Financial Stewardship

Good Stewardship of Your Charitable Dollars

A recent article in the Contra Costa Times cautioned readers to choose their charities very wisely. We wholeheartedly agree. One criteria that is usually considered is the amount that non-profits spend on overhead.

Overhead expenses can include bookkeeping, staff training, utilities, insurance, and of course fundraising. Today's non-profit must have impeccable business practices.

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability has outlined in their guidelines that members spend no more than 25% of donations on overhead expenses.

The Bay Area Rescue Mission, in keeping with this standard has been able to keep its overhead costs well within the guidelines. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, the Mission was able to limit overhead expenses to 12.3%.

With 87.7% of every dollar that is donated to the Mission going directly to programs of assistance, the Bay Area Rescue Mission is one of the top privately funded non-profit Christian organizations in Northern California.

Yours for the homeless and the impoverished,

Rev. John M. Anderson
President/CEO

P.S. Our current public audit is available on our website.