History
Food for the Poor is an interdenominational, Christian charity whose core undertaking is to provide food, medicine, and shelter among other services to poor people living in the Caribbean as well as Latin America regions. Food for the Poor is among one of the largest international relief non-profit organizations in the United States. The company was started in the early months of 1982 by Ferdinand Mahfood with the purpose of strictly aiding the poor who were living in Latin America as well as the Caribbean (Dear 1). Soon after, clergy members drawn from many Christian churches and denominations joined the movement and still remain core members of the organization to date, who voluntarily preach throughout the United States about the need to serve the poor in the country.
Achievements
Since its inception, Food for The Poor has over the years been successful in distributing over $11 billion worth of medicine, food, water and other housing materials to the poor people of Latin America and the Caribbean. The company kept growing and in 2007, decided to migrate its headquarters from Deerfield Beach to Coconut Creek. It boasts of employing more than 300 people in America (Dear 2).
Tasks and responsibilities
Food for the Poor is as of today operating in 17 countries In America with the sole intention of assisting the poorest of the poor. To do this, they engage with church leaders such as pastors and missionary leaders so as to bring immediate relief and aid to those who need it the most. So far, the company feeds over two million people each and every week (Dear). The company feeds million of people something that they have to take pride of as it is an astounding achievement on its own merit. They do not only feed people but do so much more for the poor people in the Caribbean and Latin America. They dig boreholes and wells that provides drinking water to the poor people, build homes for those who needs it more, and provide modern medical care to the sick and the elderly. Their good work does not even stop here as they also proceed to offer very skilled training and job opportunities platforms which then offer work opportunities to those poor people as well as giving their children basic need of education.
Since the organization’s inception, the companies stakeholders estimates that as of today more than 52,000 massive containers have been distributed to the poor people of the Caribbean and Latin America while at the same time building over 62000 housing facilities to the homeless. They also estimate that they have complete more than 1,000 water projects ("Family Behind Flourishing Coconut Creek Charity Survives Past Sca"). This is as impressive as it can be as last year alone, Food for The Poor build 6371 new housing facilities while at the same time, shipped over 3324 containers of relief food. Yearly, the company raises over $100 million in cash that goes towards providing food and $1.3 billion that goes towards goods and services that are delivered to the poor people in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Awards
Food for the Poor means absolute business as it is so organized that 96% of all its donations are channeled directly towards the program that are tasked with helping the poor. This means that the remaining 4& goes towards taking care of their administrative costs. Their commitment and organization saw them being given a rating of 98% in fundraising efficiency as well as being given a 98% also on their charitable commitments by a recent survey conducted by Forbes Magazines. The same year also, the organization also went ahead to receive two of the highest possible awards from two of the leading organizations that are tasked with the responsibilities of evaluating charities organizations that are operating on American soil. They received a five-stars rating from the Ministry watch and a four-star rating from Charity Navigator organization. The company is as of now ranked the fifth largest organization in as far as charitable work is concerned and third-largest international relief organization in the United States of America.
Reasons for the Organization’s success and its Accountability and Transparency Performance Metrics
But what has been the secret behind the organization’s accountability and transparency performance metrics? The company has an independent governing body. This strategy ensures that it allows for full deliberation and diversification in decision making that are independent of the government. Any charity that has less than 5 independent voting members or at the same time if the members are do not in any way constituting to a voting majority, 15 points are always deducted from the company’s charity accountability transparency core ("Life Cycle Of A Public Charity"). This does not apply to the company as it has an independent governing body that has a voting majority. In order for a charitable company to perform highly, it has to ensure that there is no material diversion of assets. If there is a case of diversion, then the company has to describe what happened with the purpose of proving that the diversion was important and was made as a corrective action. But so far for the last two years, Food for the Poor has not been involved in any assets diversion whatsoever.
It is also a requirement that a charitable organization audit financial statements be done by an independent accountant who will be free from bias and should also have an oversight personnel from an audit committee. The company since its inception, has always ensured that the organization’s audited financial were always prepared by an independent accountant with an independent oversight committee being present.
