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Lutheran Services in America is Number 24 on
The Chronicle of Philanthropy “Philanthropy 400”
October 19, 2011 (Baltimore, MD) - Lutheran Services in America (LSA) is listed at number 24 on the "Philanthropy 400" compiled by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, the newspaper that covers nonprofit news and issues.
The list ranks charities by their ability to attract donations from private sources – individuals, foundations and corporations. Government support, such as Medicare and Medicaid, are not used to rank charities. The Chronicle of Philanthropy uses mainly the U.S. Internal Revenue Form 990, the informational return nonprofits file annually, as its source of information. LSA conducted a survey of organizational members publically available Forms 990 and sent the compiled data to The Chronicle.
LSA’s survey of more than 85 percent of its member organization’s currently publicly available 990s found that together LSA organizations had income of $18.3 billion, including private support of over $516 million. LSA member organizations rely on private support for many things – to subsidize the gap between what Medicaid and Medicare or other government payments cover and the actual cost of providing services such as skilled nursing, assisted living or in-home supports; to start neighborhood projects such as after school programs, mentoring and tutoring for youth and teens; to provide resources for housing and job training; and to provide opportunities for individuals, families and communities facing a variety of challenges.
This is LSA’s second comprehensive survey of publicly available data from member 990s. LSA’s data collection project included a survey of almost 1,000 corporations, foundations and endowments that are connected to LSA’s 310 member organizations. That the combined income is higher than the previous survey is likely the result of broader data collection than actual rise in income on the part of LSA organizations.
Jill Schumann, LSA President and CEO, said, “As with LSA’s 2009 survey, these numbers demonstrate the remarkable work of Lutheran health and human service organizations across the country.”
The “Philanthropy 400” list appeared in the October 17 print edition of The Chronicle of Philanthropy and is available on their website, www.philanthropy.com.
Lutheran Services in America creates opportunities with people in thousands of communities throughout the United States and the Caribbean through more than 300 health and human service organizations connected to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and/or The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Working neighbor to neighbor through services in health care, aging and disability supports, community development, housing, and child and family strengthening, these organizations together touch the lives of more than six million people or one in 50 Americans each year.
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