MAGIC PILL, MAGICAL ACCOUNTING

摘要

Upwards of 100 million deworming pills are distributed annually by U.S.-based nonprof-its to help Third World residents fight intestinal parasites that consume food in their stomachs, causing hunger and starvation. These chewable generic pills-mainly mebendazole and al-bendazole-are highly effective, especially for kids; just two pills a year and the worms stay gone. It's a terrific, feel-good health-improvement story for any nonprofit to tell. But for years these medicines and some questionable accounting have been just as effective in enabling perhaps a dozen nonprofits on the annual FORBES list of the 200 largest U.S. charities to inflate their stated contributions and financial efficiencies. The pills can be bought on world markets in Europe, China and India for 2 cents each. But they have been valued on some nonprofits' financial statements as noncash gift-in-kind (GIK) donations worth as much as $16.25 per pill-81,000% above that world market price.