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Autism Speaks 2006 Financial Report @ BBB

 
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t0
Deinonychus
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Joined: Mar 24, 2008
Posts: 380

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:06 pm    Post subject: Autism Speaks 2006 Financial Report @ BBB Reply with quote

http://charityreports.bbb.org/public/Report.aspx?CharityID=1456&bureauID=9999

Just in case anyone is curious. It's fairly vague, but it gives you an idea of how much money they raise and the types of things they spend money on.

A couple of things I found:
1) $1.9 million in administrative overhead (including payroll) or about 6% of their expenses. That seems like a really good percentage. The chief executive was paid $365,173 of this.

2) Fund raising costs were 18% of related contributions. Again, seems like a good percentage.

3) Their programs fall into two categories - research and awareness. I suspect this is where most HFA and AS folks would have a problem (no category mentioning helping people on the spectrum). 72% of the money they spent went into these programs.

But don't take my word for it - go read the report with its footnotes and caveats.
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dalek
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:10 pm    Post subject: ASPIE Reply with quote

NOBODY is worth $1000.00 a day. Especially those professing to be involved in charitable enterprises. The CEO of ASPIE SPEAKS must certainly ascribe to the old adage that "Charity begins at home" This is OBSCENE
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alex
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the ceo of the American Red Cross gets more than 1 million a year so I'd say they're on the low end although maybe not proportional to the amount of money they raise.
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earthmonkey
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Joined: Jun 06, 2005
Age: 18
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Getting paid upwards of $300,000 a year is obscene, particularly for work that is supposed to be charitable. I mean, if you're not putting at the very least a third of that money back into charity, it's egregious. The vast majority of the money Autism Speaks spends that is supposed to help autistics is research into cause and cure, which many of us don't even want anyway.

Why not put that money into education, communication, POSITIVE awareness, and things like job training and supports for independent living? If there's a charity that's supposed to be serving me, I'd want to know that I could call them up and ask for help with these things and that would actually respect the input of the people they claim to serve.

There's also way too many deceptive practices (such as using 1 in 150 figure then saying, "oh, no, we're only talking about a minority of that amount of people" and then when someone of that population speaks out against them, then they say that person can't truly be part of the population they serve!) and claiming to speak for autistics. Then when an actual autistic person (or large group of us) disputes with this, then they say that the autistic people can't possibly understand the horror of autism like they (NTs) do!

Basically, even if getting rid of autism was a good idea, all those millions of research dollars (going into genetics and stuff, rather than towards studying therapies and educational methods) could be going towards helping me or the other autistic people right here, right now.

So yeah, I disagree with their payroll. And even if they're doing something less egregious than another organization, doesn't mean they shouldn't be criticized for it. It'd be like saying "we'd better not criticize the United States government because there are governments that are even worse". As true as that may be, that doesn't make the problem go away.
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Sophist
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd like to know, specifically, what they consider as funding for "awareness". I'm assuming lobbying falls under that heading...
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Sophist
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The 2007 financial report is now available as well.
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LadyMacbeth
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Joined: May 28, 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:13 pm    Post subject: Re: ASPIE Reply with quote

dalek wrote:
NOBODY is worth $1000.00 a day.


I think I'm worth that much. Unfortunately, no-one believes me!
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dongiovanni
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A person could conceivable be worth $1000 a day: prostitutes. And that's exactly what the administration at Autism Speaks is: a prostitution ring.
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curiouslittleboy
Deinonychus
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alex wrote:
the ceo of the American Red Cross gets more than 1 million a year so I'd say they're on the low end although maybe not proportional to the amount of money they raise.
*waves* Hi Alex. n.n
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curiouslittleboy
Deinonychus
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Heh, I know of a bunch of fursuiters (people who dress up in the mascot like suits) who perfomed at this. n.n
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t0
Deinonychus
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sophist wrote:
The 2007 financial report is now available as well.


This report is more detailed than the 2006 report, but here's similar info:

Salary, Benefits, & Payroll Taxes: $11.6M or 18.8% of expenses. Quite a bit higher than the year before.

Categories of what they spent on (includes salary, benefits & payroll for employees in those areas):
Awareness & Other Services: $13.8M or 22.2%
Research: $32.8M or 52.8%.
Management & General: $3.1M or 5.0%
Fund-raising: $12.4M or 20.0%

Again there's no category for treatment. There is this blurb in the report:
Quote:
For the first time ever, Autism Speaks approved more than $565,000 in funding for 29 family services community grants. These initial community grants focus on building the field of services for individuals with autism and expanding the capacity to effectively serve this growing community and its range of needs. Grants were given in
the following categories: education, recreation/community activities, equipment/supportive technology, and young adult/adult services. The Family Services Community Grants will be an ongoing initiative with grants awarded on a bi-annual basis.


This would be 0.9% of their expenses for 2007. There is also mention of the "Autism Treatment Network" which now consists of 15 hospitals
Quote:
working together to establish standards of clinical care based on research and shared clinical practice for autism and related disorders.
Not sure exactly what that means.
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roche12
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
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Joined: Jun 10, 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is it just me or does spending almost a quarter of your money you got from donations trying to get more donations seem wrong?
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Programmer
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

roche12 wrote:
Is it just me or does spending almost a quarter of your money you got from donations trying to get more donations seem wrong?


That is common but has anyone complained to the BBB they that "Autism Speaks" doesn't represent Autistics? I mean they include Aspies in their 1 in 150 analysis but we aren't allowed on the board.

ttyl
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velodog
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Joined: Mar 16, 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should start caring about people. It seems to pay a lot more than my current job. Very Happy
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preludeman
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:55 pm    Post subject: Scam Reply with quote

Sounds like a scam to me.
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