MSP Blog Post

May 23, 2018 by Leave a Comment
  1. Throughout this project we have learned several different ways to analyze a charity or company’s performance to judge how strong an investment would be. Often the leadership and representation by lower levels give evidence for a strong or weak company. The size and time since founding can also be a critical factor in determining stability and strength. Another way to evaluate a company or charity is to base it off of how well they create income, whether through business or donation, and how much income is produced for the cost to create it. For a real analysis, all of these factors must be considered as fault in one alone could lead to instability for the whole company. The best comprehensive method I believe we have enacted is to read through the form 990 and to calculate any additional ratios we may want.
  2. Looking at the numbers a company produces is likely the most essential part of choosing a charity or company to invest with. We need to see exactly how much money the company is able to raise for themselves, how the profits are used, and how long they could continue with their current assets. Even some charities that at first appear to be good investments may turn out to be not as positive as they seem, maybe dedicating too much of their profit to employment. All this potential revealing information in one place is what makes the form 990 such a big help to investors. The charities I researched, fortunately, did not have any unwanted findings in the numbers and matched well with their own goals.
  3. Before this project I never considered all the work and research necessary to ensure that I would be donating to a cause that follows through with what I expect in an investment. There are many companies and charities around that do not align with my personal values or do not meet the goals of interest with enough efficiency, not to mention miscellaneous scams. Because of this project I have learned that we must learn in depth about each company’s values and efficiency so that I can end up with a few that match my values and expectations the most. MSP helped me to discover the value of a good charity and how helpful they can be to the world, as well as how I can help them. Charities are an outlet for giving people to solve problems throughout the world regarding whatever their interest is by simply finding the charity and donating the money, making the world far better and more unified.
  4. The two charities that I researched were the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation and the Rady Children’s Hospital. JDRF is a charitable 501 organization dedicated to funding type 1 diabetes research. JDRF’s stated vision is “a world without type 1 diabetes.” The Rady Children’s Hospital is a hospital dedicated to restore, sustain and enhance the health and developmental potential of children through excellence in care, education, research and advocacy. The Rady Children’s Hospital is the largest children’s hospital in California and has committed itself to research and cure many of the ailments that children are forced to endure. My mission was to improve the world through research into the biological sciences and the Rady Children’s Hospital seemed to be more fitting to my mission because of how it is comprehensive.
  5. The one charity that my team and I decided to donate our money to was the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The Salk Institute’s mission aligned very closely with our group’s mission, which was to improve the world through groundbreaking research into cures for medical issues which affect millions of people throughout the world. The most important factor in my group’s decision to pick the Salk Institute was it’s high financial sustainability. There were many charities we researched that appeared fitting for our donation, however the Salk Institute’s financial stability paired with their philanthropic mission is what caused our group to choose them as the optimal charity for our donation.
  6. My hope is that the Salk Institute will have been the best option, by using our money to improve the world with successful research. None of the issues they work on, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and the impact of old age can be solved without proper funds for research, so our donation will hopefully be of great help to the lives saved by this institute. In my future I wish to help in ways such as this so that such medical advances may always progress and help more people. My future may even directly involve this group as I try to work for the medically advanced future I envision.
Filed Under: Derek L.