Charitable organizations are also at no point required to give or receive loans and grants as this is not a recommended practice in as far as the field is concerned as it has a way of diverting the charity’s fund away from its main objective not to mention that the practice can lead to a lot of unwanted problems. Loans should also at no particular time be given to board members or officers. This will go a long way in proving that the organizations not secure financially. Food for the Poor, since its inception, has never given or received loans from any party.
Charity organizations are also mandated to document all their board meetings minutes, if this is not done then 4 points are automatically deducted from its Accountability and Transparency score. They are not required to make the documents be available to the public but just to ensure that each and every board meeting has a documented minutes proceedings. The organization has lived up to this requirements and always ensure that they document all of their board meeting minutes.
A charitable company is also required to provide a copy of form 990 to the Organization’s governing body in advance of filling. This is so as the body is given ample time to do a thorough review of the individuals charged with overseeing the operation of charitable organization. If the form is not provided in advance then 4 points are subsequently deducted from its Accountability and Transparency score. The company is always in time to hand over the form 990 in advance to the organization’s governing body for filling, something they do year in year out.
A charitable organization being as delicate as it is supposed to have whistleblower policy that clearly outlines procedures that are in place for handling employees complaints as well as confidential stipulated ways that employees can use so as to report any financial mismanagement if there is any. If a charity organization does not have a whistleblower policy, then 4 points will be deducted from its Accountability and Transparency score. Food for the Poor has one of the straightforward as well as strong whistleblower policy in the country.
Charitable organizations are also mandated to have a records retention and destruction policy that clearly establishes guidelines that are set in place for handling, archiving, backing up as well as the end destruction of documents. The idea behind this policy is foster good record keeping procedures in the organization that at the end of the day serves to promote data integrity. 4 points is always deducted for all charitable organizations that do not have records retention and destruction policy. Ever since this policy was made a mandatory policy for all charitable organizations in the Unites States, Food for the Poor ensured that it has a well stipulated records retention and destruction policy.
Many donors always wish to know how much a charity organization CEO is compensated for his/her services. This trend was effectively made a requirement where charitable organizations were required to list the names of their CEO together with the amount of money that they are compensated ("Charity Navigator - Rating For Food For The Poor"). If this is not the case, the board has no otherwise but to deduct 4 points from its Accountability and Transparency score. This act also goes hand in hand with a charitable organization listing all its board members on their official websites. This is mandatory as publishing such information allows stakeholders as well as the donors to ascertain the make-up of the given charity’s governing bodies. If any of the stakeholders has any issue with the any member of the board, then he/she will know the right to follow. Food for the Poor has made it a culture so far to lists all its members on their official websites and the list is available for the public to view.
Lastly, all charitable organizations are required to have a donor privacy policy. This is always the case as donors have a tendency of showing extreme concerns about how their personal information are handled and used by the organization.. Donors always love to be assured of their privacy (Cowton 3). Food for the Poor has a well-written giver privacy policy that is effectively available on its official website which says that it will at no point share or vend a donor’s private data with outside parties or send the donor’s mailing on behalf of any organizations. The company will only proceed to give out the donor personal data if the contributor has explicitly given the foundation precise consent to do so ("Food For The Poor | Feeding The Hungry | Charity Organization").
The great work done by the organization is commendable considering how it began as a small family project back in 1982. They have now proceeded to not only touch lives but to save many lives at the same time. The work they do is commendable, and there is surely more to come from the organization in the future.
Works Cited
"Charity Navigator - Rating For Food For The Poor". Charity Navigator. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
Cowton, Christopher J. "The Development Of Legal Disclosure Requirements: The Case Of Charitable Donations". Accounting and Business Research 20.77 (1989): 25-30. Web.
Dear, John. "Don't Forget 'Food For The Poor' | National Catholic Reporter". Ncronline.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
"Family Behind Flourishing Coconut Creek Charity Survives Past Sca". Palmbeachpost.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
"Food For The Poor | Feeding The Hungry | Charity Organization". Foodforthepoor.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
"Life Cycle Of A Public Charity". Irs.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
