American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) & St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

“Not-For- Profits”

April 8, 2025

Not too long ago there were many television, radio and print advertisements concerning giving to St. Jude’s annual fund raising campaign. More recently there have been similar advertisements to give to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Are these reputable charities? Yes, but! The “but” is what isn’t discussed.

A few years ago, I looked into the mission and financial results of both of these. What a surprise! I decided to look again, to see if anything has changed.

Here is a summary of what I found. First, the ASPCA.

ASPCA:

This organization is headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 1866 and was the first animal welfare organization in North America. It is a 501©3 organization, meaning that it is tax exempt from U.S. Income Taxes, Federal & State. However, they still must file a Federal Tax Return, called a Form 990.This is an informational return only.

The mission of the ASPCA is “to prevent cruelty to dogs, cats, equines, and farm animals throughout the United States.”

Matt Bershadker, President & C.E.O. stated in his 2023 Annual Report that “our work in 2023 was about more than rescuing animals: it was about accelerating change, advocating for justice and building a world where every animal is cherished.”

The 2024 annual report and financials are not currently available, so my analysis is based upon the 2023 information contained in the IRS Form 990, and the Audited Financial Report, prepared by Bakertilly, C.P.A.’s. Both of these reports are available to the general public.

Almost every community in the United States has a local SPCA. However, they are not affiliated with the National ASPCA. The ASPCA is not an umbrella organization and the local SPCA’s receive no funding from the ASPCA. The ASPCA does provide grants to various organizations in regards to their mission, and local SPCA’s may apply for a grant, but it is not guaranteed.

A number of investigative reports have been done on the ASPCA, by reputable organizations such as CBS News, etc. In the CBS 2019 report, they found that since 2008, the ASPCA raised more than $2 billion for animal welfare but only gave grants to local SPCA operations of $146 million, or approximately 7% of money raised. During that same period, the ASPCA spent $421 million on fundraising activities.

Many not-for-profits sell their donor lists, and the ASPCA is no different. Between 2009 and 2019, it has been reported that the ASPCA made $3.2 million selling their list.

CBS News reports that a not-for-profit watchdog called, Charity Navigator rates the various charities on accountability & finance, culture & community, and leadership & adaptability. They have given the ASPCA 3 stars out of 4. This is considered a good rating, and means that the charity meets or exceeds industry standards, and performs better than most. This same watch dog only gives the ASPCA 2 stars out of 4, based upon their financials, fundraising cost as a percent of revenue, and the selling of donor lists.

The most recent rating by Charity Navigator rates the ASPCA with 4 stars.

Since the local SPCA’s are not affiliated with the ASPCA, how does the ASPCA accomplish their “mission?”

In New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas, Florida and Oklahoma, they operate a combination of veterinary and shelter operations. In Oklahoma, they also operate an adoption center for equines.

They also indicate that they move approximately 20,000 animals annually from shelters in high density areas to lower density areas for adoption. They also facilitate the adoption of approximately 2,000 horses annually through their Oklahoma operation.

If we look at their financials, for the year ended December 31, 2023, we see that total revenue amounted to $379.3 million. This is an increase of approximately $3 million from 2022. Contributions and grant revenue totaled $338.2 million or 89% of the total. This was almost equal to that for 2022. Investment income amounted to $10.7 million and fees from their veterinary, shelter and adoption operations amounted to $25.1 million.

Total expenses for 2023 amounted to $355.6 million leaving $23.7 million in net revenue over expenses.

Of the total expenses, grants only amounted to $7.4 million or approximately 2% of total revenue. It was reported that these grants were issued to 393 organizations. The average grant then would amount to $18,830.

Salaries and employee benefits amounted to $150.8 million or approximately 40% of total revenue or 42% of total expenses. Officer and senior staff salaries and benefits were reported to total approximately $6.9 million. The President & C.E.O.’s salary and benefits amounted to $1.2 million of that.

