Is The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Just Funding Millionaires To Become Even Richer?

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Is The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Just Funding Millionaires To Become Even Richer?

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for the ALS Association is sweeping the nation, and going viral in social media. However, do you know what you are supporting if you contribute funds to the ALS Association?

The ALS Association describes their “mission”:

Established in 1985, The ALS Association is the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front. By leading the way in global research, providing assistance for people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating multidisciplinary care through certified clinical care centers, and fostering government partnerships, The Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure.

As the preeminent ALS organization, The Association leads the way in research, care services, public education, and public policy — giving help and hope to those facing the disease. The Association’s nationwide network of chapters provides comprehensive patient services and support to the ALS community. (Source.)

ALS is the acronym for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” Media portrayals of the Ice Bucket Challenge generally state that ALS “is always fatal and has no known cure,” and therefore urge people to contribute to the ALS Association to fund research to find a cure.

Where Does the Money Contributed to the ALS Association Go?

So where does the money donated to the ALS Association actually go? You may be surprised to find out that the Association itself claims that only 27% of its funds go towards research.

We pulled up their 2013 tax returns to take a closer look at how their funds are spent. Here are the salaries for the leadership of the group:

Jane H. Gilbert – President and CEO – $339,475.00
Daniel M. Reznikov – Chief Financial Officer – $201,260.00
Steve Gibson – Chief Public Policy Officer – $182,862.00
Kimberly Maginnis – Chief of Care Services Officer – $160,646.00
Lance Slaughter – Chief Chapter Relations and Development Officer – $152,692.00
Michelle Keegan – Chief Development Officer – $178,744.00
John Applegate – Association Finance Officer – $118.726.00
David Moses – Director of Planned Giving – $112,509.00
Carrie Munk – Chief Communications and Marketing Officer – $142,875.00
Patrick Wildman – Director of Public Policy – $112,358.00
Kathi Kromer – Director of State Advocacy – $110,661.00

Total administration costs, as seen in the pie chart above, were just under $2 million. “Other salaries and wages” (Part IX line 7) were $3.6 million, with another half million dollars in “pension plans” and “employee benefits.” Expenses for non-employee labor were about $4 million, and “travel expenses” exceeded $1.3 million.

So total costs for labor to run the association was around $12.5 million, from revenues received totaling $24 million.

Over 50% of what the ALS Association receives appears to support salaries of people working for the Association, based on these tax returns.

So what about the rest of the revenue?

Almost $1 million was spent on “Lobbying” (Schedule C Part II 2a). Here is what they wrote concerning their Lobbying efforts:

Explanation: The purpose of our advocacy program is to sensitize legislators to, and obtain their sympathy for, the plight of ALS victims, patients and their families, and to influence legislation regarding the appropriation of federal funds for ALS research and the use and cost to patients of “orphan” drugs.

The largest amount of what is remaining is: “Grants and other assistance to governments and organizations in the United States” (Part IX line 1) – $6.2 million. This amount is itemized on Schedule 1. Almost all of these recipients are medical schools, with strong ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

The ALS Association was started in 1985, and they still have not invested in any new cures for ALS. One of the latest failures was Biogen’s drug dexpramipexole, which halted research in early 2013. The drug was in research for more than 10 years at an estimated cost of between $75 million and $100 million, but was abandoned in last stage development due to poor results. (Source.)

If You Are Pro-life, You Are Supporting Research in Stem-Cells from Aborted Fetuses for ALS

The ALS Foundation’s primary work in “research” is in the development of new pharmaceutical drugs, and that includes stem cell research. Here is one study where they have been listed as a sponsor: A Phase I, Open-label, First-in-human Feasibility and Safety Study of Human Spinal Cord derived Neural Stem Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Quote:

These stem cells have been engineered from the spinal cord of a single fetus electively aborted after eight weeks of gestation. The tissue was obtained with the mother’s consent.

When we make a contribution to a charity, typically we want to know that the particular charity reflects our own values, so this will be important information for many people.

Are There non-Drug Alternatives for ALS Treatment?

Yes! However, you are not likely to read anything about this from a non-profit charitable organization supporting the pharmaceutical industry. We have previously reported the story of Clarence and his experience in using coconut oil: Coconut Oil Reverses Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Coconut oil can be used in a strict ketogenic diet that has been shown to be successful in treating Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer. among others. The principles of the ketogenic diet are completely different from the philosophy that the pharmaceutical companies start from in their research, where the assumption is that ALS is a “genetic disease.” Most of the current research on fighting disease with a ketogenic diet starts out with the assumption that modern diseases are primarily metabolic, and not genetic, caused by such things as poor diet, toxins in our food and environment, etc.

