Follow the Money

Source: The High Stakes of Cancer Prevention
By Samuel Epstein and Liza Gross
(in: Tikkun Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000)
Cancer Prevention Coalition

The American Cancer Society's mission statement says it is dedicated to "preventing cancer and saving lives—through research education, advocacy, and service." Yet what the Society seems to do best is accumulate wealth.

According to James Bennett, a professor of economics at George Mason University who tracks charitable organizations, the ACS held a fund balance of over $400 million with about $69 million worth of holdings in real estate, office buildings, and equipment in 1988. ("How raw land helps us find a cure for cancer or helps cancer victims is an enigma I can't fathom," says Bennett.)

Of that money, the ACS spent only $90 million—barely a quarter of its budget—on medical research and related programs. The rest covered "operating expenses," including about 60 percent for salaries, pensions, executive benefits, and overhead.

By 1989, ACS cash reserves had reached over $700 million.

In a 1992 Wall Street Journal article, Loyola University professor of economics Thomas DiLorenzo charged that a high percentage of funds raised by the ACS went to pay overhead, salaries, benefits, and travel expenses. Things haven't changed much since DiLorenzo's findings. By 1998, based on the Society's annual budget report, revenues had reached $677 million. In 1998, the Society spent some $140 million on "supporting services" such as overhead, salaries in the $220,000 range for regional directors (national executives' salaries are not disclosed), benefits and travel expenses, fundraising, and public relations. It had $800 million in reserves.

The Society's penchant for storing wealth over funding research and services prompted the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a watchdog organization that monitors major charities, to analyze its budgets and programs. The Chronicle concluded that the American Cancer Society is "more interested in accumulating wealth than saving lives."