Observation of how things should be done
This vacation I spent a few days with the people of the Marine Mammal Center. I will defer to their website to see what they do. In general this is a non-profit that goes out and saves/rehabs sick/injured marine mammals. I was lucky enough to engage in both the care of animals currently in their care yet to be released and pick up a newly found stranded Sea Lion.
Now those of you who know me know I am a big believer in small government and that most (if not all) giving should be done by private organizations funded by private people and staffed by private people.
All I can say is the MMC is a wonderful example of this. This organization if fully (short 3% provided research grants) funded by private donations. The MMC is very efficient. They have to be, there isn’t any magic money being taken from tax payers. Because of this they have to show results. They have a wonderful public education program which probably saves more seals from mistakes made by the public than their active recover saves each year. They have a very active community of volunteers many of which have been there 5 years or more. If you have every worked in a like organization you will know that keeping people around so long is very hard. The MMC is doing a wonderful job of this. They also do a great job training new people in the care of like animals to do this else where.
In short the MMC does its job very very well. Better than any similar case that relies on government money or keeping a single Senator/Politician happy. They respond to their own wish to see the animals thrive and work to do that in the be way they can.
It is to me a model of the way charity in the United States should be done. Private people working towards their private interest in protecting and helping these animals. They have a wonderful new facility being built that is fully funded by private persons that will enable them to help yet more animals. They are grateful for these people who have provided the funds and are also grateful for all those who while they may not donate cash donate their time and their backs.
Just a wonderful example, wonderful. I have never worked with any government organization that could even compare to how far a dollar or man hour goes. I would say they are at least 3x’s as efficent as the next government ran program.
Everyone at the MMC thank you very much and for putting up with my questions. I wish you the best in your efforts, and yes I think the Elles are very cute and lazy.
Remember they run on private donations do what you can: Donate
Source of income for operations data:
http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/about_us/financials.asp
Sounds like you had a great time! I actually heard about the MMC a few years ago via Stan Jensen’s ultrarunning site.
Based on Charity Navigator’s rating of the MMC they still have considerable room for improvement.
Also, the MMC’s pie graph on their financial page you linked to appears to be inaccurate - for example over 20% of their expenditures went towards fundraising, not 8% as the graph depicts.
Not to be all nit-picky in your blog, but I’m a huge believer in non-profit efficiency. A good organization should have at least 75% of contributions go towards their mission, but the MMC is in the 65-70% range. It does appear that they are improving, though.
Despite the above, they seem to be a very well-run outfit. What caused you to go help them out?
I went there for a week. Its where Chelsea is interning for the summer.
I did meet Stan, and talked with him a few times. Have you communicated with him before?
Hmm the difference in number might have to do with a large addition they are doing. The cash inflows might be quite differnt because they have had a large push to pay for it. What is being built right now is fully paid for and they plan to add another half to it.
In any case I was impressed how good a job they did. They admitted though that what they do has little to do with helping the population. The education does more for the entire population than any rescue rehab, but they want to do rehab so they do it by their own free will.