Another non-drug approach currently seeing success with those suffering from ALS is theDeanna Protocol. This nutritional protocol has seen great success among many users, but I could find no information on any research being done on it by the ALS Association, sadly.

For a review of over 500 published studies on natural approaches to ALS that you are unlikely to see referenced by the ALS charities supporting the pharmaceutical industry, seeGreenMedInfo.com’s research page on ALS here.

Charities and fun activities like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge can often give us a feeling of contributing to something very helpful and worthwhile, but it is always wise to research any charity first. Examining their tax returns is one good way to find out where their money is actually being spent.

(Source)

ZCT

What a bunch of nonsense. This may be the stupidest article I’ve read this year.

So the senior directors of a major charity get paid well. Who cares? It’s not like they are making millions. Most of the directors are barely over $100K which is nothing for a senior director. Especially when you consider that the ALS is based in Washington DC.

Making $120K in DC is like making $60K in another town; hardly lavish pay for a board position or even upper management position. If these people worked for a corporation they would probably make far more.

The connection to abortion is just an emotive BS argument too. Tissue from abortions are used all the time. It’s not like the mother is choosing to have an abortion just to help research into various diseases. The fetus was being aborted anyway, better that the tissue be used to maybe save the lives of others.

And finally this idiotic piece ends by telling us that Coconut Oil cures cancer, ALS, Parkinson’s, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

Okay then. Sure.

If you believe that, I have some magic beans to sell you.
- fawadpoker
  
  Why do you call an article “bs” while basically making up what they say? “Coconut oil can be used in a strict ketogenic diet that has been shown to be successful in treating Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer. among others.” Where does it say coconut oil cures cancer.
  
  Also, this is a fucking CHARITY. Should half of their income go on wages? NO This comment has been written by someone who is an avid supporter of ALS, because i assure you now that the ALS organisation is NOT a major charity, hence the social awareness campaign, idiot..
  - ZCT
    
    I don’t normally respond to someone who begins an interaction by calling someone an idiot.
    
    First off, when an article claims that coconut oil has ‘shown to be successful in treating [various diseases]‘ that’s a gross overstatement. If you get cancer, you go see an Oncologist, you don’t start drinking coconut oil as a ‘treatment.’
    
    This article asks the question as to whether there are ‘non-drug alternative for ALS treatment’ then goes on to say ‘Yes!’ Sorry, but if you get cancer and go see an Oncologist, he doesn’t say, “Well Mr. Smith, we could do chemotherapy and surgery, or instead you could drink this.”
    
    I accept that there are healthy eating habits that may help improve treatment of disease, but that doesn’t make it ‘treatment’ that is a viable alternative to medicine.
    
    As for your whining about what these people make, as I see it they have in a few short weeks raised their revenue by over 1000%, acquired 260,000 more donors, raised more money in a month than they raised all of last year. And put themselves on the map. What’s more their viral campaign has got influences like celebrities to advertise their cause.
    
    Frankly, I’d pay double what these people make if I could put together a team that raised my company revenue by 1000%! I’d say they are not making anywhere near what their excellent work deserves.
    
    At the end of the day, this is just another sad little article where some person tries to play journalist, when all they are really doing is piggy backing on a viral phenomenon to get clicks on their sad little negative article.
    
    If you have a better idea how to run the ALS charity and raise more money than they have with this campaign, let’s hear it, rather than whimpering about the fact they all make more money than you, and are apparently amazing at what they do.
    - 148jules
      
      Obviously you have no idea how the Ice Bucket Challenge started. It was no person nor persons within the ALS charity organization … it was Pete Frates the former Boston College baseball player who came up with the challenge.
      - ZCT
        
        Yep, completely wrong. Look it up.
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Bucket_Challenge
        
        Pete Frates was a part of the story, but the origins were way before that.
        
        In any case the bottom line here is that the people running this charity are enjoying record levels of fund raising, and are making mediocre salaries for board level positions in the Washington DC area.
        
        I’m not going to feel bad that they make what they make. It sounds like fairly reasonable compensation for their positions.
        
        And I’m not going to accept that coconut oil helps fix cancer and the other diseases mentioned as an alternative to medicine.
        
        This article is BS, and it is merely using the viral nature of the ice bucket challenge to get clicks.
        
        You are simply another misinformed individual spouting an opinion on the Internet.
      - Anthy Anon
        
        ZCT you constructed a strawman argument in your previous post about coconut oil and cancer, however coconut coil has been tested and been shown effective against HIV with demonstrated anti viral properties. There _are_ treatments out there for cancer and they have went through gold standard clinical trials. One example is Coley’s Toxins. People are still dieing because they are given experimental drugs to give them a chance of a remission. They could be educated about alternative such as Coley’s Toxins and be cured.
        
