Funded exclusively by donations from individuals

[Guide]

The NRS Weblog reports on October 22, 2018, "Over the course of nearly two decades since the National Rosacea Society (NRS) issued its first research grants, this program has fostered dramatic strides in the understanding of rosacea, and has now awarded more than $1.5 million to date. Funded exclusively by donations from individuals, the NRS research grants program was established in 1999 to provide support for medical research into the potential causes and other key aspects of this poorly understood disorder that may lead to improvements in its treatment, care and potential cure." [1] [bold italics added]

The report then notes some of the notable studies funded with more than $1.5 million dollars, which some of these are quite good. The NRS states clearly on this blog report that all the money spent on these studies came from individual donations from members of the NRS. However, let's really look at the math on this. The RRDi has kept an accurate record of all the donations from 1998 thru 2016 and the total amount reported donations to the NRS amounts to $13,898,646. [2]

The total amount reported by the NRS spent on rosacea research studies during this same period amounts to $1,403,031, which is a difference of about $96,969. You might minimize this difference but $96K to the RRDi is a big deal. If the RRDi had $96K we would spend 90% on rosacea research studies. 

But what is a even a bigger deal is that the NRS reports over this same period that only 10.09% of the amount donated to the NRS comes from public support (what the NRS reports in the weblog articles as 'exclusively by donations from individuals). So what does does the math now reveal? $1,402,378.38 is the actual amount reported by the NRS to the Internal Revenue Service. That is a difference of $97K, which is closer to the same amount in the previous paragraph. [2] Ok, just a $1K difference, but it helps confirm the math. 

So what's the big deal you ask? Go back and look at the total amount of donations reported by the NRS during this time period. Yes, almost $14 million. Look again at how much money was spent on rosacea research studies? Actually $1.4 million. So how much money of the TOTAL donations was spent on rosacea research? You do the math. Ok, I will do it for you: 10%. So for every dollar donated to the NRS ten cents is spent on rosacea research. 

One might ask, where did the other 90% of the donations come from when only 10% comes from public support? If you look on the NRS website home page, scroll down till you read, "Maintenance of this website in 2018 is supported by unrestricted educational grants from the following companies so that individual donations can be used to fund research" and notice the list of companies who sponsor the NRS, pharmaceutical corporations with a vested interest in rosacea. However, the NRS reports that all the rosacea research studies are "Funded exclusively by donations from individuals." So what are these educational grants funded by these pharmaceutical companies?  There are none listed that are sponsored by any pharmaceutical companies shown on the NRS website. Why not ask the NRS?  Better yet, why not ask the NRS for a copy of the Form 990 for 2017 that you are entitled to review yourself and see where all the money is spent. Yes, it takes time to read a Form 990 but you can get the gist of the entire report in about a twenty minute review. For example, here is a review of the 2016 Form 990. 

If it is really true that the public support reported amounts to $1.4 million, just think about what rosacea research could have been accomplished if more money was spent on rosacea research rather than the 10 percent the NRS spent of its total donations? Say 20 percent?  Or what about 50%? How much should a non profit organization for rosacea spend on rosacea research of its total donations? 

If you are meditating on all this, you might ask, where did most of the 90 percent of the donations go to? What was most of the donations the NRS received over this period spent on?  The answer is two private contractors, that are owned by the president of the NRS, Sam Huff. And the most surprising thing about all this is that members of the NRS don't care how the NRS spends its donations and keeps giving the NRS donations. I still haven't figured out why the members of the NRS keep donating but it is obvious they love the NRS and how it spends its donations. For more info. 

End Notes

[1] NRS Research Grants Program Drives Key New Discoveries
Posted: 10/22/2018, NRS Weblog

[2] NRS Form 990 Spreadsheet 1998 thru 2016