A few weeks ago, I wrote another blog post about the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I wanted to calculate the efficiency of what they do with donations. When I was in the Air Force, there was a program called the Combined Federal Campaign. Every year you were “encouraged” to pick a charity out of a booklet so that a portion of your paycheck could be deducted and donated to the charity of your choosing.
There were hundreds of charities listed in the booklet. Along with the name of the charity and a short description of their mission, there was an efficiency rating. I believe it showed how much of the money they received in donations actually went to the very purpose of the charity. It was extremely useful information. I was surprised at how some charities were wasteful with their money.
I wanted to find something similar regarding the CBLDF. I couldn’t find anything. I decided I would try to calculate the numbers myself. I looked at various charity evaluation websites for some guidance. I found formulas that I could use in conjunction with information from the CBLDF’s IRS Form 990’s.
As it turns out, one of the formulas I found and used was in fact wrong. I found it on a charity evaluation website that incorrectly showed how to calculate the fundraising numbers the Better Business Bureau (BBB) recommends. Because of this, the fundraising percentages I posted were in fact too high. I’ve since corrected the formula and the numbers here have been corrected too.
The mistake was not intentional and I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.
