Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Thinking about Save Darfur - what could $48 million do?

I downloaded the Form 990 non-profit tax return from Guidestar, and their total revenue in Sept 2006- Oct 2007 was $48 million. They spent almost $32m on paid advertising, organized through a shady Washington PR and lobbying firm called GMMB (used by numerous organizations and politicians - i.e. Barack Obama and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation- talk about SLICK!). The oft-cited $15m revenues is from their 2005-06 Form 990. Guidestar doesn't seem to have a 990 for 2007-08, which is a bit curious. (Maybe they filed an extension, so that would mean filing is due in June 2009 or thereabouts.) I wonder if Mamdani's negative broadside will actually increase their donations... which raises the interesting paradox for the "utilitarians" like Mamdani who see an interest behind every justice-tree.... his book and lectures give more publicity to Save Darfur, enabling them to do even more harm. So... shouldn't he desist?

No comments:

Post a Comment