This post updates the previous estimate of the volume of donated medicine for the relief & development community of the nonprofit world.
There are a few charities receiving big volumes of medicine donated by the pharmaceutical companies. Those charities then get all those meds distributed to charity clinics and hospitals around the world. That is incredible work which is improving the lives of millions upon millions of poor people around the world.
Following is an estimate of the size of that sector, with subtotal of charities with over $20 million of donated medicine and supplies, under $20 million, and zero reported meds:
| total | Total | Meds & | meds / | count | |
| revenue | GIK | supplies | Tot rev | ||
| > $20M meds | 9,565 | 8,371 | 7,720 | 81% | 20 |
| < $20M meds | 4,386 | 958 | 142 | 3% | 18 |
| subtotal | 13,951 | 9,329 | 7,862 | 56% | 38 |
| zero meds | 1,289 | 49 | – | 0% | 2 |
| total | 15,240 | 9,378 | 7,862 | 52% | 40 |
For context, total donations to the charitable sector were a reported $410 billion in 2017.
Methodology
I pulled together a list of all the charities I could find that have donated meds. I looked up their most recent 990 on their website. For a few of the charities there wasn’t a 990 visible so I pulled the most recent 990 from the California Registry of Charitable Trusts. For one charity the financial statements were used.
Data tabulated below is:
- total revenue from 990 Part I line 12,
- non-cash donations from 990 Part VIII line 1g (referred to as gifts-in-kind or GIK), and
- disclosed amount of drugs and medical supplies on Schedule M line 20.
Amounts are converted to millions, then rounded.
Last column in the table is the dollar amount of drugs & medical supplies divided by total revenue.
Subtotals are drawn for charities with over and under $20 million of donated meds.
Caution on interpreting the numbers
We need to be careful of interpreting the amount of donated drugs and medical supplies for at least three reasons.
First, there are charities I missed. My guess is those not yet listed will be at the lower end of this list, not in range of a hundred million or more.
Second, the total of $7.5B includes donated supplies, such as bandages, sutures, gloves, surgical tools, and all the other consumables you would find in a clinic or operating room. I have no insight about what portion might be medical supplies.
Third, an unknown portion of this is double counted. Under current accounting rules the charity receiving the donated meds can recognize revenue. If that charity is not able to fully distribute the meds to their network of contacts, the charity will pass the meds to another R&D entity who can then send the materials out to their network. Under current rules, the charity who ultimately distributes the meds to the end user can also recognize revenue. If the meds make another stop, the intermediaries are not suppose to book revenue.
The volume of meds legitimately recorded twice is not quantified. Identifying that volume of meds would be quite difficult to determine, if not impossible. I will make a completely wild guess (subject to revision at any time) that the amount counted twice is far less than one-tenth of the total or less.
Faith traditions
A large portion (I’m guessing the vast majority) of the R&D organizations listed below are part of the Christian faith tradition which is one component of the religious community. Most of those are from the Protestant faith community. I am only aware of one charity on the list which is part of the Roman Catholic faith community, but there are likely others.
A large portion of those charities from the Christian community would consider themselves to be part of the evangelical community.
I can identify four charities from the Muslim faith tradition. I don’t know if there are other charities in that faith tradition not on the list which may have large volumes of donated meds.
Data
Charities with over $20 million of donated medicine and supplies:
| Total | Drugs & | Meds / | ||
| Not-for-profit organization | revenue | GIK | supplies | total rev |
| —- | —- | —- | —- | —- |
| Globlal Health Solutions | 2,619 | 2,619 | 2,619 | 100% |
| Task Force for GHS | 86 | – | – | |
| Direct Relief | 1,235 | 1,132 | 1,131 | 92% |
| Americares Foundation | 1,045 | 978 | 973 | 93% |
| Catholic Medical Mission Board | 735 | 704 | 704 | 96% |
| MAP International | 575 | 564 | 563 | 98% |
| Food for the Poor | 942 | 802 | 536 | 57% |
| Citihope | 253 | 252 | 252 | 100% |
| Operation Blessing International | 276 | 246 | 195 | 71% |
| Heart to Heart International | 138 | 126 | 126 | 91% |
| US Fund for UNICEF | 564 | 118 | 116 | 21% |
| United Mission for Relief & Development | 84 | 77 | 77 | 92% |
| Christian Aid Minisitries | 141 | 89 | 72 | 51% |
| Brother’s Brother Foundation | 96 | 92 | 67 | 70% |
| Kingsway chairities | 61 | 60 | 60 | 98% |
| International Children’s Fund | 52 | 50 | 50 | 96% |
| Project Hope | 101 | 44 | 45 | 45% |
| Feed the Children | 370 | 317 | 40 | 11% |
| Islamic Relief | 105 | 41 | 40 | 38% |
| Giving Children Hope-latest f/s on web site | 34 | 33 | 32 | 94% |
| Medical Teams International | 53 | 27 | 22 | 42% |
| — | — | — | ||
| subtotal | 9,565 | 8,371 | 7,720 | 81% |
| count | 20 |
