Financial morals

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Ad_Collegium

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Hello! So let’s say that there’s an organization (not the Church, but maybe an organization within the Church) whose sole source of income is dependent on people donating to it. Then let’s say that this organization runs mission trips among other activities. If the mission trips are turning a sizable profit (~$500,000) for the organization is there anything wrong with that? Like with mission trips, shouldn’t care be taken to keep cost and revenues as close to zero as possible? Is turning a profit taking advantage of the charity of the people paying to go on the trips, and is that morally wrong?
 
If they are making $ 500,000 profit, why do they need donations ?
 
Ad_Collegium said:
Like with mission trips, shouldn’t care be taken to keep cost and revenues as close to zero as possible?
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Why? Wouldn’t a better funded mission trip be able to do more?
Ad_Collegium said:
Is turning a profit taking advantage of the charity of the people paying to go on the trips, and is that morally wrong?
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So long as all legal and financial laws are being followed, NO.
 
They do more than mission trips.(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Cruciferi said:
Why? Wouldn’t a better funded mission trip be able to do more?
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They run the same trips every year and do the same things each time. And their finances don’t show that the profit goes back towards the missions, but that they keep it.
 
If it’s a non-profit, it can’t technically “turn a profit.” It would depend on where that 500K goes. Is it a rainy day fund for the budget? Is it being saved for a major financial venture, like a grant or a new building? Is 300K of it going to fund the Executive Director’s salary?

Have you tried asking the organization directly? Transparency shouldn’t offend any reputable non-profit.
 
Ok. So if they do more than mission trips and are making $ 500,000 profit , why do they need donations ?
 
I haven’t a clue. This isn’t meant to sound sarcastic, but did the photo of the financial report go through?
 
FOCUS is an outstanding group.

If you read the financial data, they lost money on Missions in FY17

Their income is put back into the ministry with only 7% on admin expenses.
 
Which numbers are you looking at that shows that the missions lost money in FY17 ?
 
Is there a page on their website that shows and explains what they have done on previous missions ?
 
Sorry, they squeeked by a little bit above expenses, still, to accuse them of half a million dollars in profit is unfounded.
 
I didn’t say they aren’t doing good, I’m just not sure how I feel about profiting from missions when you aren’t solely a mission company. The data shows that they made like $125,000 profit off of missions in 2017 (4,220,000-4,095,000)
 
This is not a company selling widgets where “missions” is a profit center. This group demonstrates that they are good stewards over the gifts they receive. The number of lives touched by FOCUS is phenomenal, that they have been able to continue their good work through times of economic down turn and “stay in business” is a good thing.

What is the beef with FOCUS?
 
TheLittleLady said:
to accuse them of half a million dollars in profit is unfounded.
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How is it unfounded? Looking at the “Selected Financial Data” section, they made (and I admittedly rounded up) nearly half a million off of missions. If you’d rather I be exact, they profited $435,100 in that category.
 
TheLittleLady said:
What is the beef with FOCUS?
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There is no “beef,” I’m just curious. I’m looking at getting involved with them on my campus, and it didn’t sit right with me when I saw that while doing my research. I’m not condemning- I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong based off of that initial feeling.
 
I haven’t really looked into that yet, but I did take blackforest’s response to mind and email them.
 
Missions and Conferences account for 17% of income

I’m just not seeing the scandal. There is no moral teaching that evangelization must run in the red.

Have you taken a look at your Diocese financials, your parish financials? We are to be good stewards. That includes having some black ink so we are not caught unawares by a sudden expense.
 
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