Future of Imus charity ranch questioned

[LoZoccolo]

RIBERA, N.M. - Don Imus's banishment from the public airwaves also deprives him of a critical platform to raise money for the sprawling Imus Ranch, where children with cancer and other illnesses get a taste of the cowboy life.
ADVERTISEMENT

Before he was fired last week for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos," Imus pointed to the northern New Mexico ranch to make his case that he is "a good person who said a bad thing."

With Imus out of a job, some wonder whether the pipeline to charity money will eventually dry up.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070414/ap_on_re_us/imus_ranch

[Digital]

1. He should have thought of that before.

Words have consequences.

[tnlefty]

11. Welcome to DU, Digital!

:hi:

[bigwillq]

13. Hi!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[blondeatlast]

26. Welcome to DU! I think I like you already! Pull up a chair and...

:toast:

[Judi Lynn]

31. Absolutely! Welcome to DU, Digital!

:hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :woohoo:

[NNN0LHI]

2. This guy is a millionaire how many times over?

He gets out of a job for three days and he is broke? Forget the charity money and kick in some of his own if his heart is really in the ranch.

Don

[SoCalDem]

5. Rich people stay rich because they use OPM

:)

[TahitiNut]

27. Yep. Danny DeVito taught me that.

:rofl:

[SoCalDem]

3. You put your right foot in.. you put your left foot in and you shake it all about

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT !

That's why he kept doing the show.. the pipeline for money for the ranch. the free airtime for the products the ranch sold and to shake down rich people for support..

paul Newman does all of the above without a 'show" and without insulting anyone..

perhaps he can give Don some pointers:)

Paul's camps: PLURAL
http://www.holeinthewallcamps.org/

The Association of Hole in the Wall Camps serves existing Hole in the Wall Camps and those in development. Last year, our camps served nearly 10,000 seriously ill children. With additional camps in development, that number will only continue to grow.

Each camp is a separate entity expanding founder Paul Newman's dream to provide a recreational and therapeutic camping experience for children facing serious illnesses and life-threatening conditions. While at camp, these children discover the joys of childhood often missed during extended medical treatment. All children attend the camps free of charge as a result of generous contributions from individuals, corporations, foundations and other organizations.

Camp Boggy Creek
Eustis, Florida 32736 USA


Double H Ranch
Lake Luzerne, New York 12846-3318 USA

L'Envol pour les enfants europeens
B.P. 7

The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
New Haven, Connecticut 06511 USA


Jordan River Village
43524 Ra'anana, Israel

The Painted Turtle
Santa Monica, CA 90401

The Victory Junction Gang
Randleman, NC 27317

Over the Wall
Wilsom Road

The Africa Initiative
)
Dynamo Camp (provisional member)
Foro Bonaparte

Bator Tabor (provisional member)
Bajcsy-Zsilinszky ut 57
visit | camp info

Newman's Own (products that support the camps) & other progressive causes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newman's_Own

[tnlefty]

15. And I purchase Paul Newman's products and I also pay attention

to his wife's pleas to recycle and to purchase recycled products. What a terrific couple, IMHO of course!

[cyberpj]

4. I'm sure they do good work. but I'm betting charity tax breaks paid for that big ranch. nt

[mainer]

Charity tax breaks only pay for a fraction. Imus had to pay for the rest.

I get this spiel all the time, from people who don't know what the hell they're talking about: "Why don't you contribute to our charity? Your tax break will pay for the whole thing!"

Um, no. You get to deduct the donation from your gross income, not your net income. Which means that when you donate $10,000, instead of being $10,000 out of pocket, you're only $6,000 out of pocket. (If you're in a 40% tax bracket.)

You're still giving them $6,000 you'd normally be able to put in your own bank account.

So some of it had to come out of Imus's pocket.

[cyberpj]

8. Donations are a different animal than when you're the one running a "non-profit" org. And whatever

Imus pays, it's much less than he would pay if he wasn't getting paid to run the charity. Remember, they CAN all draw paychecks as part of their expenses. AND write off lots and lots of goods that surely serve both the "non-profit" and the ranch.

[YDogg]

9. IIRC, Imus and his wife receive a salary of $1.00 per year for their ranch work.

[cyberpj]

16. Of couse they do.

[troubleinwinter]

21. Read post #20

[troubleinwinter]

23. We don't know that Imus paid anything.

The mortgage, maintenance, slaries, etc. are paid by the non-profit. See post #20. We have no information whether Imus ever personally gave a nickel or not. You do not have access to his personal tax returns. He set up a non-profit... it tells us NOTHING about what he may or may not have donated himself.

