The line at Glide Memorial (Photo: Liz Hafalia/SF Gate)
There’s a great article in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning about the annual Glide Memorial grocery giveaway. Glide founder Reverend Cecil Williams said of the turnout, “The line is all the way around the block, twice over. We’re trying to rush things along so the line doesn’t come back on itself three times.”
From The San Francisco Chronicle:
Longest line ever for Glide grocery giveaway
The line Tuesday for the annual grocery giveaway at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church was longer than anyone could remember. It stretched beyond the liquor store on the corner, past a half dozen residence hotels, up and down the aisles of a parking lot and along the far side of the massage parlor. It coiled back on itself like a cobra.
[ ... ]
Six thousand sacks of groceries were handed out. The first thousand came with a turkey. The rest came with a chicken. A lot of people were willing to show up before dawn in rainy 40-degree weather, to make sure they got the turkey instead of the less weighty, if not lesser, bird.
Given the sorry state of the economy, the scene described above is probably happening in cities across the country. Worse yet, many donors are also hard hit financially, so donations are down.
I’ve replaced a small section of this article that linked to two Queerty posts that list the best and worst choices for donations within the queer community. I originally included the lists as bullet points because they seemed to fit within the theme of this post: wise holiday charitable donations.
Most of the groups described as “worst” have responded and fully explained that Charity Navigator bases their ratings on tax forms (IRS form 990) filed by the organizations. As Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the Task Force, explains, in a comment below, the accounting procedures vary from organization to organization. Therefore comparisons based on these tax forms alone is like comparing apples and oranges. Foreman encourages people to look instead at what the organizations have and continue to accomplish on behalf of the community. I agree.
I encourage readers to check out the lengthy and lively discussion and updates at Queerty.
Coincidentally, this morning, the San Diego Union Tribune published a three-point guide for donating that makes a lot of sense:
- Review agency Web sites and annual reports: Income and spending records for most tax-exempt organizations are available online at guidestar.org.
- Ask questions: Don’t be shy about asking specifically how your donation will be used; most nonprofits are pleased to walk donors through their programs and practices.
- Protect personal data: Avoid giving out credit card and other personal information over the phone. Ask telephone solicitors to send program details through the mail.
If you’re a fellow San Diegan, and you’re not tired of me telling you how to spend your time, here are a few worthy groups that I know, from personal experience, deliver the goods to the folks who really need them.
Mama’s Kitchen delivers three nutritional meals a day, seven days a week at no charge to men, women and children living with AIDS or other critical illnesses. Additionally, Mama’s Kitchen provides grocery bags and pantry services (Mama’s Pantry) to people affected by AIDS. Through these services, we are able to provide food, compassion and hope to over 1,500 people annually living throughout San Diego County.
Alpha Project for the Homeless is a nonprofit human services organization that serves over 2,000 men, women, and children each day, 12,000 annually. Services offered include affordable housing, residential substance abuse treatment, supportive housing for people with special needs, basic and emergency services for the homeless, transportation assistance, mental health counseling, employment training, preparation and placement, emergency shelter, HIV/AIDS, education, outreach and prevention, and community services.
They also need donations of socks, shoes, sunscreen, twin sheets, phone cards, sleeping bags, bottled water, hygiene items, undergarments, and pillows and pillow cases.
Alpha Project for the Homeless
3737 Fifth Avenue, Suite 203
San Diego, CA 92103619 542 1877
PAWS San Diego County provides essential services to assist the low-income elderly, chronically ill and disabled in keeping their companion animals. PAWS stands for Pets Are Wonderful Support. There is tremendous demand for their services and they really need donations and volunteers.
If you’re a compassionate pet lover, and I don’t think there’s any other kind, give PAWS a hand.
PAWS San Diego County, Inc.
4455 Euclid Avenue
San Diego CA 92115619-297-PAWS
UPDATE: (12-17, 04:01 pm): In a comment, Matt Forman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, has clarified how differences in accounting procedures are not reflected in the Charity Navigator ratings. Further, a number of other organizations have responded to the rankings listed at Queerty. In all fairness, we should listen to what they have to say.
UPDATE: (12-18, 10:09 am): A section above has been removed and replaced.
Comments
2 Comments so far. Comments are closed.Dear Mike -
Re: Queerty Rating:
Charity Navigator and similar groups rely on organization’s tax returns (“990’s”) to do their analyses. This would be fine and good if 990’s could be used for apples-to-apples comparison. They can’t and the Task Force is a good example of why. Accounting “rules” governing how organizations can allocate expenses between fundraising, program and administration are, in fact, incredibly flexible. The Task Force has been using the most conservative allocation method in the movement – in other words, figures weren’t cooked to look better. From Charity Navigator and others people (like our friends at Queerty) could perceive that we were spending a disproportionate amount of money to raise money or on management. That is neither accurate nor fair.
Here are some allocation issues embedded in our 2007 numbers:
We did not allocate any of the expenses associated with our fundraising dinners to program activities. (Some organizations allocate a significant portion of dinner and event expenses to program on grounds that the content of speeches and other presentations during the event pertain to the organization’s programmatic work.)
We did not allocate any expenses associated with our direct mail or telemarketing activities to program. (Other organizations allocate anywhere from 40% to 90% of direct mail and telemarketing expenses to program.)
We did not allocate any portion of the salaries of any staff member who works in the fundraising department to program. (Some organizations allocate a portion of these staff salaries to program on grounds that a portion of the work being done involves or enables informing donors and other contacts about the organization’s program work.)
We did not allocate any rent, telephone or IT expenses to program. (Some organizations allocate a large portion of these expenses to program on the grounds that program staff occupy space, talk on the phone, etc.)
I could go on and on.
Other factors also make some groups look “better” than others. For example, organizations that rely on a few foundations and government contracts for the bulk of their income have much lower fundraising costs than organizations – like the Task Force – that raise a significant portion of their income from individuals or events – which are dollar-for-dollar raised inherently much more costly.
I was hoping movement organizations would come together and agree on a standard procedure for allocating and reporting expenses. For reasons should be obvious, that never happened.
The best way to evaluate the effectiveness of an organization is to look at what it concretely delivers to our community. On that score – and I’m partial, of course – the Task Force shines.
Matt Foreman
Task Force Executive Director 2003-2008
Thanks for the clarification, Matt. I added a top level update so people who don’t read comments won’t miss yours. In the interest of fairness to the other organizations I also linked to the updates at Queerty.