The NRA financials
Over at Jeff’s weekly check on the gun bias, he mentions the NRA’s financial situation as quoted from the NYT:
The N.R.A. contends that its deficit is a fiction manufactured by accounting standards. “Trying to do an analysis of the organization based on its accounting-created balance sheet is a futile attempt because it is driven by assets that aren’t there, namely the quality of its members, and liabilities that aren’t really there either,” said Wilson H. Phillips Jr., the N.R.A. treasurer.
Jeff asks:
I am not an accountant (but I play one on TV) and I don’t know if this is real.
It could be real. The NRA could be receiving funds now and recording liabilities for it. Of course, we’d never know because the NRA doesn’t give out its financial information. I went to the Better Business Bureau non-profit site and found that:
Despite written BBB Wise Giving Alliance requests in the past year, this organization (the NRA) has not provided current information about its finances, programs, and governance.
What do they have to hide? Heck, the Brady Campaign gives its financial information. If you request a copy of the NRA’s tax return, they are required to give it to you.
I would do an in depth analysis of their financials but they’re not available. The deficit is cumulative results of operations and not year end results. But they did lose $20.4M in 2000. The NRA is not in the money making business and most non-profits only care about cash flow (i.e., can the cash coming in pay for the cash going out) and not profit. At the surface, I’m not too concerned about the NRA’s financial viability. They are likely still financially sound.
If anyone gets a copy of their financials or finds one, let me know.
