Interesting piece on Livestrong

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MarkvW

MarkvW

Aug 10, 2010
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spetsa said:
How long before Phil Knight comes out and rips the Feds for ruining LA and his "Nike legacy"? This guy is another example of those whom LA was surrounded by and most likely guided by.:confused:

"This much is clear to me: If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno's response," Knight said.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...e-nittany-lions-memorial-exposes-anger-firing
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There is a lot of blame to go around in that tragedy. Everybody, it appears, wanted to keep the sordid rape of a child within the Penn State football "family."
 
doolols

doolols

Dec 23, 2011
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thehog said:
Dim did a lovely pie chart of the program expense breakdown. The travel and legal slices were hefty.
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Yeah, I saw that. These diagrams are different to the pie chart, and show (or attempt to show) that 81% goes on "programs", and a very reasonable 7% on admin.

The pie chart thing shows "Grants" as $8.8m, although the accounts show "Grants and awards" as less than $5m. And on, and on, and on. I don't know how they have the cheek to produce diagrams like this that bear no relationship to the *real* figures.
 
V

Velodude

Sep 5, 2009
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doolols said:
I've been trying to reconcile the PDF accounts and the website "Where the Money Goes"

I've now given up. I have no idea how they can justify "81 percent of every dollar raised went directly to programmatic funding". Sounds like nonsense to me.
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The smoke and mirrors is in the terminology and unrevealed content of the expenditure.

It is not "raised" which would be related to annual total of donations received and receivable, about $11m of $49m total income, but proportion program expenditure of total expenditure.

If $9m of funds are spent on the new Livestrong building in Austin, Tx then that is not accounted to donors as it is not a program expenditure.

Program expenditure in second column ($28,833,066) of total expenditure in first column ($35,284,215) equals 81.72% by my calculator.

In the Form 990 to the IRS the equivalent figures are $24,056,363 and $28,898,756 respectively for just after the Livestrong wristband bonanza until June 2010 they created 3 other foundations, Endowment, Merchandising and Events, that had the effect that those financial activities were not reported to the IRS.
 
thehog

thehog

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Jul 27, 2009
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Velodude said:
The smoke and mirrors is in the terminology and unrevealed content of the expenditure.

It is not "raised" which would be related to annual total of donations received and receivable, about $11m of $49m total income, but proportion program expenditure of total expenditure.

If $9m of funds are spent on the new Livestrong building in Austin, Tx then that is not accounted to donors as it is not a program expenditure.

Program expenditure in second column ($28,833,066) of total expenditure in first column ($35,284,215) equals 81.72% by my calculator.

In the Form 990 to the IRS the equivalent figures are $24,056,363 and $28,898,756 respectively for just after the Livestrong wristband bonanza until June 2010 they created 3 other foundations, Endowment, Merchandising and Events, that had the effect that those financial activities were not reported to the IRS.
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Why o why didn't Gifford go into this detail?

Why didn't they have to report on the 3 sub foundations to the IRS?
 
V

Velodude

Sep 5, 2009
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thehog said:
Why o why didn't Gifford go into this detail?

Why didn't they have to report on the 3 sub foundations to the IRS?
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There is nothing improper in claiming 81% of every dollar spent is for program costs. That is industry standard.

But it is deceptive to claim 81% of every dollar raised is applied to program costs.

It is deception bordering on fraud to include under "program costs" unassociated expenses to justify competitive industry efficiency.

Example: most of the professional fund raising costs are included under Program Costs when fund raising costs are a separated columnar activity. A bad debt is a finance or fund raising cost not a program cost. And so it goes on.

Livestrong is competing for the charity dollars from donations, events & merchandise. It raises more money than it can spend each year and the surplus is put away for a rainy day. At 2010 Livestrong has about $90m of surplus funds squirreled away.

I cannot fathom why separate foundations were opened up other than for non disclosure purposes to the IRS. As those foundations received no tax deductible donations because of the character of their income Livestrong had no reason to apply for tax exemption.

IRS came investigating in 2009 and those foundations were merged back into the exempt foundation in June 2010. IRS insistence?
 
V

Velodude

Sep 5, 2009
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Worthy of note that in 2008 calculating the program costs to total costs produced a ratio of 49%.

Not mentioned in Livestrong despatches.

They must have beavered away burning the midnight oil to reclassify 2009 non program costs as program costs to produce an industry acceptable ratio of 81%.
 
doolols

doolols

Dec 23, 2011
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Velodude said:
They must have beavered away burning the midnight oil to reclassify 2009 non program costs as program costs to produce an industry acceptable ratio of 81%.
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This is what irks me. They pretend to be whiter-than-white (or yellower-than-yellow?), but all the time, self-serves. Yes, they do a bit of good here and there, but nowhere near as much as they could or should be doing. They serve up some chaff in the form of pretty pie charts, with numbers that don't match reality, to convince those who don't care to look too closely.
 
S

sniper

Oct 16, 2010
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Benotti69 said:
"Knowledge of nonprofit sector with a passion for the LIVESTRONG mission."

Sadly i might not pass the interview.
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read: "knowledge of and passion for the perception-is-reality-principle".
 
Benotti69

Benotti69

May 26, 2010
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sniper said:
read: "knowledge of and passion for the perception-is-reality-principle".
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well i read between the lines and got, passion for sport forums and various comment sections perpetuating the myth of 'done too much good for too many people' BS.
 
