I posted this on facebook. I have been thinking of donating to an organization for alzheimer's. One that works with research. I was wondering if any of you might have any ideas. I have been reading some bad reviews about the Alzheimer's Association. Don't know how much truth is in it.
I have been an Honorary Member of the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation for many years. For years the Chairman was Art Linkletter until his death. I've even donated old cars to them. Their mission is to serve as a venture catalyst to provide critical seed money to major CA universities for novel and promising AD research, generally not funded by the government or pharmaceuticals. Web site is: www.jdfaf.org
Politics aside, not many people realize the impact the Reagan family has had on AD research, beginning with their decision to go public about his AD. In 1995 Nancy & Ronald founded the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute in Chicago to expand the biological segment of the disease research with a focus on commitment to innovative cutting-edge basic science to develop treatments for AD. Nancy had worked for embryonic stem cell research - but I personally oppose that & believe adult stem cell research is better. So far, research has agreed with my view. Before her death, daughter Maureen was very active in the Alz Assn & personally raised 60 million dollars for AD research. Son Michael has taken over as Chairman, after Linkletter of the French Foundation. Republican, Democrat, rich, poor, educated or unschooled, active or sedentary, famous or obscure, every race, religion & atheist, AD does not care.
The Alz Assn does a lot of good, but some of the negative things are true. Just how people look at things differently.
My biggest problem with donating is: how much of my money will actually go to research (or whatever you intend it for) and how much goes to administration. If there is a school near you that is doing research check them. Or google AD research, find out about them. One time I found a place where you could see how much of an organizations donations went to admin and how much wherever it is suppose. One bad company lately is the one that administers 'Wounded Warrior'. They use a professional fundraising company and from what I have heard very little of the millions donated ever go to Wounded Warrior - they claim they are investing it.
Anyway, I would check locally first, then expand from there. Check out the one Betty talks about.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/ is the place to go to check up on charities. They take all the puubished facts & figures and make them readable and accessible.
As for ALZ organizations I have always been intrigued by the different goals of the two different organizations.
The motto of the ALZ Association is "Imagine a world without Alzheimers" and spends their money on research and looking for a cure. Something we all want but would we ever benefit from one?
The motto for the ALZ Foundation is "Until there is a cure there should be care" and their focus is not so much on a cure (if one is even possible) but to work to train caregivers and better usderstand how to help people who have it in the here and now.
Certainly research for a 'cure' is important but it will be a long way off. I always remember that there still is no cure for cancer. EARLY DETECTION followed by treatment is called the cure, but you you dont catch the cancer until its late stages it is basicly incurable. Personally I apply the same logic to AD. With better imaging we are learning that by the time you see the symptoms it is well established. I suspect that the 'cure' for AD will also eventually lie in early detection and treatments that canot cure but will DELAY the spreading and allow the brain to age at a rate in line with the body. (since it is a disease of aging)
IMHO - So many of us are struggling with daily care issues and knkowledge deficits among health care workers, I do think that an important aspect of AD giving is to provide 'better care'.
The Association is bigger and the Foundation seems to be basicaly non-existant in the western US (certainly LA Area).
We regularly get letters from some organization calling themselves "Alzheimers Research". I looked them up on charity navigator and they were a one star charity giving almost nothing to actual research. You have to be careful.
Thanks everyone for your input. I had been thinking about ALZ Association. When I googled them I found they were being sued by ALZ Foundation. Seems the association had received some checks with foundation on them and cashed them. The Foundation says the money was meant for them because the checks said ALZ Foundation. The association admits they did this but claims no wrong doing. They feel they can cash any checks that have alzheimer's on them. Lawsuits. What a waste of donated money. I have started checking the groups mentioned here.
So the Association is being sued by the Foundation. I wonder how much donated money will be spent on lawyers? I sure don't want my donation spent on that!
Well, simply, if the checks that said Foundation on them were sent to and received by the Association, where's the wrongdoing??? They need to get the moneygrubbers out of the mix. Sorry if I have offended anyone, but that is how I feel.
FYI - The issue between the Assoc and the Foundation started when a person died and left annual donations to the Foundation in their will. The first year or two the lawyer in charge did not realize (or research) that the Assoc and Foundation were two different organizations and sent the payments to the Association. The next year he realized his mistake and sent the donation to the Foundation with a note that he made a mistake and had sent last years donation to the Assoc.
It was this that put the Foundation on the search to find out IF there had been other donations that also should have come their way. This was when they learned that the Assoc accepts any checks/donations that have the word Alzheimer's on them.
The Foundation states that whenever they receive a check made out to the Assoc they do not cash it and instead forward it to the Assoc.
Yeah, it seems like useless infighting and bickering but the two organizations DO have different goals and how would you feel if someone else was cashing a check that had been made out to you?