Manual A. Mollinedo saying that in that incident "the tiger was acting like a tiger normally does." But the Post also noted:

A California Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigation into the incident faulted the zoo, which upgraded security for its five tigers as a result and paid an $18,000 fine.

The Post also went over the housing of the big cats at the National Zoo and previous incidents with big cats: the 1958 death of a child who got too close to a caged lion and a 1995 incident where a woman climbed into the lion exhibit overnight and was found dead the next day. And just last year a 30-pound clouded leopard was found outside its enclosure one morning before the zoo opened.
In New York, the Times reported (Ken Belson) that there was greater concern locally about exotic pets than zoo animals. In 2003, a 400 pound Bengal tiger and a five foot long caiman (a crocodile relative) were found in an apartment in Harlem.
The San Diego Union Tribune (Jeanette Steele) went into the zoo safety issue at the greatest length. Recent incidents include an escaped alligator at the Los Angeles Zoo (2007) and escaped gorillas at the Dallas Zoo (2004) and at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston (2003). There are other animal escapes at the zoo, but they don't get as much attention if the animals aren't on the dangerous list (big cats, elephants, great apes, and bears—for some reason alligators don't make the list)
The LA Times opinion blog offered the best gossip by recalling an incident in 2001 when Manuel Mollinedo was director of the LA Zoo. While giving a tour to Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Chronicle (and, incidentally, the former Mr. Sharon Stone), a Komodo dragon bit off a piece of Mr. Bronstein's toe, after Mr. Mollinedo advised him to take off his white shoes because they resembled the white rats that were fed to the reptile. I wonder whether the full court press coverage by the Chronicle had its roots in this painful encounter (after all, an editor never forgets).
[Update] Bringing up the rear, the Chicago Tribune (James Janega) reports on January 1 (a week after the incident) that the Lincoln Park Zoo has removed some grass cover that had been planted in the moat around its tiger enclosure. The story included a graphic comparison of the moats in San Francisco, Lincoln Park and the Brookfield Zoo.

In response to the incident, the Chronicle reported (Tanya Schevitz & Marisa Lagos) that the zoo brought in PR crisis expert Sam Singer for damage control.

As the story continues to come out in slow motion, I wonder how much attention will be given to the accreditation process of the AZA (the Association of Zoos and Aquariums). This private nonprofit, organized as a 501(c)(3) charity, currently accredits 216 institutions, chiefly in the US. Its accreditation standards include safety provisions like this one:

All areas housing venomous animals, or animals which pose a serious threat of catastrophic injury and/or death (e.g. venomous snakes, polar bears, killer whales, large felines, and others), must be equipped with appropriate alarm systems, and/or have protocols and procedures in place which will notify staff in the event of a bite injury, attack, or escape from the enclosure. These systems and/or protocols and procedures must be routinely checked to insure proper functionality, and periodic drills must be conducted to insure that appropriate staff are notified.

And this:

Institutions maintaining potentially dangerous animals (sharks, whales, tigers, bears, etc.) must have appropriate safety procedures in place to prevent attacks and injuries by these animals. Appropriate response procedures must also be in place to deal with an attack resulting in an injury. These procedures must be practiced routinely per the emergency drill requirements contained in these standards.

Also of interest are the guidelines for accreditation, which is a peer-review process that organizations undertake every five years. As is frequently the case with peer accreditation, the process and the reports relating to it are confidential. The organization undergoing accreditation does not select the members of the visiting committee that conducts the on-site inspection, but the organization's CEO/director does get a chance to review the pool of potential inspectors and eliminate names at that stage.

The process of accreditation involves answering a questionnaire and supplying supporting documentation about six months in advance of the accreditation date. Then the inspection committee reviews of documents and has the on-site visit, which concludes with an exit interview presenting major and lesser concerns. The institution is expected to file a written response to the concerns, after which there is a closed hearing with the CEO/director of the institution, and the inspection commission makes its decision to grant, table, or deny accreditation. Tabling is reviewed after a year, and a denial can be appealed to the AZA full board.

The problem with a peer review process of this sort, it seems to me, is that the overall pool is extremely small with just over 200 members of the association. It means everyone at the administrative level in the zoo business knows everyone else, probably for years, and there is a significant risk that collegiality could trump objectivity in the accreditation process.

