Of note: A typical nurse earns over $65,000 a year. There are 60,000 OFW nurses in America. Similarly: There are regional associations of medical doctors. A typical doctor earns better than $160,000 a year, and there are 20,000 OFW doctors in the USA. There are other possible sources of donor revenues, such as the members of the Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce (FPACC) --- or other "high income" groups can be found as members of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). The existence of FPACC and NaFFAA shows that Filipinos are very socially conscious, and are quick to organize into groups that define their category. The act of organizing into groups entails the rise of leaders, who (at some point) volunteer their time and efforts. However, organizing into groups (and seeking representation) is not synonymous with the propensity of the to donate moneys to a cause (by ordinary group members). And it is because of the (hoped for) likelyhood of Filipinos to both volunter and to donate that KAPAMILYA IN AMERICA will be able to transfer charitably collected funds from America to be disbursed by the Philippine charity KAPAMILYA MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC CHARITY, INC.. The economic and social "basics" are all in place: Filipinos in America are better educated, and have more earnings than the "average American". http://www.ameredia.com/resources/demographics/filipino.html However, relevant (and inter related) questions in forming the American charity are:
One can start with Question #3, the estimated expenses of KAPAMILYA IN AMERICA. Assume that an in-state field employee gets paid same hourly rate as a life insurance sales agent with one year experience. (About $18/hr.) A forty hour work week costs $720. Add 5 hours of allowed overtime work; paid at $27/hr. This becomes $855 paid out a weekly. Include paid holidays or vacations, to arrive at ($855 x 52 weeks in a year) $44,460 to the field employee yearly. Taxes for the business itself, (for having employees) are in the 33% range. The local field employee now becomes a (1.33 x $44,460) = $57,798 expense to the charity. This figure does not yet count employee related office costs: Rent on the building that KAPAMILYA IN AMERICA occupies, or electricity, telephone, and insurance bills, etc.. Further, the donations collected / encouraged by the in-state field employee support the administrate staff: President, Board members, accounting, legal, advertising functions, etc.. In all, for the organization to "break even": the in-state field employee should generate at least five times his approximate costs in donations. So: about $60,000 x 5 = $300,000. How does this $300,000 break even point per in-state field employee compare with donations likely to be obtained by this employee? It seems that the break even point (at least) may be easily passed, due to the following mechanism: 1, Taxes can be paid from/via borrowed funds. (Donations also can be made from/via borrowed funds.) 2, As one observes donations given/sought in the operation of other charities, $1,000 seems to be a large amount, if received. Yet, by law as much as 20% of the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of a wage earner can be donated, if this donor is in the $50,000/year income category. Note: Half of the Filipinos in America earn more than $50,000 yearly!! Via the allowed 20% of the AGI for donations, a minimum of $7,000 could be sought from half of the potential Filipino American donors. 3, So, why did a $1,000 donation seem so large, earlier? Answer: Donations are usually made from "savings on hand". And at the same time, working with "tax deductible donations" is not "second nature" to most. 4, Assume our charity will loan the eligible donor $7,000 (or more), and this amount is handed back to the charity instantly, as a donation. (Momentary cash result to the charity: zero. Cash out and cash received are equal.) However: The donor is issued a receipt for donations made, to be filed with his taxes, eventually. At the same time (to repay pay the loan that enabled the donation), the donor writes a forward dated check; held in escrow untill tax refund time. 5, At tax refund time, since his tax obligation has been reduced due to the donation made: The donor is due an overpayment refund on his taxes withheld (or estimated taxes paid). This covers the forward dated check. The result for the charity: $7,000+ from every such donor. Result to the donor: He has substantially helped the Philippines, at no extra monetary cost to himself. (His tax obligations were redistributed between the charity and the government.) Meanwhile, in California there are numerous Philippine American organizations. Churches abound: Over sixty! Then: Chambers of Commerce (5), nurses associations, association of physicians, teachers and educators, artist and writers, builders, real estate professionals, "community organizations" (many), retired armed forces associations, senior citizens, womens clubs, political groups, City employees (Los Angeles, Oakland), dentists, press club, press photographers, university alumni, US Coast Guard, "young professionals", midsize businesses:(shipping, engineering, newspapers), medical groups, financial corporations, cultural organizations, ham radio operators, history groups, lawyers, accountants, tourism/travel related, tennis/golf, etc. In a 52 week year, an in-state employee should be able to find (through contacting group leaders and members in person, repeatedly), five groups with 20 donor members each: 100 donors x ( the minimum) $7,000 = $700,000. Note: This mimimal expectation does not consider, that 10% of all businesses in California are Asian owned. While, a Filipino business can be a small as a restaurant or as large as a shipping line, 10% of the allowable profits of businesses entering the donation category could easily raise the minimal expectation for an in-state employee to $800,000 yearly. Intra-state employees have high travel costs, and living expense accounts. Assume that their base pay is 1.4 times that of an in-state employee (as a hardship differential): $44,460 x 1.4 = $62,244. Again, taxes on this employee are about 33%, making this intra-state employee a $82,785 cost to the charity. This figure still does not yet count travel cost or per diem expenses. Then, consider (as a guideline): 2008, the federal per diem rate, which is the sum of the federal lodging rate and the federal meals and incidental expenses rate (M&IE), will increase to $256 per day for high-cost areas and increase to $158 per day for all other areas. (Assume 300 days on the road at $256/day.... an other $76,800; travel costs such as airfare, purchase and use of company automobile, fuel, insurance would double this figure to $153,600.) Costing an inter-state employee about $236,400. The only encouraging thing about this high figure is this: Consider the Greater Chicago Philippine American Chamber of Commerce, with 90 members. Half own their business, and the other half are professionals, managers, etc.. If: in forty non consecutive days, from 50 Chamber members an average of a (low) $20,000 tax deductible donations are collected, this is $1 million. (Is this feasible? It is if the organization has weekly meetings.) |
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