Mission by the numbers
* The Fort Wayne Rescue Mission assisted slightly more than 1,000 men, women and children last year. The care included providing more than 37,000 nights of lodging and 120,000 meals.
* About 80 percent of the nearly $2 million it cost to provide care came from donations from the community, said the Rev. Dave Humphreys, the mission's senior pastor, president and chief executive officer.
* More than 13,500 people and organizations in the Fort Wayne area donated to the mission during the business year ended June 30, Humphreys said. They included thousands of individuals, about 400 churches, several foundations and hundreds of businesses ranging from family operations to large corporations.
* Nearly 12,500 people and organizations donated less than $250 each, raising more than $612,000, Humphreys said.
* About 220 donors and private foundations gave more than $1,000 each, totaling about $700,000, he said. Large grants included $70,000 from English, Bonter, Mitchell Foundation; $52,400 from Lincoln Financial Group Foundation; $40,000 through Foellinger Foundation; and $30,900 from Lutheran Foundation. The mission also received $124,259 from United Way of Allen County.
* About 75 percent of the $1.98 million the mission spent last year went toward services for the homeless, such as offering emergency shelter to men and women and six-month restoration programs to those trying to overcome homelessness, financial records showed.
* The remaining expenses fell into management and general costs, 8 percent, and fund raising, 17 percent.
The 75 percent of expenses spent on programs and services exceeds the minimum expenditure of 65 percent set by the Wise Giving Alliance. The alliance is a joint venture of the National Charities Information Bureau and the national Council of Better Business Bureau's foundation and Philanthropic Advisory Service.
The alliance recommends charities spend no more than 35 percent of their budget on fund-raising and administrative expenses.
The Fort Wayne Rescue Mission's fund-raising costs of about 17 percent also fall below the average for other missions represented by the marketing company Grizzard Communications Inc., said Randy Schackmann, account supervisor for the company's Glendale, Calif., office. Schackmann's office represents the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission and about 85 other missions.
Fund-raising costs at the other missions average 20 percent to 24 percent, Schackmann said.
* The mission also operates the Bargains Galore resale store and the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission Ministries Foundation.
The resale store lost about $19,500 last year, Humphreys said. The mission maintains it to provide new residents with clothing. Residents in restoration programs earn points to shop there for furniture and items they need to move into their own housing.
* The organization started a foundation in 2001 to build an endowment to fund mission operations. Major donations and all gifts from wills, bequests and trusts now go into the endowment fund, Humphreys said.
During the business year ended June 30, the foundation billed 45 percent of its $52,440 in expenses to fund raising and 23 percent to management and general costs.
* The endowment fund contains about $3 million. Officials would like to build the total to $20 million over the next decade. The rescue mission's 10-member board of trustees hopes the endowment eventually will fund all mission operating expenses.
-- By Kevin Kilbane of The News-Sentinel