The other difficulty with the peer review process is that, like most charities, the majority of the membership will be relatively small scale institutions. For instance, the San Francisco Zoo, despite its location in a major metropolitan area, reports income of just under $30 million and a staff of 163. By contrast, the San Diego Zoo (EIN 95-1648219 Form 990) has income of over $200 million and staff of 1,928—the income from its gift shop equals the entire budget of the SF Zoo. What this means is that the peer review group will necessarily consist of staff from the smaller scale local zoos, not the world-class attractions like San Diego. There is no reason to expect that such a process will establish and enforce the highest standards. It seems more likely that it will simply endorse the conditions in the mid-range, financially strapped local zoos.

Zoos and aquariums are peculiar institutions from an ethical standpoint, since it is difficult to create a standard of ethical care for wild animals held captive as a tourist attraction. And yet, long after cities have lost their local amusement parks to large, regional theme parks, literally hundreds of zoos and aquariums remain. In most cases, charity nonprofits have a significant role in their operation (in San Francisco, a 501(c)(3) charity runs the zoo, while the city retains the property and buildings). It seems that in this instance, charities are actually perpetuating institutions that reflect obsolete ethics and values.

On another subject: in reviewing the Form 990s, I found once again that Guidestar isn't up to date. The most current Form 990 for the SF Zoo is available on the organization's web site and shows that zoo director Manuel Mollinedo takes home a healthy compensation of $314,038, plus $15,702 in benefits and an expense account of $9,548. This is a significant increase over the previous year, when his compensation numbers were $200,000/$10,000/$0.

Mr. Mollinedo appears to take home significantly more than the compensation reported for San Diego Zoo director Douglas Myers, whose income for the year ended 1/31/2006 (which is the most current both in Guidestar and on the web site) is reported as $243,399/$39,239/$8,376. Again, the SD Zoo is about ten times the size of the SF Zoo.

Rescuing Animals from the Animal Rescuer

Good intentions lead to bad results for some animals in the care of a fund-strapped southern California animal rescue operation.

My turkey rescue quest led me to the website of an organizations called Animal People (EIN 14-1752216 Form 990), which publishes a newspaper and maintains a web site featuring news about animal welfare issues. In some ways, it's quite good, but the web site is hindered by a clunky user interface left over from the early days of the World Wide Web. It seems to me they have content worth of an outstanding blog, but for some reason they have not achieved their potential in this area.

For example, I found a noteworthy story in Animal People's watchdog section about a troubled exotic animal rescue operation outside Los Angeles called Wildlife Waystation (EIN 95-3190812 Form 990), run by founder Martine Colette and (until recently) LA businessman Robert Lorsch. The organization has been in trouble for years with county officials and the USDA, which permits and inspects facilities where animals are exhibited, for deficiencies in the care and shelter for the animals.

Mr. Lorsch claimed in an article in the Los Angeles City Beat (Marc B. Haefele) to have succeeded in getting county officials to give the organization a break. Nevertheless, Mr. Lorsch and five other board members quit in July, reported the LA Daily News (Dana Bartholomew)(no longer online at the newspaper's web site, but preserved in this blog post). He was quoted:

Martine wanted control over everything, and that has been problematic in the past. I can't speak for the others, but it got tiring.

How bad it got is documented in a consent decision with the USDA in September that outlined some of the deficiencies of care, with examples like this:

Specifically, respondent failed to maintain current detailed, accurate records of respondent's treatment and the condition of a chimpanzee named "Sammy," including reference to the necessary psychological enrichment for this special needs animal, failed to observe and assess Sammy's health and well-being, as evidenced by only four written notations int he keepers' log concerning this animal between may * and September 2, 2003, despite Sammy's severe self-mutilation of this forearms, hand, head and legs resulting in exposure of muscle and tendons in some areas, and failed to convey to respondent's veterinary staff timely information concerning Sammy's condition in order for steps to be taken to alleviate his continuing and active self-mutilation of his forearms, hands, head and legs.

That brings us to this sad video of Ms. Colette making a last ditch appeal to save the organization and its four hundred animals, announcing her intention to let go of half the staff and rely on volunteers. This was back in late August. Then the news reports go silent.

I called the number indicated on the organization's web site this morning. The woman who answered the phone identified herself as an office assistant and said that the organization was still operating. I suggested that the organization should consider keeping its home page updated frequently so that a visitor to the site could tell that the organization has not shut down.

The animal rescue field offers poignant illustrations of the limits of private charity organizations for two reasons:

the organizations are almost entirely funded from private individual charity—there is little or no government funding and not much foundation funding, and
compared with human services, there is little outside scrutiny.

Thus the flaws of private charity are highlighted: the widespread inadequate internal controls, particularly on the chief executive, and the operational challenge of obtaining voluntary contributions to provide critical needs.

