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- Hoarding Wealth, not Preventing
Cancer
"
more interested in accumulating wealth than saving lives." Chronicle
of Philanthropy
The American Cancer Society’s mission statement says it is
dedicated to "preventing cancer and saving lives—through
research education, advocacy, and service." Yet what the Society
seems to do best is accumulate wealth. According to James Bennett,
a professor of economics at George Mason University who tracks
charitable organizations, the American Cancer Society (ACS) held
a fund balance of over $400 million with about $69 million worth
of holdings in real estate, office buildings, and equipment in
1988. ("How raw land helps us find a cure for cancer or helps
cancer victims is an enigma I can't fathom," says Bennett.)
Of that money, the ACS spent only $90 million—barely a quarter
of its budget—on medical research and related programs. The
rest covered "operating expenses," including about
60 percent for salaries, pensions, executive benefits, and overhead.
By 1989, ACS cash reserves had reached over $700 million.
In a 1992 Wall Street Journal article, Loyola
University professor of economics Thomas DiLorenzo charged that
a high percentage
of funds raised by the ACS went to pay overhead, salaries, benefits,
and travel expenses for national executives in Atlanta. For every
ACS affiliate, salaries and fringe benefits were by far the largest
single budget item. Most direct services were provided by volunteers.
For every dollar spent on direct community services, such as
driving
cancer patients from the hospital after chemotherapy and providing
pain medication, approximately $6.40 was spent on compensation
and overhead. At most, 16 percent of all money raised nationally
was spent on direct services. Yet Society fundraising appeals
routinely asked for more funds to support their cancer programs.
"
If current needs are not being met because of insufficient funds,
as fundraising appeals suggest," asked DiLorenzo, "why
is so much being hoarded? Most contributors believe their donations
are being used to fight cancer, not to accumulate financial reserves.
More progress in the war against cancer would be made if they would
divest some of their real estate holdings and use the proceeds—as
well as a portion of their cash reserves—to provide more
cancer services."
Things haven't changed much since DiLorenzo's
findings. By 1998, based on the Society's annual budget report,
revenues had reached
$677 million. In 1998, the Society spent some $140 million on "supporting
services" such as overhead, salaries in the $220,000 range
for regional directors (national executives' salaries are not
disclosed), benefits and travel expenses, fundraising, and public
relations.
It had $800 million in reserves. The Society's penchant for storing wealth over
funding research and services prompted the Chronicle of Philanthropy,
a watchdog
organization that monitors major charities, to analyze its budgets
and programs. The Chronicle concluded that the American Cancer
Society is "more interested in accumulating wealth than
saving lives."
Excerpted from “The
High Stakes of Cancer Prevention” by Samuel Epstein
and Liza Gross, Tikkun Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000 www.Tikkun.org
More on ACS: “The
World’s Wealthiest ‘non-profit’ Organization”
CONTACT:
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
Cancer Prevention Coalition
University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health
2121 W. Taylor St., MC 922
Chicago, IL 60612
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