Annapolis Capital Punishment

I got a call from the American Institute for Cancer Research today. While the guy on the phone was asking me if I would help them by mailing 16 letters to neighbors on my street, whose name he mispronounced, I went online to learn more.

This outfit raised about $39 million in 2006, mostly from public donations and actually gave away only about $5.3 million for research. About $26 million went to public education programs. That left about $13.5 million for all their supporting services. I looked further.

Grants really only totaled about $4 million because the remaining $1.3 million went to items such as salaries, professional fees, travel and entertainment. Hmm.......

I looked further. The lion's share, for supposed public health education, went to $6.2 million for postage, $2 million for salaries, $4 million for professional fees.

However, most of the annual report is filled with photos of people in lab coats mixing pipettes and looking in microscopes and spinning centrifuges (That's fancy scientist talk by the way). I guess the photos of the lawyers sunning in Cozumel at a conference would not have gone over too well.

See for yourself at www.aicr.org/site/DocServer/AIC_2006_Annual_Report.pdf?docID=1261
I asked the caller who he actually worked for, and since they always hesitate, he said he was calling behalf of the AICR, but when pressed, admitted he works for a telemarketing firm. I also told him I was on the national "do not call" list and he was violating federal law. He said that the law does not apply to non-profits.

That's some non-profit! And yet I wonder, what will happen if we actually do find a cure for cancer? All these bureaucracies will have to quickly find new work. Maybe restless leg disease or reactive airway disorder or broken hangnail syndrome. That's what they did with The March of Dimes when we licked Polio. It went on to birth defects! The lab folks must be thinking, "Hey if we cure this thing, we'll be out of work."

And finally, I doubt my neighbors care what I think. A letter from me would likely be discarded unopened. (NOTE--you may be receiving a phone call from these people.)

Visit: www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3264

PS The next day I got a call from the Cancer Fund of America. So I went to www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3416
to learn more about them. This is a scam too! It's just a fundraising operation.

Moral: Be Careful!! Give Your Donations to Local Charities You Can Trust. I recommend that you donate to the Annapolis Capital Punishment web blog. After all, it all gets spent locally.