[papau]

6. He has his own money - we'll see if he really cares enough to spend some of it - or not n/t

n/t

[qwertyMike]

7. It;'s Tax whrte-off

You and I are paying for it

[LoZoccolo]

14. How does that work?

Are you saying that he saves all the money he donates to the ranch on his tax bill? Like if he donated $100,000 to the ranch, he'd pay $100,000 less taxes?

[shadowknows69]

10. Sorry Imus haters

but this is the tragedy attached to this mess. I agree someone that has their name attached to such a thing should be more socially friendly. Still a shame.

[SoCalDem]

12. The people who funded it before will probably still fund it n/t

[troubleinwinter]

22. You're probably right......

see post #20

[Catchawave]

17. Welcome to the Imus Ranch....

http://www.americanprofile.com/article/4870.html

Nice story :)

[dsc]

18. I feel bad for the kids but just because Imus did some good things

doesn't mean he should get a free pass for any and all things he may do.

[Raine]

19. I think his radiothon (sp?) raised

even more money after the scandal cause of people being pissed off that Sharpton went after him. Hopefully he will be able to keep the charity going, the children shouldn't suffer for this.

[troubleinwinter]

20. Read the ranch organization's 990.

It shows the IRS tax reports by the non-profit. It's interesting. It appears to be quite professionally and well prepared, signed by the professional preparer.

Imus and his wife are not paid.

Of the salaries paid by the org., only three are over $50k a year, highest @ $57,500. Considering that this is an organization running a large working cattle and horse ranch, processing fundraising (roughly averaging $2.5 million in donations per year) and overseeing specialized medical staffs, these salaries seem modest.

The expenses are high, as it it a large working ranch with property, livestock (cattle, horses) and buildings to maintain, but seem reasonable. Cash appears to be properly invested to collect interest.

The organization appears to serve about 90 children per year at a cost of roughly $27,000 per child for one week, each.

There is appx. $6.7 million additional cash on hand (aside from the value of property, buildings, equipment, livestock, etc.).

The ranch could likely function for three years without any additional donations. The forms indicate that there are a number of donors contributing in excess of $200,000 per year. One can expect there are $10k, $50K, $100k donors as well. These are the sorts of donors that an organization goes back to and solicit, not relying on a TV show.

All in all, I don't worry much about the ranch project's survival, financially.

Millions of dollars, $27,000 per child for a one-week working vacation, 90 kids a year, seems high to me, but I cannot make a judgment, not having a child who would or could benefit from it.

To read the 990, go to Guidestar.com, type Imus in the search window.

[mrbill]

25. The Imus "Ranch" is more of the real deal than Rancho de Chimpy

But not by much.

A few fun facts from the Imus Ranch Statement of Financial Position from 28 Feb 2001, courtesy of the "The Smoking Gun" Lots and lots of pages but one caught my eye.

The Buildings on the Imus Ranch are valued at $8,635,614 and the furniture and fixtures are in at $964,833. For comparison the buildings at Rancho de Chimpy are on the tax rolls for $900,000 or so.

The livestock at the Imus "Ranch" is assessed at a value of $68,357. That's not many cattle and horses for a 4000-acre spread even at 2001 prices. Back then a good cow might have been worth in the range of $800-$1000. That's no more than 70 or so cattle or 57 acres per head. But when you consider that horses are also considered livestock and are going to need 10 or 12 horses for the kids to ride.

The food and vet bill for the Imus Ranch livestock that year was $120,000 or somewhere around $1700 per head.

Coming from a four generation Texas ranch background, this doesn't meet my stands for a "working ranch". Smells more like a showplace ranch with a few horses, cows and kids for props. Beats the heck out a few hay bales and broken down barn in Crawford.

[medeak]

32. "working cattle ranch" my ass... you are correct

as vegetarians the Imus' don't take the cattle to market. The cattle live to die an old death and pets.

[medeak]

28. 16,000 sq ft ranch house in Architectural Digest

lay out a few years ago...had a hard time looking at photos and thinking it a "non profit"

[americanstranger]

29. And people here were up in arms about Edwards' house.

If the non-profit was paying for the ranch buildings, then Mr. and Mrs. I-Man were living there gratis, right?

Sweet deal.

- as

[americanstranger]

30. $27K a week, per kid?

Sounds pretty high to me.

- as

[sendero]

24. "Some" people claim..

... that the whole thing is a scam. Here's how it works, you want an expensive ranch but it takes a lot of upkeep. Must have staff their 365 days a year. So, you make it a "charity" ranch and you put the whole shooting match under a non-profit - you come and go and live there like it's your own, but you write off EVERYTHING.

I don't know if it's true or not, that is what Stern says. He also says that kids get short visits and there are not many of them.

I don't know, I'm NOT claiming this is the case, but I will say it has the smell of being more or less true.