        See :-
        
        http://www.coconutoil.com/Dayrit.pdf
        
        Johnston, Barbara, “Clinical Effects of Coley’s Toxin. 1. Controlled Study. 2. A Seven-Year Study.” Cancer Chemotherapy Reports 21:19-68, August 1962.
      - ZCT
        
        @Anthy – I’ve already explained this point in previous posts. The article asks the question, “Are There non-Drug Alternatives for ALS Treatment?” and then the next word is “Yes!” The author then continues to make it sound like a conspiracy theory that Coconut Oil is not more widely heard of as a treatment for ALS and other diseases.
        
        I am claiming that such a statement is simply misleading. The doctor does not give you a choice of chemotherapy OR coconut oil.
        
        Just because a homeopathic or natural agent exists that has been demonstrated to help with managing a disease does not make it a cure or even a treatment. It is simply something that may or may not be a good idea to do while getting medical treatment.
        
        In any case the main thrust of this article is to call out this ALS charity for paying too much for their personnel expenses and salaries. I am arguing that this is an unreasonable conclusion. Those salaries seem reasonable for those types of senior positions, especially in an expensive place to live like Washington DC.
        
        Given the level of fund raising this charity is enjoying right now, I’d say that board are doing a great job. Even if they did get lucky with this viral campaign.
      - Anthy Anon
        
        @ZCT I disagree about the wages point. If I advertised on Facebook, setup a mini charity, claiming that I was raising money for ALS, did a mini campaign and then took 50% of what I raised as wages I think people would be quite upset. Also the linked article posted a reference to sci journal articles that will never see the light of day when a magic pill drug treatment is always around the corner. If you see how the cancer racket is run then you can see a similar pattern.The cure is always around the corner. The whole system is wrong IMO.
      - ZCT
        
        @Anthy Anon – Yeah well that’s a straw man argument. This isn’t about a mini charity advertised on Facebook. This is a legitimate charity. Thanks to the ice bucket publicity they are killing it on the fund raising front. So I say good for them, and stand by my early comment that I would not dream of living in DC for a salary as low some of these board members are getting.
      - Anthy Anon
        
        But the point I was making _I would_ be a legitimate charity.
    - Anon
      
      Some people may see the ‘healthy eating and alternative therapy’ as treatment as you see Medicine. Ever think of that? Open your mind to other possibilities
      - ZCT
        
        @Anon – Yeah. Steve Jobs did that. When his cancer returned he did a fruit cleanse, sought out various alternative medicines, Eastern, homeopathic, spiritual and so on. While he was doing that his cancer was spreading and by the time he realized it was time to turn to medicine he was terminal.
        
        I am not saying that healthy eating and natural therapy is a bad thing. I’m just saying that drinking some coconut milk isn’t really an alternative to doctors and medicine.
        
        “Some people” used to think leaches would cure illness. “Some people” would believe in witch doctors and shamen. Doesn’t mean they are right.
        
        Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it doesn’t mean that each of these opinions are equally valid.
        
        I reiterate my original point once again. This article is misleading when it moves from whining about what the ALS charity board get paid, to a ridiculous tangent implying that coconut oil is a viable alternative cure for various diseases.
      - Will
        
        @disqus_GeLwYYQP5v:disqus I can personally say that while you think medical cures are the be-all-end-all, they aren’t, after i spent three years in the hospital with my grandmother, who was undergoing chemo, who was so sick she could barely eat and then died. You can’t blatantly deny that coconut oil doesnt have positive effects when there are studies done proving it does without sounding like an idiot (which you do, btw)
        
        Also, I don’t know if anybody else noticed, but your main argument is that its ok that half of the funds raised by a NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION go to salaries because they live in DC. Who the fuck cares where they live? They’re still taking half the money, meaning their not a non-profit company – non-profit means nobody makes a profit dumbass
      - ZCT
        
        @Will – I guess critical thinking, reading comprehension and logic were not taught where you went to school.
        
        So your grandmother died of cancer. I’m so sorry, so did mine. But neither of them died because they didn’t drink enough coconut oil.
        
        They died because they got cancer. Coconut oil may or may not have a therapeutic advantage in the treatment of cancer, but it is not in and of itself a treatment. In any case you are missing the point which I have explained more than once here that the article in question is misleading in that it implies that instead of getting treatment for serious illness you could simply drink coconut oil.
        
        As to your salary argument, I don’t care if the board of this charity are the board of a non-profit, or the board of a fortune 500 corporation. If you are going to attract good people to work on your board, money is usually how you do that.
        
        The salaries you see here may seem pretty high ($100K -$300K), because you are clearly a complete moron. Your job probably involves asking people if they want fries with that.
        
