Post by Divemon on Apr 28, 2006 8:19:19 GMT -5
An Open Comment to all DAN Members, Donors and Interested Divers
As with any nonprofit organization, DAN has IRS guidelines and rules that it must follow. In addition, common sense and consideration for the faith donors have in this member organization have precedence when we determine policies and procedures for requesting and using donor funding.
Nonprofit organizations, including DAN, are often “rated” by donor advocacy organizations and compared to other nonprofits for efficiency and appropriate use of funding. Charity Navigator is an organization that has chosen to rate DAN.
There have been some questions as to why Charity Navigator has rated DAN in the way they have. We understand and offer clarification.
The basis for this rating is flawed in many ways because of the misuse or lack of information by the rating service in two basic areas:
A:
DAN is not a health and medical research organization as Charity Navigator has rated us. It is a membership organization that operates a medical call center for assistance in medical emergencies dealing with diver injuries. DAN conducts dive-related research into the effects on the body from scuba diving and those health issues that can impact diver safety. In addition, DAN offers a medical information line to provide divers with information to make informed decisions in their dive plans. It advises other health professionals in recognizing the symptoms of DCI and its treatment.
Peer Review is an essential element in their rating. In the review by Charity Navigator we have been compared to four very large, mainstream research and medical facilities. The four organizations represent diseases and conditions that can strike the entire world population. They include:
1. Burke Medical Research Institute: funding supports all research conducted at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, including the Dementia Research Laboratories and the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory. In addition, research into pulmonary disease (funded in part by the Will Rogers Institute), head injury, stroke, as well as Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders are supported.
2. Huntington Medical Research Institutes: known for development of the hydrocephalus shunt to treat “water-on-the-brain,” biomedical applications of laser energy, basic and applied cancer research, development of electronic neural rehabilitation technology, and applications of MRI and spectroscopy. New programs include molecular oncology, molecular neurology and brain mapping, liver studies and asthma and allergy.
3. T.J. Martell Foundation: raises and uses funds for research throughout the United States for leukemia, cancer and aids: again, huge prospect base for major frightening diseases.
4. The Neurosciences Institute: studies and works with the brain and other parts of the human nervous system. Some of the serious, frequently life-threatening disorders that result when the brain and central nervous system fail to function include blindness, insomnia, addiction, MS (multiple sclerosis), depression, Alzheimer’s, alcoholism, deafness, Parkinson’s, anorexia, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), schizophrenia, paralysis, dyslexia, autism, chronic pain, retardation and others.
# DAN is a nonprofit recreational diver membership organization that provides research in a narrow area of health and medicine, training in first aid assistance, medical information and advice to divers, and education for medical professionals. We have four grant programs (Oxygen Grant, AED Matching Grant, Diver IDentification System and Recompression Chamber Assistance Program). We work within a relatively small industry and are international in our scope and relationships. We are a hybrid.
B:
* Principal organizational funding is derived from membership dues and proceeds from insurance, products, advertising sales and other fees.
* Fund-raising represents approximately 6-7 percent of funding.
* ALL gifts raised, whether cash or gift-in-kind, are used for program support. ONE HUNDRED percent of all donations – cash and gift-in-kind – support the programs or initiatives AS THE DONOR DIRECTS. Unrestricted donations are used across DAN as needed. Salaries and benefits are not funded by donations.
* The costs/expenses of fund-raising are principally provided by the organization. Special projects such as Scuba-Opoly and The DAN Mouse cover their own funding through sales. The DAN On-Line Auction receives minimal funding from the organization and is presented only through the generosity of donors.
* The vast majority of expenses do go for programs as indicated by Charity Navigator – and as a member organization, those programs support and benefit the members and recreational divers as a whole.
In all fairness to Charity Navigator, they have the same problem categorizing DAN as do so many. The reality is that we are a hybrid with no truly comparable entities inside or outside the dive industry. We are not a training agency or an environmental nonprofit. We are not an equipment manufacturer or retailer. No other sport has a member organization as devoted to their sport’s safety as DAN is focused on the health and safety of the recreational scuba diver. It doesn’t really come as a surprise that we are outside their experience and therefore mismatched and misunderstood.
We ARE a truly pragmatic dive safety organization in that as we conduct research, education, training and outreach programs for the recreational diver, we are focused on helping divers, especially in emergency situations, when they are hurt while diving. We follow their care and in the case of those who have dive insurance, cover their costs.
For more than 25 years we have been scuba diving’s safety organization. We are the ones who are working for divers and available to them 24 hours a day, every day. Our intent is to give you as much information as we can so that you can make informed choices when deciding to join or renew your DAN membership to take advantage of DAN Membership benefits and options and to support DAN programs through giving.
Please read our website, write to us or call on us at any time for assistance.
Thank you.