And going deeper, Wildlife Waystation illustrates how hard it is for a small scale organization to achieve the right balance of heart with head: turning the best of intentions into a sustainable business model.

American Red Cross: The CEO Model Has Failed

New CEO Mark Everson has resigned after six months on the job for having relations with a chapter executive in Mississippi (giving new meaning to Katrina relief). But the Red Cross has made its greatest strides under interim leadership over the last decade, calling into question whether the organization really needs a high profile chief—and whether they can find one.

It was a shock to see the brief resignation statement of newly installed American Red Cross CEO Mark Everson posted on the organization's web site on Tuesday. Mr. Everson had been on the job just a few days short of six months, his hiring coming after an extensive executive search process following the resignation of Marsha Evans as ARC CEO in December of 2005.

The American Red Cross (EIN 53-0196605) filed its most current form 990 electronically in March of 2007, but for some reason it is still not available on Guidestar. The link is to the form posted on the ARC web site.

The limited news coverage followed two tracks: the New York Times (Stephanie Strom) and Washington Post (Philip Rucker) mostly took the high road, with quotes from the Usual Suspects

Diana Aviv, Independent Sector,
Trent Stamp, Charity Navigator,
Peter Dobkin Hall, Harvard, and
Paul C. Light, New York University,

plus a few others about how bad this was for the American Red Cross.

Ms. Strom only hinted at the other track deep in the article, mentioning that Mr. Everson's affair with a chapter official on the Gulf Coast (who is also married, mother of two, and is now pregnant) was reported to the board by a person whom Mr. Everson had hired.

The scandal track was fully fleshed out by the New York Post (Geoff Earle & Chuck Bennett) in a story with a great headline (Axed Red Cross chief had Mississippi Queen), who added:

The glamorous brunette, a former TV reporter, is an official with a Mississippi chapter of the Red Cross - a position that put her on the front lines responding to the Hurricane Katrina disaster that leveled her own home.

This was enough for the Mississippi Press (Veto F. Roley) to identify the paramour as ARC's Southeast Mississippi Chapter Executive Director Paige Roberts. The Washington satire blog Wonkette served as paparazzi, providing a picture of Ms. Roberts. (Mr. Everson's picture is already widely available—he is a handsome dude who bears a passing resemblance to Aaron Eckhart, the lobbyist in the movie Thank You for Smoking.)

The Non Profit Times (Paul Clolery), a trade publication, took it a step further by reporting that the ARC is conducting a forensic audit to determine whether any ARC funds were used inappropriately by Mr. Everson or Ms. Roberts. They also confirmed that there was no severance other than a contribution to medical insurance costs, under $10,000. For comments, NPT looked to other charity CEOs:

M. Cass Wheeler, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association
John Graham IV, CAE, president & CEO, American Society of Association Executives
Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch
H. Art Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance
Linda Crompton, president and CEO at BoardSource

The Chronicle of Philanthropy (Grant Williams), by contrast, didn't immediately go beyond the press release issued by the ARC. I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle the balance between the high road and low road in their next issue's coverage.

I have pointed out that the ARC has been pursuing major reforms and restructuring under interim leadership, first by Harold Decker (after Dr. Bernardine Healy, who resigned in 2001) and then John F. (Jack) McGuire (after Ms. Evans). The interim post is now being filled by general counsel Mary Elcano, whose prior experience was as general counsel and head of human resources for the US Postal Service.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the Red Cross moves forward on interim leadership while appointed CEOs go down in flames. I'm not sure the American Red Cross even needs a CEO as the term is ordinarily understood. The ARC has two separate missions—emergency response and blood supply—operating largely autonomously of each other. Unlike most organizations, the ARC has no strategic objective other than to provide these two services. There is no need to maximize shareholder values, no need to examine what business they are in, and no need to consider acquisitions or divestitures. Hence, no need for a corporate style CEO.

It seems to me that there could be two operational heads, one for emergency services and one for blood services, both accountable directly to the board. The public face of the organization could be the chair of the board, which could be a dollar-a-year celebrity face, with the understanding that the real work of the organization is the responsibility of two competent but largely unpublicized COOs.

The real issue with the American Red Cross is how to recast the role of the local chapters, their fundraising, and their leadership. What makes ARC so difficult to manage is that the local chapters hold the key to local fundraising, giving them extraordinary leverage. ARC is not alone with this challenge, which is shared by all chapter-based charities from the American Cancer Society to the YMCA. But ARC is unique in having also to coordinate two essential services that affect people directly at critical points in their lives. And this is where the local autonomy can come into conflict with the desirability of uniform, disciplined service delivery.