        But in the real world of intelligent people, $100K is not an outrageous salary. And the region geography matters (despite the fact you ‘don’t give a fuck’) is because you have to pay what the job and the geography demands. For example if I want to open a tee shirt factory in Bangladesh, the odds are I could find some talented workers willing to work for $1 an hour. Conversely if I want to hire a talented suit maker in Savile Row London, they are not going to work for $30 an hour.
        
        My original comment on this topic was simply that a board of directors living in DC are going to have to get paid, even if their organization is non-profit. And it seems these guys have done a spectacular job, raising more money in a month than they did all last year.
        
        Since you seem educationally subnormal, I doubt I am going to change your mind, but let me give you a different example. Look at the lottery in the US. The odds of winning are some 170m to 1. Now logically it might make more sense to offer smaller prizes and better odds at winning them. The reality though is that when they have made prizes smaller and ‘easier’ to win, fewer people play and the charity raises less money. Yet offer those stupid high jackpots with an insanely low chance of winning and the charity makes more.
        
        You can whine about this board of directors making money you are jealous of, but fact is they are doing a good job and have just raised both awareness and fund raising to an unprecedented level for this cause. So I say job well done. You want to hurl insults and talk about coconut oil, yet you believe me to be the ‘dumbass.’ Don’t worry, I still think you’re ‘special.’
      - Will
        
        Well I’m sorry that you read that entire article and all you got out of it is that coconut contains magic. Which, by the way, it never states, instead saying that there are alternatives to drugs, like coconut oil. Your lottery argument is also invalid, because of the fact that you’re comparing a lottery to a charity – I smell oranges and apples (coconuts, sorry, my bad). And in “the world of intelligent people” that I don’t seem to live in, being a fry-server and all, $100k is still a lot of money. You can say whatever you want, but it’s still a lot. You’re missing the point though, and that’s that all he’s saying is before you give your money to non-profit organizations that have done next to nothing for something, maybe look at the fact that they’re not really non-profit.
        
        Also, special is a compliment, my social worker calls me mentally handicapped, but that’s wwwaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy easier to understand, because i never learned to speak to good when I went to school
      - ZCT
        
        Will, I’m sorry you lack the mental capacity to understand my point of view. But I can’t fix that.
        
        Perhaps in your world there are thousands of highly talented fund raisers willing to work for free to cure all of the problems of the world. But in reality we don’t live in utopia where people just work for the greater good.
        
        I also can’t help that owing to your limited reading comprehension, you misunderstood the nuance of my position.
        
        There are two main thrusts in this article. One is the lie that this charity is run by millionaires just seeking to get rich. This lie is in the title and is unsubstantiated within the article.
        
        The second is that there are natural remedies for cancer, ALS, and other terrible diseases.
        
        Well first off, if you want to hire talented people, you have to pay them, or they have to be part of a tiny fraction of the population willing to work for far less than they are worth.
        
        And secondly, coconut oil isn’t a treatment, it is a potential natural agent that may or may not assist with medicine.
        
        The problem here is that people who don’t understand the world are mad that charities are not run by elves and Santa for free for the greater good.
        
        I’d love to see a world where we work for the greater good, but we don’t live in that world. People go to work, they want a pay check. In general with a few exceptions, people get paid what they are worth.
        
        We can be negative assholes and whine about what the CEO of this organization gets paid, (albeit substantially less than the CEO of a corporation), or we can be excited about the money and awareness he has raised for this valuable cause.
      - Will
        
        No, people aren’t mad charities aren’t run by santa and elves, people are mad that people are taking profits from something thats non-profit. It doesn’t matter that nobody will work for free – I realize this, as I work for minimum wage serving french fries. But despite that fact, ideal work or not, you can’t call yourself a non-profit just because “oh shit, none of you want to work for free? well we’ll pay you $100k+ a year, and because you live in DC that moneys not that much, so that’s basicly like working for free, right?” Just because you’re a stupid ass with a keyboard and enough free time to slam anybody who realizes that this charity is lying doesn’t make you right. It makes you a loser.
        
        And back to coconut milk. Where are your studies showing it doesn’t prevent cancer? If smoking causes it, maybe eating healthy prevents it? And what’s coconut milk going to do your body? Other than taste delicious, i mean? Are you going to get so sick your hair falls out and you can’t get out of bed, like with chemo? Where’s the harm in trying to cure a disease WITH NO CURE by taking things that don’t just kill you faster? You may think drugs are the answer to every single problem there is, which i can appreciate, just so you know I don’t lack the mental capacity to know that, just to clear up the confusion that there was, but the reality is drugs are sometimes just as bad – if not worse – than what you’re trying to cure.
      - ZCT
        
        @Will – I had just written a response to you, but then I realized it was too harsh.
        
