‘Tis the season to give – but New Yorkers might want to think twice before opening their wallets to four area non-profits that got lousy ratings from a top charity watchdog.
Celebrity magnet TJ Martell Foundation, along with Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans, Neighborhood Network Research Center and perennial poor performer Heritage for the Blind were all “lowest rated” on Charity Navigator’s 2008 Holiday Giving Guide.
Charity Navigator scores non-profits on financial and organizational efficiency – including how much the charity gives to the organization it’s set up to help, how much is spent to raise that money, salaries of its execs, and other factors. Results are based on the most recent annual IRS filings.
The results don’t paint a very merry picture for Manhattan-based TJ Martell, a music-industry-connected non-profit that hosts several high-profile events each year to raise money for leukemia, cancer and AIDS research.
The charity – whose celeb supporters have included Bill Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men and the Jonas Brothers – gave $3.5 million to eight research hospitals in 2006.
But it also shelled out millions for fund-raising, contractor fees, and executive salaries. All told, TJ Martell spends 37 cents to make each dollar it raises. The charity industry median is 9 cents.
The charity spent $1.2 million on payroll and benefits. CEO Peter Quinn was paid nearly $266,000 in salary and benefits, records show.
Execs and contractors landed more dough than any of the charity’s beneficiaries, which included Mount Sinai School of Medicine ($1.1 million); Vanderbilt Cancer Center ($1 million); Los Angeles Children’s Hospital ($500,000); Columbia University ($350,000); Memorial Sloan Kettering ($190,000); the Mayo Clinic Rochester ($200,000); Oregon Health Sciences University ($75,000); and Massachusetts General Hospital ($50,000).
TJ Martell’s performance garnered a “zero” in Charity Navigator’s four-star rating system.
Also getting a financial thumbs-down was Friends of Israel Disabled Vets, a Manhattan-based group “committed to caring for Israeli servicemen and women disabled in the line of duty.”
It took in $1.9 million in contributions in 2006, records show, but gave a measly $1,800 – less than one percent – to its cause. Administrative and fund-raising costs ate up 99.8 percent of total expenses; executive director Linda Frankel was paid $130,000.
Another zero-star rating went to Brooklyn-based Heritage for the Blind, a longtime charity cellar-dweller.
The group provides “materials and services to the visually impaired.” What it doesn’t spell out publicly is that its money goes to a sister nonprofit, Jewish Heritage for the Blind to publish Braille Torahs.
Long Island-based Neighborhood Network Research Center, which educates the public on environmental issues, is another “lowest rated” charity.
The group pulled in $614,467 in 2006. It put about 60 percent, or $372,820, towards seminars and projects about pesticides and renewable energy. But with fund-raising and management costs – including $400,000 for salaries and benefits – it costs NNRC about 27 cents to make each dollar it raises.