In other words, if a local Y is managed poorly or a local American Cancer Society chapter has an embezzlement scandal, it's pretty much a local issue. But if there's a problem with blood delivery or mishandling of a large scale disaster, it's a national scandal.

The fundraising angle is how it can come to pass that a local Red Cross chapters can be headed up by a former television news reporter, like Ms. Roberts in Mississippi, rather than by people with a background in emergency response or blood services. I think the solution for the local chapters is similar to the one I suggest for the national level. The local operations should have two COOs for disaster services and blood services, reporting to other technical managers at a regional and national level. Fundraising efforts should be the local (advisory) board's primary responsibility, headed up by an honorary (unpaid) board chair. The local board is thus more clearly defined as an advisory and fundraising body, with limited say over policies and no involvement in technical supervision of services.

The ARC is not a charity in the ordinary sense. On a local and national level it is more akin to a volunteer fire department in that it provides an essential community service based on volunteers. The ARC is not "them" in some huge bureaucracy in Washington. It is "us" taking care of our neighbors. The ultimate question is not how they at the Red Cross can get their act together—it is how we can come together to help each other out in stressful times.

Boring Bus Ride Nets over $20,000 for Video Game Charity

A marathon online event using a mind-numbing simulation of a bus driving across the desert gets enough buzz to fuel four days of fundraising. But your results may vary.

Marathons can still work as fundraisers. Out on Vancouver Island, Canada, a comedy video troop known as LoadingReadyRun far exceeded their expectations by raising over $20,000 for charity by playing a video game for four days running. The game was something called Desert Bus, a tongue in cheek real-time simulation of a bus trip from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada (maximum speed 45 miles an hour/72 kilometers per hour) that takes eight hours to play (and it can't be paused). It was originally part of an unreleased Sega CD video game package hosted by the comedy magicians Penn & Teller. (Here's the story in a weirdly unsync'ed video from CHEK-TV, Victoria, BC.)

The charity beneficiary was Child's Play (EIN 20-3584556 Form 990), which raises money to donate game consoles (and other electronic entertainment devices) to a network of forty hospitals in the US, Canada, plus a handful in Australia, Egypt, New Zealand, and the UK. The charity was founded by Mike Krahulik & Jerry Holkins, who are artist and author respectively of the influential thrice-weekly video-game themed comic Penny Arcade (which despite its influence is nigh incomprehensible to non-gamers due to Mr. Holkins' use of gamer jargon, a florid writing style, and oblique references). Wired magazine profiled the pair last summer, but only the Form 990 for the charity provides the information that Mr. Krahulik draws a salary of $221,726 and Mr. Holkins $209,509 (from Penny Arcade, NOT from the charity).

This fundraiser suggests good reasons why a not every charity will be able to match this level of Internet fund raising:

LoadingReadyRun already have an established, if modest, audience from their ambitious web site, which releases a new sketch comedy video weekly. The group has experience and infrastructure to both promote and support an Internet marathon.
The Penny Arcade connection provided another helpful promotional lead (it's where I found out about it—don't ask me why I read a comic that I don't understand most of the time.)
The Penn & Teller card didn't hurt either.

And while $20,000 is impressive, it's hardly enough to support even a medium-scale charity with paid staff. Child's Play is still an all-volunteer effort.

And, like the Imus Ranch, this is another charity that promotes helping sick kids who aren't that sick, and as with the McDonald's pull tab fundraiser, I'm concerned that this type of event tends to trivialize charity and draws attention away from serious causes and remedies. Since homicide is the second leading cause of death for persons aged 1-19 (behind unintentional injury), reducing real-world violence seems to me like a more relevant cause for the gaming community to embrace.

Turkey Rescue a Thankless Task

Amid national feasting, a few charities look out for a handful of birds that escape the annual massacre.

A check of Google news turns up over 1,500 items talking about serving turkey to the needy or homeless on Thanksgiving, a peculiar US ritual that runs parallel to the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in the mind of the media.

The New York Times (Kim Severson) bucked the homeless-man-bites-bird coverage with a not-quite-heartwarming story about the people who take in turkeys who are somehow spared. Turkey rescue is problematic because the birds are often hostile and always messy. And the commercially-bred broad-breasted white variety of turkeys are prone to early obesity and a host of other ailments like arthritis and heart failure that often results in their early decline and death.