        You claim to be a mentally handicapped minimum wage earning fast food employee. And it’s not fair for me to argue with you on that basis.
        
        What you have to understand is that Jane H Gilbert worked her butt off, got a great education including a masters degree. Proved herself in various organizations including her time running the Red Cross, where she was responsible for over 350 staff and 760 chapters. A charity responsible for saving the lives of millions over the years.
        
        Her track record means that this ALS charity felt that she was worth $300K when they hired her in 2009.
        
        Whether you choose to like this or not, it’s how the world works. The market decides what you are worth. And that market has decided that she is worth $300K and you are worth $7 an hour. It’s sometimes a bitter pill to swallow, but hating on those who do well isn’t going to change the world.
        
        Food for thought though while you are calling me a loser and touting healthy eating, the job you choose to do kills people. Heart disease is one of the biggest killers in America, and those fries you make are filled with fat, sodium, and a variety of other nasty chemicals that make people obese and eventually kill them.
        
        So while it commendable that you have a job, you might want to consider the harm you are causing others.
        
        Finally you are asking me to prove a negative, when it comes to coconut milk. I’m simply saying that there are no credible scientific studies that prove that coconut oil cures or prevents cancer.
        
        Now sure, the kind of person who eats healthy food (not including what you make for a living), and washes all that down with coconut oil, may stand a better chance of not getting sick.
        
        But that still doesn’t make coconut oil an alternative TREATMENT to cancer, ALS or anything else touted in this bogus article.
        
        I remind you once more that the original article makes two bogus claims. One is that ‘millionaires’ are getting rich, yet provides no evidence that any of the board of directors are millionaires. Two is that it claims that ALS has a cure in the form of coconut oil, which is ridiculous.
        
        I stand by my initial comment that I reject this article as it does not substantiate either claim, and is merely piggy backing on an internet phenomenon to get click throughs.
      - daysofdissent
        
        A agree with a lot of what you say. But the recent spectacular increase in fundraising is not due to the work of the board members of this charity. It’s due to the viral campaign which has very little to do with any of the people working for the charity.
      - ZCT
        
        @daysofdissent – Okay, but if the charity were not well run, it wouldn’t exist. Therefore the very fact they are around to receive this money is kind of down to them.
        
        I’d argue that they got lucky with the viral campaign. But I doubt they would have been in a position to get lucky if they had not been well run since they were founded in 1985.
    - Jeff Pettis
      
      So you seriously think research dollars are not going into the pockets of the drug companies (& their shareholders), but instead towards a genuine cure? I’d call that naive.
    - http://criticalunity.org/ PeacEntity
      
      He ended the comment with calling you an idiot, idiot.
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Marion James

People need to understand that charities are businesses like any other business. They trade and make profits, they pay people and pay (often reduced) taxes. I think fine, but never pat yourself on the back for giving money to a charity…. you would be better placed to pat yourself on the back for working and paying your taxes, which in many ways is a fairer way of distributing wealth to those who need it, including clinical research organisations.
- DarkflameQ
  
  Charities are meant to be ‘non profit’, if they want to make profit, they should change their organisation type to a private company.
  - Marion James
    
    As long as they use their surplus funds (monies left after they have paid themselves and all their expenses) for their charitable cause it is not classed as profit. Excuse my cynicism but I worked in the voluntary sector for many years – I even resigned from one charity because they were charging themselves a management fee and putting this into a savings account for future needs. Now if that is not a profit…..
    - DarkflameQ
      
      The technicalities do not matter, management of any non profit company should not be on such high salaries, it’s just wrong.
      - ZCT
        
        So let me ask you this.
        
        You decide to start a charity. A nice nonprofit looking to find a cure for some disease that is important to you.
        
        You have two candidates applying for the job of CEO. One says he will work for $30K, the other wants $300K. The first has a track record of being able to raise $100K a year. Yet the latter has documented experience of making $5m a year.
        
        If their track records are anything to go by the first guy would get paid about $150K in five years, and will raise you about $500K. The second guy makes your charity $25m in five years, which equates to $23.5m after salary.
        
        So do you hire the cheap guy who isn’t that good, or the expensive guy with a proven track record of raising money for charity?
        
        It isn’t about what the two highest paid board members get paid. It’s about the bottom line. How much money do they raise and how much awareness do they generate?
        
