FreedomWorks makes it in Top 10 least efficient charities

[Free Moral Agent]

Dick Army's organization which has done a fantastic job of co-opting the Tea Parties is also one of the least efficient charities. Way to show us how efficient the free-market can be :rolleyes:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=topten.detail&listid=8

[Cowlesy]

Dick Armey is taking a $320,000 fucking salary for FreedomWorks? I'm never sending them a nickel ever again.

[pcosmar]

Dick Armey is taking a $320,000 fucking salary for FreedomWorks? I'm never sending them a nickel ever again.

I never have. I think I answered some survey way back when. I still get SPAM E-mails from them, in my junk file.

/delete Spam

[Jeremy]

Dick Armey is taking a $320,000 fucking salary for FreedomWorks? I'm never sending them a nickel ever again.

You donated to them?

[Austin]

Sad to see Riley on that list. They helped me out a lot when I had several surgeries in my childhood.

[KCIndy]

Sad to see Riley on that list. They helped me out a lot when I had several surgeries in my childhood.

Agreed! :(

I live in Indiana and I know Riley does good work. One of my best friends has kids who had major medical surgeries done there... But their efficiency rating is horrible! I guess they must have been paying for all those special fund drives and celebrity endorsements when I assumed they were being given freely... Wow... bummer.

[angelatc]

I've done non-profit accounting, and there's big, big money in it, especially for people who can drive donations. It's really just a perversion of charity created by the IRS tax rules.

(For the record, my time was always volunteered)

On the other hand, seeing how generous people are at their core is what keeps me a conservative.

ETA - Holy Smokes! I had no idea Cranbrook was a non-profit. Their campus looks almost Ivy League, except it isn't a college and they're in Michigan.

And I just quit the International Children's Fund. They used to be the Children's Christian Fund, but decided to drop the word "Christian" from their name.

[Deborah K]

How reliable is the source?

[angelatc]

How reliable is the source?

I think they're very reliable. They're 1 of 2 big sites that every non-profit turns to at some point.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=topten.detail&listid=16

Does it strike anybody else as funny that the American Institute For Economic Studies is one of the charities that routinely runs far into the red?

[KCIndy]

How reliable is the source?

If you're talking about Charity Navigator, I've always heard that they're pretty credible... and the financial numbers of the charities in question should be a matter of public record, at any rate...


Okay.... EDIT/UPDATE:

I find that I may have to eat my words regarding Charity Navigator. Seems like there is at least a little bit of controversy regarding the methodology they use for their ratings. A quick Google search revealed several interesting links, among which this one seemed fairly pertinent: http://www.netsquared.org/blog/holden/ever-taken-good-look-charity-navigator

Looks like I'll have to do a bit more digging on the CN ratings process... ugh.

[Deborah K]

I think they're very reliable. They're 1 of 2 big sites that every non-profit turns to at some point.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=topten.detail&listid=16

Does it strike anybody else as funny that the American Institute For Economic Studies is one of the charities that routinely runs far into the red?

Irony at its finest.

[KCIndy]

ugh.:(

Well, I'm definitely gonna have to backpedal here. The more I'm checking out Charity Navigator's methodology, the more it seems that they (CN) are good people *trying* to do a good thing by rating charities, but it seems that even with the best of intentions, they may have dropped the ball by flubbing some fundamentals.

Here's one critique:

http://tacticalphilanthropy.com/2007/11/charity-navigator%E2%80%99s-vital-mission-hides-flawed-rankings

and another:
http://philanthropy.com/giveandtake/article/391/is-charity-navigator-the-national-enquirer-of-watchdog-groups

and the one I posted earlier, in case anyone missed it:
http://www.netsquared.org/blog/holden/ever-taken-good-look-charity-navigator


*sigh*
Oh, well.... Caveat Emptor.

[Deborah K]

ugh.:(

Well, I'm definitely gonna have to backpedal here. The more I'm checking out Charity Navigator's methodology, the more it seems that they (CN) are good people *trying* to do a good thing by rating charities, but it seems that even with the best of intentions, they may have dropped the ball by flubbing some fundamentals.