V

Velodude

Sep 5, 2009
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Benotti69 said:
well i read between the lines and got, passion for sport forums and various comment sections perpetuating the myth of 'done too much good for too many people' BS.
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Well I read between the lines and imaging the Founder came up with "podium girls" :)
 
Dr. Maserati

Dr. Maserati

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Jun 19, 2009
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Zam_Olyas said:
Job opening over at livestrong :p..interested ... benotti? Dr M? :D :D http://www.livestrong.org/Who-We-Ar...penings/Health-Information-Technology-Manager
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Benotti69 said:
"Knowledge of nonprofit sector with a passion for the LIVESTRONG mission."

Sadly i might not pass the interview.
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Well you do have a knowledge of how a non-profit is supposed to work.

But I think I prefer the Naviagtor role:

Knowledge of the nonprofit sector with a passion for the LIVESTRONG mission. I can wear Nike
Motivated by service, humility and compassion for helping people I can fake sincerity.
Possess a creative and innovative approach to work. I can delegate.
Embrace change and move forward in a positive and meaningful way. I can sleep with the receptionist and then move on to the interns without emotional attachement
Act as a generalist and perform tasks and functions in many areas. I can act like a General
Be able to work cross-functionally and collaboratively across departments and teams. I can email.
Demonstrate success in customer-oriented roles, both internally and externally. I can answer the phone.
Have expert in communication with people in crisis and needing support. "Yes, they all did it, and yes he still is the best".
Have Bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, sociology or related field. I have the same degree as Lance
Proven excellence in interpersonal relationship skills and oral and written communication skills. I can obfuscate in the CN forum
Ability to establish and maintain appropriate professional boundaries with all contacts as demonstrated by maintaining confidentiality and other ethical standards. Got it - what happens in the Yellow Rose stays in the Yellow Rose.
Must be fluent in both written and oral Spanish communications. I can google translate
 
BotanyBay

BotanyBay

Oct 25, 2010
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Race Radio said:
must like parties, travel, and handing out pamphlets
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The real test is always "will he follow the girl into the VIP room at the Yellow Rose?". That way, disloyalty can have some punishing consequences on a fellow's marriage.
 
C

Cloxxki

Mar 19, 2009
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Let's address the fine volunteers at Livestrong. I don't know what they are doing for the good cause exactly, but they must be doing more than selling $1 wristbands worth a dime of good causes
.
How do these volunteers deal with the articles coming out about their mutual "mission"? Surely it can't be because their founder is so nice and warm to them.

How do they stay motivated, and not bring their effort to a more to-the-point cancer charity? People around them read the papers and mags, and are bound to confront them about it. Why do you work for them for free to make them richer, if there are more honest and effective charities out there?
 
BotanyBay

BotanyBay

Oct 25, 2010
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Cloxxki said:
Let's address the fine volunteers at Livestrong. I don't know what they are doing for the good cause exactly, but they must be doing more than selling $1 wristbands worth a dime of good causes
.
How do these volunteers deal with the articles coming out about their mutual "mission"? Surely it can't be because their founder is so nice and warm to them.

How do they stay motivated, and not bring their effort to a more to-the-point cancer charity? People around them read the papers and mags, and are bound to confront them about it. Why do you work for them for free to make them richer, if there are more honest and effective charities out there?
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It's like the "OJ" syndrome. The more apparent it became that he was guilty, the more he maintained his story (as did his friends). The guiltier that Lance appears, those assoicated with him assume the same kind of denial he has. They're emotionally invested in the guy. It's hard to part with those emotions, because it crushes your own self worth. We all have a defense mechanism built-in that often keeps us from doing the right thing. In other words, being human often sucks.
 
doolols

doolols

Dec 23, 2011
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BotanyBay said:
They're emotionally invested in the guy. It's hard to part with those emotions, because it crushes your own self worth.
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And no one wants to be proven wrong, especially once you've started believing and defending. People become entrenched, not wanting to believe the 'lies' that people are telling about the icon. The more people try to convince them, the stronger they defend.

Until the house of cards falls down.
 
Benotti69

Benotti69

May 26, 2010
28,143
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BotanyBay said:
It's like the "OJ" syndrome. The more apparent it became that he was guilty, the more he maintained his story (as did his friends). The guiltier that Lance appears, those assoicated with him assume the same kind of denial he has. They're emotionally invested in the guy. It's hard to part with those emotions, because it crushes your own self worth. We all have a defense mechanism built-in that often keeps us from doing the right thing. In other words, being human often sucks.
Click to expand...

doolols said:
And no one wants to be proven wrong, especially once you've started believing and defending. People become entrenched, not wanting to believe the 'lies' that people are telling about the icon. The more people try to convince them, the stronger they defend.
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Are you suggesting that the CN Forum should provide a thread for those emotionally invested in Armstrong to help them get over this attachment. :)
 
doolols

doolols

Dec 23, 2011
691
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9,580
Benotti69 said:
Are you suggesting that the CN Forum should provide a thread for those emotionally invested in Armstrong to help them get over this attachment. :)
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Sounds like a good idea. I'm sure it would be popular. We could ask CN to give it a nice, gold-yellow banner, to make them feel at home.
 
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