        What’s so bogus about this article is it starts off asking about ‘millionaires’ when none of the board make over a million. In fact really other than the CEO and CFO, the rest of the board are on very modest incomes given the cost of living in DC. You think a guy making $100K a year is living like a king in DC? Wise up.
      - Seong Won Choi
        
        I’ve been reading your comments. They are intelligent, logical and well thought out. (I can feel your frustration, by the way.)
        I understand that it is a difficult concept to swallow, that a charity is run like a business for many. For them, it is simple: non-profit means every cent goes to charity. It also means they only see the salary the workers- board members included- get and not the labor they need to do, regardless of personal want or not. The thing is, working for a charity, especially one as large as the ALS Foundation, is a full-time job. Although it would be wonderful to imagine a world where a person who devotes time and effort, day in and day out, to helping others does not have to pay rent, groceries, education, gas, bills or any kind of living expenses, that is not the one we live in. Thus, it is logically clear that the charities have to be in with the same world, one where any company wanting to do something- be it contributing to curing a disease or selling potato chips- has to deal with the same costs as a for-profit- salaries, overhead, miscellaneous expenses, etc. Again, it is a hard concept to grasp but very simple once you think about it.
        I completely agree with your frustration at the “attention-grabbing” title. I clicked on the link to try and garner some deeper insight into the recent controversy that has been covering my SNS, but once I saw the part about abortion and “coconut oil”, I stopped reading and jumped to the comments.
        Hang in there, someone will get the message.
  - ZCT
    
    How do the salaries of the board have anything to do with whether the charity makes profit or doesn’t?
    
    Being a non-profit, doesn’t mean you have to pay your staff peanuts.
    - Anthy Anon
      
      What 300k salary isn’t making a profit?
      - ZCT
        
        Precisely.
        
        Profit is literally defined as, “the monetary surplus left to a producer or employer after deducting wages, rent, cost of raw materials, etc.”
        
        Profit is revenue minus expenses. Paying your board of directors is a cost of doing business.
        
        Why are you finding this simple concept so confusing?
whatsyouragenda?

this is why it is funny to watch people act stupid for celebrity status and keep my image and my finances private
Dave

See the administration pie on the chart that’s what all those salaries add up to if you actually take time to do the math so they are being as transparent as possible. They are literally showing you what the donations go to on that graph I don’t understand what the deal about this is.
Tony Palmer

This post may dispel some myths http://palmerantony.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/the-als-association-is-it-really-only-spending-7-of-your-ice-bucket-challenge-donations-on-research/
- MSD
  
  I read it and I have say he reinforces the idea that this is a waste of everyone’s money. A) The fact that only 27% is going to research is an indication that they themselves are not very convinced that there is a long term cure for this disease. B) Spending 34% of your revenue to educate people? Educate them about what? This is not malaria or cholera or ebola that the public needs to be educated. Not is it so widespread like say Alzheimer, where it would be good to educate people because someone in their family or someone they know will most likely suffer from the disease and hence knowing the early signs helps everyone involved. If they want to bring awareness of this disease that afflicts less than a 1$ of the population that is preposterous. C) A research centers should be focused on finding a cure not providing funding for assisting people who are already suffering. Besides if you read their website correctly, they have a network ( not inhouse) of nurses, community organizations, professional etc that provide these services. So I’m not sure how they are helping the patients? I have no problem with people giving money to ALS but this is a bit too especially when very little money is going into research.
  - Seong Won Choi
    
    Those are valid points! I was also pretty curious about the “education” part. “Awareness” correlates into “fundraising” but they already have a budget for that, right? Might be better to funnel more money into more direct means of helping people.
    Overhead is understandable but again, I agree with your questions regarding the other percentages. Enlightening and thoughtful!
Kevin Smith

People who don’t understand charity accounts reviewing charity accounts. Most charity accounts include some kind of income from investments so they can continue their good deeds over a period of time. In the UK all charities are regulated, but I wouldn’t necessarily expect that in America, but they wouldn’t be able to provide false statements. If those statements are false, challenge them in court. Or look like an person of limited intelligence.
BenDrinkin

Where there is charity, there will always be scum who steal it. Just ask Bill Clinton and George Bush where all the Haiti money went. Lots of it went straight into their fucking pockets.

Making 100k + in a charity organization seems excessive, call me crazy. Go ahead.
- ZCT
  
  I’m not going to call you crazy. However, you do seem to be a bit stupid.
  
  Let’s pretend for a moment you were running a charity investigating why people wear stupid hats and hoodies in their profile pictures.
  
  You have a guy working for you who is getting paid $35K a year. He raises $100K a year for your charity.
  
  Then you are in a meeting one day and you find out there is this guy who has just raised $5m for the charity he works for, and he’s making $200K a year in salary. He happens to have a special interest in stupid profile pictures and hoodies.
  
  So as CEO of Asshole Hoodie Association, do you keep the guy who gets paid $35K a year to raise $100K or do you offer the successful guy $250K, and see if he can raise $5m or more, like he did at the last charity he worked for?
  
  At the end of the day, what do you think is more important? Board salaries or the net money they raise to pay for the charitable activities of the non-profit?
  
