Salvation Army’s $1.5-Billion Gift Causes New Challenges

As the Salvation Army opens new recreation and social-services centers with the help of a $1.5-billion gift, the nonprofit organization is struggling to stay true to its mission, The New York Times reports.

The organization received $1.5-billion in the will of Joan Kroc, an heir to the McDonald’s fortune, in 2003. Ms. Kroc said she wanted the money to be used for such centers.

While the new Kroc centers continue to provide traditional Salvation Army services like collecting and distributing food to the needy, providing referrals to social-services programs, and offering child-rearing classes, the centers are becoming popular in the neighborhoods they serve because they also offer visitors swimming pools, indoor ice skating and skateboarding, sports fields, and theaters.

Officials at the charity now worry that the centers will give donors the impression that it is a wealthy organization that runs high-end recreation centers, rather than a thrifty church group devoted to helping needy people.

Running the centers is also forcing the organization to find new sources of revenue.

The money Ms. Kroc earmarked for the centers covers only about half of what they cost to operate, so the charity now must find ways to raise close to $70-million a year for the centers.

Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy ’s coverage of Ms. Kroc’s bequest. (A paid subscription is required to read The Chronicle’s article.)