Effective and Efficient Spinal Cord Injury Charities - Opinions

[gjnl]

Since GJ's passing, I am restating and reworking my estate trust, will, etc. I want to leave some portion of the estate to several charities. I have a couple in mind and want to add one that addresses spinal cord injury. I have checked the various websites that rate charities for effective and efficient use of donated funds, but spinal cord injury charities are not well represented in the ratings because their revenues from donations are low in comparison to the big, well known charities.

I am sure there are as many suggestions for organizations as there are people who may respond to this post, but I would like to hear from the Care Cure Community about the best organizations in regard to their work, efficient and effective use of funds.

Thanks,
NL

[nauticalmike]

I don’t know about the smaller charitable organizations, but all of the ones that I have ever looked into left me with the impression that they are more interested in making their operators wealthy and that they are all a big scam. The CEO’s all make like a quarter mil or more for whatever it is that they do running the charity, not to mention the other board members are also paid an exorbitant amount as well. Not for profit just means that they don’t Try to provide a product or service with the expectation of making a profit. The people involved in the operation of the charity are usually very well compensated for their participation often far more than the actual people that the charity is purported to be helping. That being said, I guess that where you donate it really depends on what you want your money to help with that would determine where you donated it. Are you interested in research, or helping individuals obtain equipment that are less fortunate than yourself, or helping with employment, or education, or housing, or feeding, or whatever else?

[Tetracyclone]

I respect United Spinal

[SCI-Nurse]

I agree. Look at United Spinal Association and the Dana & Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

Dr. Young's Keck Center also could be a place to put donated funds going to a good cause.

(KLD)

[Jim]

I think you know I work for Dr. Young. If you are wanting to fund research and clinical trials, Wise is the researcher to invest in. He has brought more therapies to clinical than any other in the field. He doesn't do research just to do research, his goal is to bring therapies to human clinical trials and improve our lives.

A group that needs direct funding are the families of those that are newly injured. As you know, the costs in the beginning are outrageous, funding from an outside source is greatly needed. Many organizations also provide grants for adaptive equipment to those who are looking to become more active.

[gjnl]

Jim, could you send me a private message with the actual name of Dr. Young's group and the name/names of groups that aid families, so I may look into them personally.

Thank you.

NL

[Gearhead]

I don’t know about the smaller charitable organizations, but all of the ones that I have ever looked into left me with the impression that they are more interested in making their operators wealthy and that they are all a big scam. The CEO’s all make like a quarter mil or more for whatever it is that they do running the charity, not to mention the other board members are also paid an exorbitant amount as well. Not for profit just means that they don’t Try to provide a product or service with the expectation of making a profit. The people involved in the operation of the charity are usually very well compensated for their participation often far more than the actual people that the charity is purported to be helping. That being said, I guess that where you donate it really depends on what you want your money to help with that would determine where you donated it. Are you interested in research, or helping individuals obtain equipment that are less fortunate than yourself, or helping with employment, or education, or housing, or feeding, or whatever else?

Very true. By law they are required to use only 5% for charity. Most of the remainder is spent on administration and advertisements as they must spend all money each year. I questioned United Way long ago. They said 15% went to help people for that year. A watch dog group disputed that as being only 12%.

I like St Judes but have not looked into how much actually goes to hospital/patients. I hope I'm not disappointed when I do.

[SCI-Nurse]

A good site for researching any charity is this one: https://www.charitynavigator.org/

They will tell you how much of their donations go to administration, fund raising, and advertising, and how much actually goes to the benefit of the people they serve.

For example, here is the page for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Foundation:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ind...ary&orgid=5066
This indicates that for 2018 (the last year for which data is available) this charity spent 82.9% on programs and services.

For comparison, The Paralyzed Veterans of America spent only 60.7% on programs and services:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ind...ary&orgid=4295

(KLD)