  This ALS charity is killing it right now, raising money at unprecedented levels. Yet you think this charity would be better served by firing the board and hiring people willing to work for free or $10 an hour?
  - Will
    
    @ZCT dood, stop strokin your hate boner. If you’re allowed to have an opinion, why can’t other people?
    
    and just so you know, nobodys saying $100k in DC in unrealistic: it is, however, completely ridiculous that the CEO of a NON-PROFIT organization is making any money at all. Period. They make be making $100 million dollars for a xharity, but if they’re taking single penny of that and paying themselves – as in putting it in their bank account, so they can pay for rent, groceries, or a computer so they can be a dick on the internet – then by calling themselves a non-profit organization is lying.
    - ZCT
      
      @Will – Hate boner? Wow.
      
      Hey, you’re right, everyone is entitled to have an opinion and share it on the Internet. But that doesn’t mean that each opinion is equally valid.
      
      Hitler once had an opinion that Jewish people should be exterminated. Should we in the west have said, “Well, you know, that’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it I guess…”
      
      Of course not. Hitler was wrong, and his opinion was evil.
      
      You are suggesting that anyone wanting to start or run a charity must work for free. And that’s a really stupid opinion.
      
      If your opinion actually became how the world worked, no one would ever start a charity.
      
      I might really want to start a charity for a cause I am passionate about. But if I have to foreclose on my home, and move my family into a homeless shelter in order to achieve that, then odds are I am not going to do it.
      
      There are great charities all over the world, that do absolutely amazing things. They are often run by amazing people who deserve to get paid.
      
      This particular CEO you are attacking has a pretty amazing track record, you should look her up. She is highly educated, and a proven career path where she has led hundreds of employees and raised millions of dollars for good causes.
      
      If she had not been paid for any of that work, odds are she would have found something different to do.
      
      You talk about stroking a hate boner, but you are the one with the hate. I am glad that people are living in this world who are willing to work hard for charitable causes. For every CEO making $300K, there are thousands who work for peanuts.
      
      When someone has made a great career that has put them at the top, I don’t begrudge them making good money. This particular woman is making a tiny fraction of what a typical CEO would make. So I don’t get why you have a ‘hate boner’ for her.
      
      As for your confusion about what profit is, profit is revenue minus expenses. Those expenses include the cost of paying your staff. Just because a non-profit pays those who work for it, doesn’t mean they are lying. That’s just you not understanding the meaning of the word profit.
David McFarland

Are people actually upset about this? Does no one understand the concept of logistics? That you can’t pour 100% of the donations purely into research?
mdoyle

This is a ridiculous and slanderous article. Charity Navigator gives the ALS association 4 out of 4 stars. http://www.charitynavigator.org/
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TheMex

try getting your facts straight. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3296#.VAYPOEus7gI
Do you know or love anyone with ALS?
Carlton_B

Why do people want to argue with math? The CEO makes $340 000 a year. It’s not slanderous to point out the facts.

All big charities are corporations. Most of the research money goes to Big Pharm companies that will end up selling any drugs they come up with to alleviate suffering for big money. It’s very unfortunate.
- ZCT
  
  The average CEO in America makes 331 times what their workers make in an hour. Or if you make minimum wage, the average CEO makes 774 times that.
  
  I’m not commenting here if that is good or bad, but it is clear that in this day and age it is not uncommon for board members to make a LOT more than this charity board does. And many of these high paid board members are losing money and doing a bad job. At least these ALS guys have raised a lot of awareness and money for this cause, which would be precisely what we’d hope of a charity trying to help those suffering with this disease.
  - Anthy Anon
    
    Comparing CEOs of a charity with a corporation?
    - ZCT
      
      @Anthy Anon – Just pointing out what CEOs make. The average CEO makes 774 times minimum wage or more than $10m a year. This charity CEO is working in DC and making less than 4% of a typical corporate CEO.
      
      I’ll ask you the same question I asked Carlton_B. You start a charity, “Anthy’s Stupid Question Charity” and you have two candidates to head it up for you. One will work for $30K a year, but has a track record of raising about $100K a year. The other will work for $300K a year, but has a track record of raising $100,000,000 a year, while raising profile and awareness.
      
      Who do you hire?
      
      And as a followup, imagine you have ALS. Would you rather the charity be killing it, like this charity is doing now (notice we are all still talking about it), knowing that the CEO is making $300K. Or would you rather the charity languish in obscurity, but feel good knowing that the CEO is making $10K a year part time. Sure, they are not raising awareness or money, but at least you can sleep better at night knowing you make more than the CEO of this charity.
      - Anthy Anon
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_ridicule
        
        I find your comment pathetic and actually I could think of another name that I won’t mention here. You seem to be applying corporate rules to a charity. As a business they have done a pretty decent job of making money for themselves? as a charity they have failed miserably. Where are the cures?
      - ZCT
        
        @Anthy Anon – Sorry, you’re just being stupid now, so this discussion is done.
        