Fundraising expenses amounted to $70.2 million, while advertising & promotion totaled an additional $37.9 million. Office expenses amounted to $26.9 million and IT costs, $17.9 million.

If we look at the balance sheet for ASPCA, it is very solid. Cash & Cash equivalents total $92.7 million and investment securities amount to $376.6 million. Today, with the tariffs causing the stock market to decline to unprecedented levels, I would assume that their securities have lost at least 20% in their value, if not more.

Pledges and grants receivable amount to another $25.1 million.

They also have investments in buildings and land totaling $153 million, and after accumulated depreciation, the net investment amounts to $87.4 million.

As a result their fund balance (net worth ) amounts to $553.3 million.

One item that I noted in the IRS Form 990 detail was that they sold $67.2 million in investments in 2023, and lost $2.8 million.

What does all of this mean? Well, financially, they have a very solid balance sheet, with adequate cash and investments. They continue to raise a significant amount of money, annually, from donor’s gifts and grants, but to raise those funds it is costing them 21% of every dollar raised. Or another way of looking at it is for every dollar raised, the cost is 21 cents.

If as a donor, you are satisfied with the mission of the ASPCA and their finances, then you should continue. However, if you are more interested in your local SPCA and their mission, then you might want to give consideration to them. There is no right or wrong answer. It all depends on you!

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital & American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, Inc.(ALSAC):

It seems that St. Jude’s is always on a fundraising venture. Many people see the television ads and are captivated by the statement that “there is no charge for their services.” Well, that is not the whole story.

In 1957, entertainer Danny Thomas, established the ALSAC to be the fund raiser for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This organization is expected to raise, annually, 89% of the funds necessary to sustain St. Jude’s. St. Jude Hospital was established in 1962 by Danny Thomas in Memphis, TN.

It should be noted that St. Jude is primarily a “research” institution. It maintains a hospital in addition to their research facilities, but it only has 78 beds.

Both organizations are 501 © “not- for- profit” organizations for Federal & State purposes and each files a separate IRS Form 990 information return, annually, with the IRS. Their financial results are audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, C.P.A.’s. These reports are available to the public. St. Jude’s financial year end is June 30.

The latest information available is for the year ended June 30, 2023. Their 2024 year -end report hasn’t been issue as of this date.

I don’t believe that most folks understand that St. Jude is primarily a Children’s Research Facility, specializing in cancer and other childhood diseases.

Their 2023 Annual Report states “ the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our founder, Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family’s ability to pay. “

ALSAC “is the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. ALAC is dedicated solely to raising the funds and awareness to operate and maintain St. Jude, now and in the future.”

St. Jude treats patients up to the age of 21, and for certain conditions, up to the age of 25. They also maintain an international outreach program designated to improve the survival rates of children worldwide. St. Jude’s has various affiliate healthcare institutions within the United States that they work with to advance their mission. Although Danny Thomas was Catholic, St. Jude’s is not affiliated with any religious organization.

As with any large not-for-profit organization, they are subject to various investigations concerning fund raising, and how their funds are expended. In 2019, Pro-Publica , a not for profit news organization investigated St. Jude and issued a report.

That report indicated that although St. Jude advertises that there is no cost to the patient, and that the patients family is housed at no cost, they found that not to be true. One example was that St. Jude only provides housing for one parent.

Another example deals with the promise that “families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food.” However, Pro-Publica found that there are strict limits on those costs. In addition, the biggest cost that parents incur is loss of income while the child is being treated. That can lead to serious financial difficulties for the parent.

One thing that is not discussed is that most parents have some type of medical insurance and St. Jude bills them for services rendered. It is estimated that approximately 90% of patients have insurance. For the year ended June 30, 2023, St. Jude received $154 million from insurers.

St. Jude states that treatment for pediatric cancer can take up to three years and cost $425,000. There appears to be a disconnect here. They only have 78 beds, and most of their patients are seen on an outpatient basis. They estimate that they see approximately 8, 600 patients annually.

