Which Diabetes Foundations Spend The Most In Each Category?
Following up on our latest report, Review of Expense Categories of the Major Type 1 Non-Profits, today we wanted to look more closely at how each of the major diabetes non-profit foundations spends the money that they receive from donations (which are often gained from fundraisers focused on a type 1 diabetes cure).
A question we sometimes get asked is “which organization is doing the most for a type 1 cure?” The mission of the JDCA, however, is not to promote one foundation over the other, but to provide our readers with research and analysis so that they can make their own informed decision about where to donate their money.
Taking a look at our report, we can note, for example, that the JDRF spent the most money on research grants. For 2011, they invested $116 million into research, which is more than the other three foundations put together. (It is important to note that the JDRF also raises the most money)
However, research grants accounted for only 57 percent of the JDRF’s total expenses for 2011. In terms of percentage, DRIF allocated the highest portion of total expenses to research grants, at 64 percent.
At the same time, we also have to note that not all of the foundations have the same mission. The ADA, for example, focuses both on type 1 and type 2 diabetes, especially in educating and raising diabetes awareness. More than half, or 51 percent, of their total expenses were focused on education, which is more than the other three organizations put together. Joslin, on the other hand, is the only foundation to offer patient care – which accounted for 24 percent of their total expenses.
The supporting services are another interesting factor – things like overhead and fundraising costs. The ADA, for example, spent the most out of all organizations – $43 million or 22 percent total - into putting together new fundraisers, which is quite a large number. At the same time, however, the ADA was also the organization with the smallest portion spent on Management and General services – only 5 percent of its total expenses. (*Note – ADA data is for the year 2010 because 2011 information is not yet available)
The information above is presented in Exhibit A in our report. Exhibit B further breaks down the charitable organizations’ research grant expenses, taking a look at how much money each organization spends specifically on a cure, or on researching diabetes complications and better glucose control. DRIF was the only foundations to focus all of its research grant funding toward a type 1 diabetes cure.
As we can see, the information presented in our report can be viewed from different angles. The most important thing to take away from this is that we need to encourage the foundations to take a more focused approach towards developing a type 1 diabetes cure. Most people who donate money to diabetes fundraisers do so with the hopes of a cure within their lifetime, and this is the goal we must all work towards.
Feel free to ask us any questions you might have about our report and our findings – we will be more than glad to answer them!
- Stoyan
As a communications consultant for JDRF, I can report that 80% of JDRF’s earnings go to research, or research-related activities (such as education). This is an important fact as regards attracting donors.