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Lutheran Services in America is Number 31 on
The Chronicle of Philanthropy “Philanthropy 400”
November 2, 2009 (Baltimore, MD) - Lutheran Services in America (LSA) is listed at number 31 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 Forms 990 and sent the compiled data to The Chronicle.
LSA’s survey of member organization 990s filed in 2007 and 2008 found that LSA member organizations had income of $16.6 billion, including private support of $471,771,184 million.
LSA member organizations rely on private support for many things – to subsidize the gap in what Medicaid and Medicare payments cover and the actual cost of care in places like nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as for in-home care; to support neighborhood projects such as after school programs, mentoring and tutoring for youth and teens; to provide resources for refugee resettlement and job training; and to open neighborhood centers, such as clinics for those without health insurance.
This is the first time LSA has done a comprehensive survey of publicly available data from member 990s. Previously, aggregated data was compiled through member response surveys or member-reported income on 990s. LSA’s 2009 project included a survey of almost 1,000 corporations, foundations and endowments run by LSA’s 300 member organizations in addition to the 990s of those organizations.
Jill Schumann, LSA President and CEO, said, “Lutheran health and human service organizations in the United States have been compelled and sustained by their call to love and serve our neighbors. It is useful to have some collective numbers to show the national footprint of Lutheran health and human services throughout the country. We hope that LSA members can use this strength to boost their presence in their communities.”
The “Philanthropy 400” list appeared in the October 29 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 as an alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and their more than 300 health and human service organizations. 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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