Turkeys for adoption generally come from rescue operations such as Farm Sanctuary (EIN 51-0292919 Form 990), a substantial $5 million operation with 76 employees and locations in upstate New York and northern California. One of the co-founders of Farm Sanctuary, Lorri Bauston, has started another farm animal rescue operation called Animal Acres (EIN 73-1720764 Form 990) in the Los Angeles area after her break up with the other co-founder Gene Baur. Animal Acres has been getting attention from prominent animal activists like Dennis Kucinich and Daryl Hannah. Mr. Baur receives compensation of $32,327 plus $5,796 in benefits in the year ended September 30, 2006. Ms. Bauston shows no compensation at all in 2005 (still the most current year available).

But the ultimate recipients of these animals are much more modest operations. Some are individuals, but some are small animal rescue operations and farms, a type of operation we have already talked about (Wildlife Rescue Charities Embody Private Vision, March 29, 2006). For instance, Star Gazing Farm (EIN 20-0882587 Form 990) in Montgomery County, Maryland is a tiny operation with no paid staff that leases land from its executive director Anne Shroeder.

The article also uncovers the fate of several of the turkeys that have been pardoned by the US President since the first President George Bush started that strange tradition in 1989. In recent years, pardoned turkeys have been snatched up by the Walt Disney Company (not a charity) to serve as grand marshals of a Thanksgiving parade either at Walt Disney World or Disneyland.

Apparently the National Turkey Federation (a business league, EIN 36-2033000 Form 990) is on board with the turkey pardon, seeing that the turkey rescue movement shows no signs of denting the demand for 45 million or so Thanksgiving turkeys nationwide (about a sixth of the annual US production of 250-300 million). Their press release notes that the President was also given two dressed turkeys.

Just for perspective, the turkey industry trade group has a budget of a mere $2 million, three-quarters of which comes from member dues. It has a staff of nine and its main function appears to be a national convention (2007: Tucson, 2008: San Diego). In 2006 its (outgoing) president Alice Johnson received compensation of $199,811 in salary and $18,135 in benefits and expense accounts.

Indicted Orange County Sheriff's Charity Fiasco

His foundation's inability to keep up with annual filing requirements turned out to be symptomatic of larger troubles.

In the coverage of the indictment of Orange County (California) sheriff Mike Carona, what caught my eye was the LA Times' reference to an earlier investigation of Sheriff Carona's charity foundation. A quick search turned up the 2005 tax filings of The Mike Corona Foundation (EIN 33-0886148 Form 990) and a little more digging revealed that the foundation was dissolved in 2005, even though there is nothing to indicate that in the 2005 Form 990—there is check box on page one of the form to report a final return, but it's unchecked.

What happened was reported in the Orange County Register (Martin Wisckol & Peggy Lowe) back in December, 2005. It seems the sheriff threw up his hands at the paperwork requirements for maintaining a charity organization in California and, according to the story, planned to turn the organization's funds over to the United Way (which surely means Orange County's United Way EIN 33-0047994 Form 990).

What were these daunting paperwork requirements? Charities in California have to file an annual form stating their gross annual income and assets and answering nine yes-no questions about

self-dealing transactions,
theft, embezzlement, or other diversion of funds,
whether program expenditures exceed 50% of gross revenues,
use of organization funds to pay penalties, fines, or judgments (attach IRS Form 4720),
use of commercial fundraisers (list name, address, phone number),
raffles (list with dates),
government funding (list agencies and contact information),
vehicle donations (list whether organization or outside firm provides the service), and
financial audits

Yet this seems to have been beyond the capability of this organization's volunteer board (there were no paid staff, according to the Form 990).

Even when it was flying high, its 2003 Form 990 and 2004 Form 990 were filed in November of the following year (judging by the dates they were signed). In both cases the organization obtained extensions from the May 15 filing date. The organization's main activity was making grants to other charities, twenty or so in 2004, and it had few expenses other than legal fees (about $22,500 in 2004). It's baffling to me why an organization this straightforward could not file these informational returns on time.

The indictment against Sheriff Corona lists a number of instances accusing him much more serious lapses. But I wonder whether more attention to the difficulties of his foundation in 2005 might have kept him from being elected to a third term in June, 2006, and thus avoided the last two plus years of investigations and turmoil in the Orange County sheriff's office. It's something like the Broken Window Theory applied to politicians—if their charities are poorly run, maybe they shouldn't be holding public office.

And if we can't always measure what charities do, we at least have some measure of their ability to carry out their mission by noting whether they are able to file their required reports on time.