shameful: 2014 Autism Speaks’ financials

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Autism Speaks:  Your dollars@ work
***The data used to create this chart was extracted from Autism Speaks’ 2014 audited financial statements.  You can find the original data here on Autism Speaks’ website.

Please click images for alt text.
The image is a pie chart in various shades of blue. The first slice is advertising, marketing and donated media $52,935, 472 with a call out pointing to the slice reading 43.91%. The next slice is salaries, benefits and payroll taxes $23,300,19 with a callout pointing to the slice that reads 19.33 percent. The next slice is science grants and awards $15,300,709 with callout pointing to slice reading 12.69%. The next slice is family services grants and awards $4,631,690 with callout pointing to slice reading 3.84%. The last slice is everything else $24,379,795 with callout pointing to slice reading 20.23%.

In 2014 (like other years)Less than 4% of Autism Speaks’ expenditures support Autistic people and their families.  Salaries/benefits and associated expenses account for almost 20% of its expenditures.

the image is a spreadsheet graphic with the following figures: Advertising, marketing &amp; donated media $52,935,472 43.91% Salaries, benefits &amp; payroll taxes $23,300,191 19.33% Science grants &amp; awards $15,300,709 12.69% Professional services including donated $5,465,516 4.53% Family service grants &amp; awards $4,631,690 3.84% Supplies &amp; equipment $3,435,590 2.85% Venues &amp; services $2,674,630 2.22% Travel, meals, lodging, transportation &amp;catering $2,568,518 2.13% Occupancy $2,157,190 1.79% Postage &amp; Shipping $960,983 0.80% Donation processing &amp; bank fees $946,242 0.78% Premiums &amp; recognition $941,784 0.78% Printing $855,155 0.71% Conferences, meetings, &amp;sponsorships $842,462 0.70% Merchandising &amp; biomaterials $645,112 0.54% Telephone &amp; Internet $536,014 0.44% Site, audit, licensing &amp; filing fees $498,904 0.41% Legal fees $460,398 0.38% Depreciation &amp; amortization $387,407 0.32% Temporary services $362,888 0.30% Other $267,438 0.22% Photography &amp; videoography $208,305 0.17% Insurance $165,259 0.14% Total 2014 expenditures $120,547,857<strong>The Ugly Truth Broken Down</strong>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donate to underfunded organizations that support Autistic people.
AutismWomensNetwork.org
Ed Wiley Autism Acceptance Library
Tone it Down Taupe

 

16 thoughts on “shameful: 2014 Autism Speaks’ financials”

  2. Pingback: shameful: 2014 Autism Speaks’ financials | Spectrum Perspectives

  5. Wtf???? So 60% effectively goes on making more money (advertising and the salaries of people who spend money on advertising and fundraising). That is disgusting

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  8. For years I’ve been telling people that Autism $peaks spends 52 cents of every dollar it collects on salaries, overhead and marketing and only 4 cents on services to autistic people and their families. Turns out I was underestimating the amount spent on salaries, overhead and marketing while overstating the amount they were spending on services.

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  10. Pingback: What’s Wrong With Autism Speaks? A Collection of Resources – So Much Stranger, So Much Darker, So Much Madder, So Much Better

  11. I am neither a fan of Autism Speaks or the ABA therapeutic model of treatment. Now, with the backing of the BACB(Behavioral Analyst Certification Board) ABAs are employing ‘RBT’s(Research Behavior Technicians) to monitor and participate in the care of autistic people. You can go to the BACB’s website to see the requirements to become an ‘RBT’ and you should be shocked and concerned that people with no formal behavioral training or background have to comply to such minimum standards to be around our children. It’s frightening. This is because people in the ABA community have already become too lazy and entitled to do the work for which it is they trained and if you don’t want to put in the time and effort then get out of the business of caring for people, because autistic people need compassion and understanding, not to be treated like pets, trained to be obedient, as to not upset those around them because they do not fit into what someone else thinks is ‘normal behavior’. My son, who was diagnosed as ‘borderline Aspergers’ at 5, is now almost 11 and receives what I like to call a crippling amount of therapy without having ever been retested since a) what is and is not autism with regard to Aspergers Syndrome has since changed and, b) he’s gone almost 6 years without follow up testing to see if, I don’t know, perhaps the initial diagnosis was incorrect. He is engaging, articulate, witty, and bright. Look at the chart above and see for yourself who Autism Speaks cares about.

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    • These pseudo helpful entities that are out for themselves should be treated as criminal and prosecuted. $23 Mil in salary…twice that in advertising? If there is nothing fishy about that I have bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you, cheap.

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    • You can click the link at the top of the post which will bring you to the full financials. It is a lot of money to call, “everything else” but including every account is not practical for the purposes of my post. I’m comfortable with this decision because I’ve made it very easy for readers to access the info by just clicking the link. Far easier for you to do that than for me to list it in a reply.

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