Talk:MusiCares

Confusing
I surfed here while doing a page on a band who performed at the 2007 Musicares event to honor James Taylor. Many high profile celebrities either performed there or were in the audience. However, reading this page, I can't figure out if it's a concert event to honor the artist chosen that year, and help them financially with the proceeds of the concert, OR... what? Give the money to who? How? Especially in the case of James Taylor with his well known past (present?) drug addiction to slate the money for those who have suffered from that, I can see where someone unfamiliar with the wikipedia would be confused. I'm still confused as to where, exactly, that money is supposed to go. --leahtwosaints (talk) 21:56, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Should the criticisms be addressed?
http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6193

"Over the entire period, MusiCares took in contributions of more than $6.5 million, but paid out $627,000, or less than 10% of its total income, in individual grants. Far larger sums went to cover organizational expenses."

"Bonnie Raitt agreed to work with this charity because she believed the lion's share of the money raised would go to benefit those in need. She was told that the money would go directly to help pay for people's rent, food, clothing, health insurance and substance abuse problems." [They] were shocked at the reprehensible' disparity between the income and payout at MusiCares."

EDLIS Café 19:57, 23 September 2014 (UTC)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by EdRicardo (talk • contribs)


 * Yes, you can include criticisms of the organization with a citation from a reliable source. That being said, the figures above are outdated. MusiCares paid out $3,771,190 of grants between August 1 2013 and July 31 2014, according to the organization's annual IRS return. "Organizational costs" is a vague term. Yes, MusiCares has to pay rent for its office space, web site hosting, insurance, telephone, utilities, accounting, staff wages and benefits, payroll taxes, and so forth. Almost all charitable organizations must pay similar costs to keep their doors open, and MusiCares need not be singled out for incurring these costs. MusiCares received $7,783,986 of contributions and incurred $5,726,268 of program services costs, meaning that 74 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to the furtherance of its mission of providing a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need between August 1 2013 and July 31 2014. ~ Quacks Like a Duck (talk) 13:48, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

It's also worth bearing in mind that, depending on how they choose to classify different costs and staff, organisational costs may include some things that most people would consider part of their services like producing and issuing standard advice, setting up meetings between clients and other organisations, giving advice over the phone etc. I've not looked into it in any detail so I don't know to what extent that's the case here but I do know that's a common problem with non-profits - what one person considers an organisational cost (or in some cases profit if it includes staff wages) another person considers a key part of their services. 108.171.128.169 (talk) 12:45, 27 June 2017 (UTC)