How much did you donate?
 

Interesting article to say the least.
Auto Week takes on Shelby Heart Fund Charities
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...07/1065/SEARCH

Ummm.....Pathetic!

Disgraceful. If just a portion of that article is true - He should be deeply ashamed!

From the article:
In 2005, the latest year for which tax returns are available, the foundation took in $594,062 in contributions and gave out only $24,944 in grants. More than half of that money went to two charities: the National Institute of Transplantation, which received $10,000, and St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, which received $5,000.

I'd say the whole operation amounts to nothing more than an on-going nationwide CRIMINAL scam – not that different than a telemarketing “charity” scam which gets busted every so often – the difference here though is that sick and dying kids are the ultimate victims! Car guy or not – if true – this is outrageous.

Mark;

It's all true, the numbers are all there for anyone to see....the foundation has to provide all this on their taxes yearly just as you and I file taxes every year.........

David

Are there no minimum standards charities must ad-hear to-- like a certain percentage of the money taken in, must be given out?

Who is lining their pockets with the rest of the money!!!!!!

pathetic indeed!

This is why you always check the #'s before you donate. All charitable organizations are required to tell you how much is actually being given to the charity. Some "charitable" organizations would amaze you!

Josh

NOPE

I'll give you three guess's and the first two don't count.............

Usually falls under "administration fee" or some other BS heading like that,fancy way of saying we are using the money for ourselves.......

David

I think some should go find and evaluate facts before speculating on thievery and debauchery at the Shelby Foundation.

The data is a matter of public record, and always has been.

Simply stated, the organization, as a charity, is poorly managed. There are no "coffers of cash" that are being dipped into. There is no criminal activity...they just are spending too much of the proceeds, which leaves little to bestow.

The cost of sharing the hi-rent facility they are in, the travel expenses, the operating expenses, advertising and marketing expenses are all too high for the dollar volume of donations and receipts. Assets of the corp include cars from the collection; that's not liquid cash...they are stuck with the insurance and storage expenses on their balance sheet.

All the income and expenses are a matter of public record. It comes down to a simple dilemma...they have too much overhead and not enough revenue to cover their expenses. And they only have had one 60k/yr employee..now, with 2 more admins on staff.

They are just not an efficient charity...in the very same way they are not a felonious charity.

It's not good...and has always smelled slightly...but no one is walking out with stuffed pockets...at the end of the day, there isn't much left to give to the kids.

As a charity...it's lousy...but, it is not a scam.

Ding ding ding ding! Exactly! And like I said, this is why you should always check the #'s before donating to see where the money goes. I got no problem donating.... but I'm not going to donate to a charity that takes most of my doantion just to maintain itself.

Josh

Computerworks--

Well stated and you made some very good points.

At some point you must either fix the problem or close the charity. Continuing year after year and giving less than 10% is horrible. While this is not technically a scam/illegal by the letter of the law, it is a scam by the spirit of the law!!

Get out of the charity business if you can fix it or turn it over to someone who can.

I can't give CS the benefit of the doubt when only 4% of the money is going where it is indicated. When your office space, maybe a couple of workers, and travel amount to 96% of the offerings. There is something dreadfully wrong, and should be looked into by the authorities.

I think very highly of everything he has done, and produced, but when it comes to mishandling of funds like this. Well it is time to reap the punishment for the deed.

He has proven himself to be a good businessman. How can something like this happen? He has his signature on everything from clothing to new cars. I can't imagine any kind of excuse for this.

The thing I wonder about is if the old timer actually knew how small the distributions were or if he was relying on someone else to follow through.?

There is no way to put a positive spin on this. It's flat out wrong. I have no problem paying CS for his signature on a glove box cover, or air cleaner, or whatever - he's a hero for many people. But when you promise to give the money to sick and dying kids - and then DON'T - that's insane! It may or may not be criminal. Several State's Attorneys General - should look into this.

Again from the article:
So far in 2007, the foundation has received $725,000 in cash through the auction of two Ford-donated Shelby GTs. Ford sold them at a Barrett-Jackson auction and then turned the proceeds over to the foundation....On June 22, the foundation announced its first grant this year: a $10,000 donation to the Children's Medical Center in Dallas for the care of an 18-month-old girl born with a heart defect.

Again - there is no excuse for that. You can't say in one breath he's s shrewd business man - and in the next breath that he's a confused old man who doesn't know where his money is going - WTF - and again - all the while doing this in the name of sick kids - it's outrageous.

Ron;

I did not mean for anyone to think I was saying they were stealing the money, but I would sure like to see some of the expense accounts for their travels!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do they really need as you say a "hi-rent facility", ever wonder about their travel expense, lodging,meals,etc...etc...I bet they don't eat at Burger King or travel by Grey Hound bus or stay at a Super 8 motel!!!!!!!!!

At the yearly SAAC conventions that CS attends, by the letter of the law, he could very well use money from the Heart Foundation to cover all his expenses since he does sign varouis items for a fee which is donated to the organization.....and his staff could very well do the same, ever wonder about this????? for that matter, he could expense any and all expenses to any event that he attends where he signs but just one autograph and collects just one dollar for the Heart Fund.....Wonder how many events he attends a year????

They may not be stealing the money for personal use, but they sure are spending charitable donations very freely to enjoy a "certain lifestyle".....Not illegal by the letter of the law, but very unethical by all means.............

I think the above quote says it all..............

David

It does seem pathetic how little money has been going out.

The article says that in 2005, the fund had net assets of $2.9 million. So it is not like someone is stealing the money or wasting most of it on administration costs.

There was something in the article that said something about the Wells Fargo Bank was trying to guide them on how big the charity's endowment (which I read as assets) should be. Hopefully the bank will not suggest continuing to build up the endowment and will favor distributions instead.

Not that I agree with how the process works, but many charities out there work the same way. I remember seeing a special on TV a few years back, that touched on this very subject. Most of the nationwide known charities like the feed the hungry, homeless, war vets, etc, etc, AVERAGE about 5 cents for every dollar taken in going to the actual cause.

This ain't a shelby thing folks, it's a charity thing.

And for what it's worth, I just sent in my $100 donation to the heart fund. I am not ashamed to say it was 100% for my autograph, and had nothing to do with charity.

With Shelby's fingers touching everything that brings in the buck$. I would think it a much better idea to take the expense out of other accounts. He could take it from his CSX project, clothing, tires, and anything else he is involved in. Why the Children's Fund? Wrong doing, or not he looks bad on this one.

Who's to say he doesn't already? ;)

I am not trying to be an apologist on this... I just don't think it's enough to make the villagers here once again gather torches and pitchforks and verbally storm the castle. :p :p

OK...2.9MM in assets.
Know that is comprised of almost $2 million (in valuation) of CS's car collection turned over to them.... and a couple of hundred K of donated stock. That means the real "I can spend it" assets are a few hundred K total.

Like I said, there are no sacks of cash lying around in the office. Could they be smarter and have more services donated? Sure...
Should they pay expenses for an autograph-session, like at a SAAC National? Sure...

This year, they have more real bucks in hand than ever, thanks to Ford...
as expenses go, it will probably push them out of the break-even area and give them more cash to disburse...
..let's see what they do with it this year... then pass judgement

I disagree with the 5 cents on a dollar figure.......I can't find it right now, but when the Red Cross scandal hit, it seems to me the national average was more like 70 cents on a dollar went to the cause, that's 70% of the monies collected went to the cause and 30% to adiministration costs.................

David