        EVERY charity that has ever sought a cure for a disease have at some point existed, while the cure has not. So to lambast this charity because they have so far failed to cure ALS is incredibly idiotic.
        
        This summer, this charity has raised over $100,000,000 for their cause. Tell me, when was the last time you raised even 1% of that for any good cause?
        
        You are slamming these people for their pay, yet they are achieving something you have never and will never do in your life.
        
        They have a CEO and CFO earning a fraction of what they might in the corporate world. And a small board of people making unremarkable salaries for the area they live.
        
        The reason you don’t get this is because you simply lack vision. You are jealous of the success of others, and you are being petty. I am hugely grateful that the world is not all like you. People set out to make a difference, and in this case raise insane levels of money for a good cause. And you stand at the sidelines making snide comments and telling them they are doing it wrong.
        
        Get off your butt and go make a difference in this world, and stop attacking those of us who are successful and help others for a living.
        
        This conversation is over.
      - Anthy Anon
        
        “EVERY charity that has ever sought a cure for a disease have at some point existed, while the cure has not. So to lambast this charity because they have so far failed to cure ALS is incredibly idiotic.”
        
        Again I ask the question “Where are the cures?” (They have been going for what ~30 years. I predict this will be similar to the cancer fiasco which serve big business while cures out there exist.)
        
        You know _nothing_ about me as since the argument is getting personal you’ve lost I’m afraid.
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
      - Seong Won Choi
        
        ZCT does seem to have a bit of a language problem, but I would prefer to point that to frustration (not an excuse though).
        “Where are the cures?” That’s a difficult question to answer. I’m neither a medical expert nor related in the slightest to the medical industry, but you do have to remember that many serious diseases have had millions, if not billions, of dollars invested in their research yet cancer, Parkinson’s, even the common cold (there is no actual “cure”, interestingly enough), do not have proper, fail-safe cures. It goes with the territory and all people can do, I believe, is to keep funding and keep hoping for an end to the afflictions that deny humans long, fulfilled lives.
        Big pharma is a problem, I agree. In many documented cases (I’m sorry I don’t have exact references, I don’t remember exactly but a Google search should provide excellent answers!) the industry failed to produce very promising cures simply because the cost of R&D (that’s research and development in case anyone is confused) did not offset the potential sales revenue. It’s shameful and sad, but that is the reality.
        As others have pointed out, the ALS Foundation does have a very high rating. I remember being similarly outraged when I found out that “Save the Children” board members make millions, but over time I realized it was simple economics.
        Anyway, let’s all keep hoping for a cure. Who knows, maybe we’ll find one!
  - Carlton_B
    
    It’s supposed to be a charity…nobody working for a charity needs to make that much money. They shouldn’t make that much money. Comparing a corporate CEO to the “CEO” of a “charity” is a sad commentary on our times.
    
    It was a great marketing ploy. It has raised awareness for sure and money. Most of that money, the majority, is going to the corporation that is the ALS charity and pharmaceutical companies…there is nothing wrong with making people aware of that.
    - ZCT
      
      @Carlton_B – I don’t care what you think a CEO and board members need to get paid. In the ideal world every charity would be run by volunteers. But this isn’t the ideal world.
      
      What I’m saying is this board get paid far less than they would in corporate America. Further, if you consider that $100K is not a lot to live on in DC, then it’s even worse.
      
      I’m also saying they are doing a good job. So I don’t begrudge them what they make. If you do, write them a letter and stop whining to me. I did not set their rate of pay.
      
      Food for thought though. Imagine you had a cause and founded a charity. You can hire a CEO that wants to be paid $300K a year, but last year he raised $100m for the last charity he worked at. Or you can hire a CEO that will work for $30K a year, and last year raised $100,000 in his last charity job. Who would you hire?
      
      What’s more important here? What the board got paid? Or how much they raise money and awareness for your cause?
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Pierre

Disgusting to know that they earn so much money, it’s good to create an association in those days..
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Daniel Gustafsson

I recently published my article on newly researched natural medicinal plants and their potential for treatment of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. It can be found at:

http://ayahuascatreatment.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/ayahuasca-ethnobotanical-medicine-for-treatment-of-als/

It is the culmination of several years work, having studied ethnobotanical medicine in the search for something viable. Hopefully, you will find it an important topic. It is currently being discussed on several online boards related to ALS/Alzheimer’s/Parkinson’s disease.

I wish you well, and that you share this information, should you find it interesting.

Regards,
Daniel Gustafsson, Sweden.