"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
news
> On 20/02/2013 8:44 AM, James Silverton wrote:
>
>>>
>> There is an organization called Charity Watch that tracks the amount
>> that actually goes to the real work of charities and publishes the
>> results in a newsletter three times a year. I think the survey is quite
>> reliable. An interesting thing is that putative Native American
>> charities are a class that often get bad marks.
>>
>
>
> We have a government web site that you can check and see how much of the
> registered charity's money goes into programs. I checked on the one that I
> used to be involved with and was disappointed to see that the way it is
> reported, that charity looked inefficient. We did therapeutic horseback
> riding for he physically and mentally disabled. We got various government
> grants and had to raise most of our money through fund raising activities.
> Our operating expenses were substantial. We had four horses and boarding
> in a facility with an indoor arena to which we had exclusive access three
> nights a week was over $1500. Then there was the cost of specialized tack,
> vet bills, farrier bills. There was only one person who was paid, and that
> was our trained instructor. She got only $10 per one hour lesson. It was
> more of an honorarium.
>
I checked the site once and the proportion of "admin" costs for Alberta
Cancer was huge, IIRC >40%. Then I realised that much of this was the result
of their Lotteries where they give away houses and cars.
Graham