In Point of Fact : Charity begins at home at Points of Light Foundation

Promoting, encouraging and rewarding volunteerism were hallmarks of the Bush Administration. President George Bush believed that volunteers, whom he called a “thousand points of light,” could fight the nation’s hunger, homelessness and poverty better than government bureaucracies. To motivate Americans to engage in community service, Bush launched a private, nonprofit foundation in 1990.

Today that foundation--the Points of Light Foundation--operates under a cloud. A Times investigation has raised questions about the foundation’s spending, salaries and effectiveness.

Prime measures of nonprofit organizations, especially charities, are of course how much they take in, how much they spend and for what. Does more money go to administrative and promotional costs than to programs?

Times staff writer Glenn F. Bunting reported from Washington, where Points of Light is based, that over four years the foundation took in about $42 million; of that amount, $26.6 million was in federal funds. It gave out only $4 million in grants to volunteer programs across the country. About $22.3 million went for glitzy promotions, consultants, salaries, travel and conferences.

As originally envisioned, the foundation was to be a small organization, but now there’s nothing small about the salaries. Salaries paid in 1994 were $4.1 million, more than the foundation spent to fund grants for volunteer efforts over four years. Foundation President Richard F. Schubert, who was hired after he resigned under pressure as head of the American Red Cross, is paid $160,000 a year. The salaries of his 13-member management team average more than $80,000.

Not surprisingly, the foundation is hard-pressed to prove that its efforts have led to an actual increase in community service. In fact, a Gallup Organization survey showed volunteering in general has dropped 6% nationwide since 1989. A Times nationwide poll indicated that only 1% who engaged in volunteer work were motivated to do so by the Points of Light Foundation.

The foundation’s management needs to clean up its act and focus its spending better. Without change, the nonprofit group unintentionally sullies volunteerism.