Just for the record, these two posts seem awfully contradictory. If you went through Jeanne and Francis, you're in Florida. If you say that going to a museum is the last thing on their minds, then you're inferring that their survival, homes, and health are on their minds. But then you're indirectly suggesting that it's not a good idea to make a contribution to an agency that could help them in that regard because the whole dollar might not make it to the intended recipients. It's not exactly how you said it, but the inferrence is still there. I'm wondering how concerned you were when countless Americans made contributions for Florida relief last year? I was there for Jeanne, but I made a contribution earlier in the year to Florida Hurricane Relief through Jeb's website, and I was safely at home in California. I don't think any organization--health & human services or museum--can say 100% goes to the programs. There are salaries and overhead costs attached to any fundraising efforts. You're never going to see the dollar flow directly through, and it's naive to think so. If an outside agency is doing the funding for you, there's an incremental cost as well. There have been significant and deserved gripes of late about outside fundraising groups accruing far too much benefit for the funds received. Congress has been examining that in the last several months, and is putting the brakes on it. If you're really interested in the topic, you can probably ferret info from the Foundation Center http://fdncenter.org Recent efforts include: http://fdncenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=110300035 http://fdncenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=100000002 For reference, I post excerpts from the Foundation Center, funding sources, and other nonprofit development info on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MuseFunding --- unlisted <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > personally going through hurricanes jeanne and > francis > i can tell you one thing - going to a museum is the > LAST thing on their > minds right now. > > > > > > > re: charity donations > > > > > > does anyone have the exact percentage of money > > that > > > is actually used for the > > > effort as opposed to administrative costs. > > > > > > very little under charity law has to legally go > to > > > direct efforts. does > > > anyone have those percentages for the charities > > > listed. how much of a given > > > donation goes directly to the effort? it is my > > > understanding that it can be > > > as little as 5% per. > > > > > > > > > > > > > ========================================================= > > > > Important Subscriber Information: > > > > > > > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > > > > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . > You > > > may obtain detailed > > > > information about the listserv commands by > > sending > > > a one line e-mail > > > > message to [log in to unmask] . The > > body > > > of the message should > > > > read "help" (without the quotes). > > > > > > > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a > > one > > > line e-mail message to > > > > [log in to unmask] . The body of the > > > message should read > > > > "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). > > > > > > > > > > > > > ========================================================= > > > Important Subscriber Information: > > > > > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > > > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You > > may > > > obtain detailed information about the listserv > > > commands by sending a one line e-mail message to > > > [log in to unmask] . The body of the > > > message should read "help" (without the quotes). > > > > > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a > one > > > line e-mail message to > > [log in to unmask] > > > . The body of the message should read "Signoff > > > Museum-L" (without the quotes). > > > > > > > > > Indigo Nights > > [log in to unmask] > > > > > Indigo Nights > [log in to unmask] > Indigo Nights [log in to unmask] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).