Here's one critique:

http://tacticalphilanthropy.com/2007/11/charity-navigator%E2%80%99s-vital-mission-hides-flawed-rankings

and another:
http://philanthropy.com/giveandtake/article/391/is-charity-navigator-the-national-enquirer-of-watchdog-groups

You ROCK for doing your due diligence. :)

[SimpleName]

Dick Armey is taking a $320,000 fucking salary for FreedomWorks? I'm never sending them a nickel ever again.

I hate charities with executives. The frickin Red Cross CEO makes 400,000 a year. This is the RED CROSS! Shouldn't they be saving people with that 400,000? The United Way does the same thing. Their CEO makes around the same. I will never donate to these organizations until that stops. Granted these are huge organizations that need a lot more organization than FreedomWorks, but $400,000 for one person? How many other people do they pay?

As for Dick Armey...what does he even do? He has enough money. I've gone to the Liberty Science Center multiple times. Very sad.

[Liberty Star]

Had no idea tax exempt charities could organize political rallies or I'm missing something here. Wait till Glenn finds out about it, he's going to roast them alive with vicks vapo rub.

[angelatc]

Had no idea tax exempt charities could organize political rallies or I'm missing something here. Wait till Glenn finds out about it, he's going to roast them alive with vicks vapo rub.

You're missing something. If you dig a little deeper, you'll see that they are 2 different entities. The tax exempt entity actually has very little to do with the political arm.

[legion]

Bill/Jack Bonner and James Davidson are criminals. They are the most dangerous and destructive group to our movement. Anything they support should be HIGHLY suspect.

[legion]

Bill/Jack Bonner and James Davidson are criminals. They are the most dangerous and destructive group to our movement. Anything they support should be HIGHLY suspect.


A quick rundown:


SEC Litigation release 18090
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr18090.htm

Agoracom micro cap newletter. These newsletters mentions are paid for by often fraudulent companies to seek investors so the management/private investors can pocket all of the money brought in by stock promotion.
http://agoracom.com/

Jack Bonners organization has been forging letters to congressmen from organizations that his office does not represent.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/jack_bonner/

do a little research and you will see what kinds of people these are.

[Free Moral Agent]

ugh.:(

Well, I'm definitely gonna have to backpedal here. The more I'm checking out Charity Navigator's methodology, the more it seems that they (CN) are good people *trying* to do a good thing by rating charities, but it seems that even with the best of intentions, they may have dropped the ball by flubbing some fundamentals.

Here's one critique:

http://tacticalphilanthropy.com/2007/11/charity-navigator%E2%80%99s-vital-mission-hides-flawed-rankings

and another:
http://philanthropy.com/giveandtake/article/391/is-charity-navigator-the-national-enquirer-of-watchdog-groups

and the one I posted earlier, in case anyone missed it:
http://www.netsquared.org/blog/holden/ever-taken-good-look-charity-navigator


*sigh*
Oh, well.... Caveat Emptor.

Yeah those articles point to the fact that the rankings can be subjective and up to interpretation, however the numbers don't lie. I like how they don't offer any alternatives either. Charity Navigator seems pretty objective considering the other types of diverse "charities" that have cracked their Top 10 lists. I don't care how effective his faux Tea Parties are, if he was truly concerned in advancing freedom he would be allocating more money towards the organizations programs by not raking in a $320K salary - but maybe thats not such a bad thing for us...

I don't agree with Bill Moyer's conclusion, but he does a good job of exposing the hypocrite that Dick Armey is in this video... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/18/bill-moyers-tea-party-org_n_291625.html

[legion]

I hate charities with executives. The frickin Red Cross CEO makes 400,000 a year. This is the RED CROSS! Shouldn't they be saving people with that 400,000? The United Way does the same thing. Their CEO makes around the same. I will never donate to these organizations until that stops. Granted these are huge organizations that need a lot more organization than FreedomWorks, but $400,000 for one person? How many other people do they pay?

As for Dick Armey...what does he even do? He has enough money. I've gone to the Liberty Science Center multiple times. Very sad.

You must consider the amounts these organizations are dealing with.

The red cross manages millions of dollars. I would rather pay the CEO a little more to make sure they have an incentive to not run off to Vegas with the treasury.

On the other hand, Freedomworks foundation deals with very little money and it would seem that most of the money they do have goes to pay salaries of the leadership. Not good, but par for the course for Freedomworks/NTU/Agora folks.