Many of the large non-profits like the cancer society have become such bloated bureaucracies that they no longer fulfill the mission they were created for. Now, they pay huge salaries to MANY executives, and they spend tons of money to RAISE money via donations. They spend money of ads to "raise awareness." Well who needs to be MORE aware that cancer is bad? The Alzheimer's Society is the same -- big salaries, lots of money spent on "Walk to Raise Awareness" and such things, but they don't sponsor all that much research.

Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's Disease Foundation is different -- THEY are funding basic research, because Michael J. Fox has the disease and is desperate to find a cure.

People give money to things like the cancer and heart disease societies, not realizing that most of their money is wasted. These "charities" have become businesses whose real mission is to pay salaries to the executives.

When the polio vaccine wiped out polio in this country, suddenly the March of Dimes found that they had been so successful in their anti-polio mission that they were no longer needed. Instead of dissolving themselves, they refocused their mission on other childhood crippling diseases. That's nice, but it would be nicer if the money went to research instead of tearjerker ads featuring kids on crutches.