March 22, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Mike Burns, a nonprofit consultant, believes the Salvation Army’s decision to invest heavily in real estate makes good fiscal sense.
The organization owns about $4-billion in real estate nationwide — comprising one-third of its total assets. Its non-commercial properties provide housing to Salvation Army officers, who are paid modest annual salaries of around $12,000.
“Nonprofits need donations but they also need creativity,” writes Mr. Burns, on his Nonprofit Board Crisis blog. “They must be competitive and get the most out of these donations. And, like the Salvation Army, they must constantly emphasize their outcomes — that’s what it’s all about.”
Mr. Burns says that donors want to believe that the quarter, dollar, or $5 they drop in the kettle makes it possible for the Salvation Army to do the work it does, but in reality the challenges the organization is responding to are far more expensive and require creative approaches to pay for them.
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