Why Should Motorcyclists Support the MDA?
6 June 2009
William J. "Bill" Davidson
Vice President of Core Customer Marketing
Harley-Davidson Motor Company
3700 W. Juneau Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53208-2865
414-342-4680 Tel
414-535-3894 Fax
Dear Bill,
According to this 2009 MDA Harley-Davidson Ride Calendar...
http://www.mdarides.org/rides/09ride_calendar.xmlhttp://www.mdarides.org/rides/09ride_calendar.xml
...this year we can once again expect you and the Harley-Davidson
Motor Company, through your network of hundreds of North American dealers
and H.O.G. Chapters, to convince thousands of motorcyclists to contribute
countless hours and millions of hard-earned dollars to the Muscular
Dystrophy Association. And my question for you is this:
WHY SHOULD MOTORCYCLISTS SUPPORT THE MDA?
According to Charity Navigator, the nation's largest and
most-utilized evaluator of charities, the MDA has a two-star rating with an
overall point score of only 46.00:
http://tinyurl.com/donotsupportmda
That two-star rating means the MDA "needs improvement" because their
program "meets or nearly meets industry standards, but underperforms most
charities in its Cause". And that means that as the philanthropic Pied
Piper of Chrome Pipes, you and the Motor Company have many more deserving
non-biker charities to lure your loyal customers to than the MDA. This, in
turn, leads to my next question:
WHY SHOULD MOTORCYCLISTS SUPPORT *ANY* NON-BIKER CHARITY?
Should not we (meaning you and the Motor Company, along with me and
the rest of your [hard]core customers) first take care of our own?
Especially those riders injured, and the survivors of those riders killed,
by failure-to-yield and other right-of-way violations resulting from the
discretionary distractions of care-less cagers who go unpunished for their
crimes?
http://tinyurl.com/fty-rowvs
With any motorcycle event, group or gathering comes a long line of
"needy and deserving" charities begging for biker bucks. And thanks to H-D,
none suckle better at the chrome-and-leather teat than MDA. But where do
most of those proceeds go? I'll tell you: What the charity pirates don't
waste or plunder usually gets passed on as medical payments, which in turn
fund healthcare and insurance lobbies, and ultimately finance our political
opponents in Washington DC and every statehouse from Augusta to Honolulu!
But as I've said before, bikers are not breasts, and we do not have
to feed the mouths that bite us. We also do not have to look outside of our
own tribe to find potential beneficiaries who are "needy and deserving".
According to NHTSA, in 2007 alone 103,000 motorcyclists were injured and
5,154 were killed in traffic accidents. From just one 12-month period,
that's more than 108,000 biker households who suffered loss of income, limb
or life while incurring catastrophic medical bills, burial costs and other
expenses to boot. So I ask you, Bill:
WHO IS MORE DESERVING OF BIKER CHARITY THAN OUR OWN?
Speaking strictly for myself and no other individuals or
organizations,
Bruce Arnold
Bruce@LdrLongDistanceRider.com
Author and Publisher, LdrLongDistanceRider.com
Co-Moderator, Bruce-n-RC's Biker Forum
Mile Eater Gold Member, Iron Butt Association (IBA)
Sustaining Member, Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF)
2009 Chairman's Circle, American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)
Actually this is a questioin all Bikers need to be asking themselves as we have posted before.
Check out the following re MDA:
| Overall Rating |  | ||
| (46.00) | |||
| Organizational Efficiency | |||
| Program Expenses | 77.3% | ||
| Administrative Expenses | 7.3% | ||
| Fundraising Expenses | 15.2% | ||
| Fundraising Efficiency | $0.15 | ||
| Efficiency Rating |  | ||
| (30.23) | |||
| Organizational Capacity | |||
| Primary Revenue Growth | 1.5% | ||
| Program Expenses Growth | 3.0% | ||
| Working Capital Ratio (years) | 0.89 | ||
| Capacity Rating | | ||
| (15.76) |
Income Statement (FYE 03/2007)
| Revenue | |
| Primary Revenue | $183,532,791 |
| Other Revenue | $4,461,438 |
| Total Revenue | $187,994,229 |
| Expenses | |
| Program Expenses | $146,363,358 |
| Administrative Expenses | $13,977,589 |
| Fundraising Expenses | $28,766,475 |
| Total Functional Expenses | $189,107,422 |
| Payments to Affiliates | $0 |
| Excess (or Deficit) for the year | $-1,113,193 |
| Net Assets | $167,029,901 |
Expenses Breakdown
| Program | |
| $146,363,358.00 |
Revenue/Expenses Trend
How many other charities do we ride for that are as big a rip-off?????? How m any children of dead bikers go hungry while we contribute to the fat cat charities???????Add to Technorati Favorites
Wow, How inhumane. My husband and daughter both Have MD. All money fundraised locally stays locally. I am active with the MDA as my daughter is a local Ambassador and these statistics are completely false. I advise that anyone reading this Rush Limbaugh right wing mumbo jumbo snope this. If a motorcycle rider is injured and has insurance they can settle for a large sum and be classified as "disabled". People born with Muscular diseases dont have the choice and are not immediately covered unless they are low income. I suggest to take a good look at being kind, considerate and accomodating and try to make this world a better place for all. Stop being shallow. Have empathy. Children are dying.-Jennifer Flanagan-MD wife and mother o
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