Based upon the research at St. Jude’s, they estimate that they have changed the survival rate for childhood cancer from 20% in 1962 to 80% today. On an international basis, the estimate of childhood survival is still only 20%.

For the year ending June 30, 2023, St. Jude indicated in their annual report that 18,555 days of hospital inpatient were incurred. If you use 365 days at 78 beds, the maximum days would amount to 28,470. Thus, as a percent of capacity, inpatient days amounted to 65%.

ASLAC

Since both ALSAC and St. Jude are 501 © organizations, they file independent 990 returns,. I looked at both.

With respect to ALSAC, their total receipts for the year ended June 30, 2023 amounted to $5.7 billion per their 990. However, the detail only amounts to $2,7 billion. I assume that the $5.7 billion is an erroneous figure.

Of the $2.7 billion in revenue, $2.4 billion was in the form of contributions, and $236 million was investment income. To generate the $2.4 billion, they employ 2,109 employees plus 1 million volunteers and have 36 regional offices.

The ALSAC gave $1.4 billion in grants to St. Jude for the year ended June 30, 2023 out of their total expenses of $2.2 billion. Salaries and employee benefits amounted to $214 million while other fundraising expenses amounted to $14.4 million and other expenses amounted to approximately $89 million. As a result, they retained approximately $482 million.

Another way of looking at this is that they raised $2.4 billion in contributions and grants, and it cost them $800 million to do so. Thus for every dollar raised it cost .33 cents or 33% of every dollar raised went to expenses to raise those funds.

Fundraising revenue has increased from $1.7 billion in 2018 to $2.4 billion in the year ended June 30, 2023.

As of June 30, 2023, total assets of ASLAC amounted to $9.1 billion versus $142 million in liabilities, resulting in a fund balance (net worth) of $8.9 billion. Of that balance, they hold $8.3 billion in investments, and $429 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Obviously, a very strong balance sheet with a very definitive plan as to how to continue their fundraising.

St. Jude

As indicated previously, the ALSAC is the fund raising entity for St. Jude. St. Jude is primarily a research facility and employs approximately 5,700 employees.

For the year ended June 30, 2023, their total revenue amounted to $1.7 billion with $1.4 billion coming from ALSAC

Total Expenses amounted to $1.5 billion leaving approximately $200 million in net income. Included in expenses was $769 million for salaries and benefits ( over 9 senior employees received more than $1 million in salary and benefits).

They also gave $129 million in grants to other organizations. IT expenses amounted to $119 million and pharmaceutical and laboratory supplies an additional $145 million.

Depreciation expense, a non-cash item amounted to $112 million.

Total assets at June 30, 2023 amounted to $10.5 billion, while liabilities amounted to $1.6 billion, leaving a fund balance (net worth) of $8.9 billion. This represents the net worth of ASLAC that is included in the total assets of St. Jude.

Again, a very strong financial position!

St. Jude’s 2022-2027 Strategic Plan includes hiring an additional 2,300 employees, and spending $2 to $3 billion on new construction of research facilities. Included in this plan is to invest $11.5 billion, targeting childhood catastrophic diseases globally, over 6 years.

Also, a new 16 story tower, 865,000 square feet, research facility is planned. In 2021, they opened a new cancer research facility of 625,000 square feet.

As of June 30, 2023, their land and buildings investment is $2.5 billion.

Charity Navigator gives St.Jude/ASLAC a 4 star rating for the period 2022-2023.

To summarize, one could say that their television advertising is somewhat deceptive. It tends to show children with catastrophic diseases and discusses the fact that there is no cost to them. However, they only have 78 beds in their hospital. Not everyone who needs their type of treatment can be treated there.

They are primarily a “research facility” and what they do is obviously important. They have found the answer to fundraising on a national basis, and are very successful doing it. The also operate a significant outpatient clinic for children with catastrophic diseases.

Is this an organization that you want to support? Only you can decide that.

Jess Sweely

Madison, Va. 22727