We are committed to be good stewards of what you share with us. Around 90% of the money we receive is spent to provide goods and services for the people of Haiti. Some of that is spent directly, like the cost of a school teacher’s salary. Some of that is spent indirectly, like the cost of storing or shipping donations of medical supplies to our clinic. The remainder is spent to administer our operations and to tell you about the good work you’ve entrusted us to do.
Income: Most of our income comes from individual donors or churches. A handful of partner non-profits and private granting organizations provide about a quarter of our funds for specific projects.
Giving towards designated projects and purposes always goes where we tell you it will – we’re legally obligated to do that. We maintain the right to set up to 10% of a designated gift aside for the general costs that allow the project to continue (e.g. a donation for a construction project will also require us to keep our vehicles in working order that we use to transport construction supplies). However, in practice, we often pass 100% of funds on to the designated purpose. The revenue we receive in a year is typically designated as shown.
Expenses: One of our operating principles is that we spend as much of our funds as possible in Haiti (rather than buying goods and services from non-Haitians and merely distributing them in Haiti). We have around 200 full time Haitian employees that receive all or part of their salary from your donations. While they are providing services like medical and pastoral care to their fellow Haitians, their employment is also a direct way that we are improving Haiti. Although it varies from year to year, most commonly, GVCM spends nearly all of the donations we receive in a year.
Strategy: GVCM’s total annual budget is typically around $1,000,000. When you think about it, it is incredible that we are able to sustain 70 churches with 10,000+ attendees, 24 schools with 7,000 children, medical programs that treat around 20,000 patients, and an orphanage with 130+ children all on this budget. Part of the reason is that Haitians contribute for some of the services they receive (typically about half of the cost). Our medical clinic, schools, and churches all collect fees or donations locally to allow us to reach more people and to empower Haitians to be a part of their own solution. The other reason for our frugality is that we employ only four Americans, three of whom are on a part-time salary. Our highest paid employee is our Haitian-American executive director, and his compensation is about 20% lower than the national average for non-profit executive directors.
Tax Return: This form 990 is our most recent tax return that provides you with all of the information we furnish to the Internal Revenue Service.
Recognition: We are also proud to have a gold seal for transparency awarded to us by Guidestar. More details about our financials are available through their site. We’re also a top reviewed charity on GreatNonProfits.org.
“We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry ” 2 Corinthians 6:3