Eileen M. Sahlin
Chief Development Officer
Hmpf, the actual sore point of concern to DAN is to find @:
www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/6487.htm
As with any nonprofit organization, DAN has IRS guidelines and rules that it must follow. In addition, common sense and consideration for the faith donors have in this member organization have precedence when we determine policies and procedures for requesting and using donor funding.
Nonprofit organizations, including DAN, are often “rated” by donor advocacy organizations and compared to other nonprofits for efficiency and appropriate use of funding. Charity Navigator is an organization that has chosen to rate DAN.
There have been some questions as to why Charity Navigator has rated DAN in the way they have. We understand and offer clarification.
The basis for this rating is flawed in many ways because of the misuse or lack of information by the rating service in two basic areas:
A:
DAN is not a health and medical research organization as Charity Navigator has rated us. It is a membership organization that operates a medical call center for assistance in medical emergencies dealing with diver injuries. DAN conducts dive-related research into the effects on the body from scuba diving and those health issues that can impact diver safety. In addition, DAN offers a medical information line to provide divers with information to make informed decisions in their dive plans. It advises other health professionals in recognizing the symptoms of DCI and its treatment.
Peer Review is an essential element in their rating. In the review by Charity Navigator we have been compared to four very large, mainstream research and medical facilities. The four organizations represent diseases and conditions that can strike the entire world population. They include:
1. Burke Medical Research Institute: funding supports all research conducted at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, including the Dementia Research Laboratories and the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory. In addition, research into pulmonary disease (funded in part by the Will Rogers Institute), head injury, stroke, as well as Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders are supported.
2. Huntington Medical Research Institutes: known for development of the hydrocephalus shunt to treat “water-on-the-brain,” biomedical applications of laser energy, basic and applied cancer research, development of electronic neural rehabilitation technology, and applications of MRI and spectroscopy. New programs include molecular oncology, molecular neurology and brain mapping, liver studies and asthma and allergy.
3. T.J. Martell Foundation: raises and uses funds for research throughout the United States for leukemia, cancer and aids: again, huge prospect base for major frightening diseases.
4. The Neurosciences Institute: studies and works with the brain and other parts of the human nervous system. Some of the serious, frequently life-threatening disorders that result when the brain and central nervous system fail to function include blindness, insomnia, addiction, MS (multiple sclerosis), depression, Alzheimer’s, alcoholism, deafness, Parkinson’s, anorexia, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), schizophrenia, paralysis, dyslexia, autism, chronic pain, retardation and others.
# DAN is a nonprofit recreational diver membership organization that provides research in a narrow area of health and medicine, training in first aid assistance, medical information and advice to divers, and education for medical professionals. We have four grant programs (Oxygen Grant, AED Matching Grant, Diver IDentification System and Recompression Chamber Assistance Program). We work within a relatively small industry and are international in our scope and relationships. We are a hybrid.
B:
* Principal organizational funding is derived from membership dues and proceeds from insurance, products, advertising sales and other fees.
* Fund-raising represents approximately 6-7 percent of funding.
* ALL gifts raised, whether cash or gift-in-kind, are used for program support. ONE HUNDRED percent of all donations – cash and gift-in-kind – support the programs or initiatives AS THE DONOR DIRECTS. Unrestricted donations are used across DAN as needed. Salaries and benefits are not funded by donations.
* The costs/expenses of fund-raising are principally provided by the organization. Special projects such as Scuba-Opoly and The DAN Mouse cover their own funding through sales. The DAN On-Line Auction receives minimal funding from the organization and is presented only through the generosity of donors.
* The vast majority of expenses do go for programs as indicated by Charity Navigator – and as a member organization, those programs support and benefit the members and recreational divers as a whole.
In all fairness to Charity Navigator, they have the same problem categorizing DAN as do so many. The reality is that we are a hybrid with no truly comparable entities inside or outside the dive industry. We are not a training agency or an environmental nonprofit. We are not an equipment manufacturer or retailer. No other sport has a member organization as devoted to their sport’s safety as DAN is focused on the health and safety of the recreational scuba diver. It doesn’t really come as a surprise that we are outside their experience and therefore mismatched and misunderstood.
We ARE a truly pragmatic dive safety organization in that as we conduct research, education, training and outreach programs for the recreational diver, we are focused on helping divers, especially in emergency situations, when they are hurt while diving. We follow their care and in the case of those who have dive insurance, cover their costs.
For more than 25 years we have been scuba diving’s safety organization. We are the ones who are working for divers and available to them 24 hours a day, every day. Our intent is to give you as much information as we can so that you can make informed choices when deciding to join or renew your DAN membership to take advantage of DAN Membership benefits and options and to support DAN programs through giving.
Please read our website, write to us or call on us at any time for assistance.
Thank you.
Eileen M. Sahlin
Chief Development Officer
Hmpf, the actual sore point of concern to DAN is to find @:
www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/6487.htm