Charities with less than $20 million of donated medicine and supplies:
| Total | Drugs & | Meds / | ||
| Not-for-profit organization | revenue | GIK | supplies | total rev |
| —- | —- | —- | —- | —- |
| Convoy of Hope | 175 | 117 | 20 | 11% |
| Medshare International | 21 | 16 | 15 | 71% |
| Christa Ministries | 124 | 16 | 15 | 12% |
| Aid for starving children | 14 | 13 | 13 | 93% |
| International Aid Inc | 32 | 28 | 12 | 38% |
| Syrian American Medical Society (per F/S) | 52 | 19 | 10 | 19% |
| World Vision | 1,055 | 281 | 10 | 1% |
| Save the Children | 830 | 133 | 9 | 1% |
| World Hope International | 20 | 9 | 9 | 45% |
| Food for the Hungry | 126 | 20 | 9 | 7% |
| Child Fund International | 203 | 12 | 6 | 3% |
| Samaritan’s Purse | 700 | 247 | 6 | 1% |
| International Relief Teams | 39 | 36 | 4 | 10% |
| International Medical Corps | 130 | 5 | 2 | 2% |
| International Rescue committee | 730 | 6 | 2 | 0% |
| Relief International | 43 | – | – | 0% |
| Helen Keller International | 83 | – | – | 0% |
| Zakat Foundation of America | 9 | – | – | 0% |
| —- | —- | —- | —- | |
| subtotal | 4,386 | 958 | 142 | 3% |
| count | 18 | |||
| —- | —- | —- | —- | |
| estimated total of GIK | 13,951 | 9,329 | 7,862 | 56% |
| count | 38 |
Charities with zero reported drugs and supplies on Schedule M:
| Total | Drugs & | Meds / | ||
| Not-for-profit organization | revenue | GIK | supplies | total rev |
| —- | —- | —- | —- | —- |
| CARE USA | 402 | 46 | – | 0% |
| Compassion International | 887 | 3 | 0% | |
| —- | —- | —- | —- | |
| subtotal | 1,289 | 49 | – | 0% |
| count | 2 |
Sources for data
Note: Links were working as of the day they were accumulated. The links may not be working or may have changed by the time readers look for the information.
References for charities with over $20 million of donated medicine and supplies:
| charity | year end | source for data: |
| GHS | 8/31/17 | https://taskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2016_GHS_990.pdf |
| TFGHS | 8/31/17 | https://taskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2016_TFGH_990.pdf |
| DF | 6/30/18 | https://www.directrelief.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/063018-Direct-Relief-Public-Disclosure-Copy.pdf |
| Americares | 6/30/18 | https://www.americares.org/globalassets/publications/financial/990s/2018-americares-foundation-irs-990.pdf |
| CMMB | 9/30/18 | https://cmmb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2018-Form-990-CMMB.pdf |
| MAP | 9/30/18 | https://www.map.org/hubfs/2017%20MAP%20INTL%20Public%20Copy.pdf |
| FFP | 12/31/18 | https://www.foodforthepoor.org/about-us/financial-info/files/2018-990.PDF |
| Citihope | 6/30/17 | https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/b5539a_79fbaa73f5374a7c85b26731d6bd6f3d.pdf |
| OBI | 3/31/18 | https://www.ob.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/OBI-FY18-990.pdf |
| HtoH | 12/31/17 | http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Download.aspx?saveas=384718.pdf&document_id=09027b8f803581cc |
| UNICEFUSA | 6/30/18 | https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/2017%20Form%20990%20USF.pdf |
| UMRF | 12/31/18 | https://umrelief.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/UMR-2018-Form-990-Signed.pdf |
| CAM | 12/31/18 | http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Download.aspx?saveas=CAM+Form+990+2018+.pdf&document_id=09027b8f8039b90a |
| BBF | 12/31/18 | https://brothersbrother.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/990-W_Signature-Redacted-compressed.pdf |
| Kingsway | 12/31/17 | https://www.kingswaycharities.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2017_Form_990_Public.pdf |
| ICF | 12/30/17 | http://www.icfaid.org/user-files/documents/FINAL990.pdf |
| PH | 12/31/17 | https://www.projecthope.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/FY2017-990-Public-Inspection-Copy-1.pdf |
| FTC | 6/30/18 | http://www.feedthechildren.org/assets/documents/fy18-form-990.pdf |
| IR | 12/31/16 | http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Download.aspx?saveas=244279.pdf&document_id=09027b8f8031204b |
| GCH | 6/30/16 | https://www.givingchildrenhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IRS-990-15-16-scanned.pdf |
| MTI | 9/30/18 | https://www.medicalteams.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/FY18-Medical-Teams-Form-990-Public-Signed.pdf |
References for charities with less than $20 million of donated medicine and supplies:
| charity | year end | source for data: |
| COH | 12/31/17 | https://www.convoyofhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2017-COH-Form-990-Public-Disclosure-Copy.pdf |
| Medshare | 6/30/18 | http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Download.aspx?saveas=472904.pdf&document_id=09027b8f80382fed |
| Christa | 6/30/18 | https://worldconcern.org/assets/FY18-CRISTA-990-PD-Signed.pdf |
| ASC | 4/30/18 | http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Download.aspx?saveas=421385.pdf&document_id=09027b8f80365683 |
| IA | 6/30/18 | http://www.internationalaid.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IRS-Form-990-for-Public-Inspection.pdf |
| SAMS | 12/31/17 | https://www.sams-usa.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/SAMSF-2017-12-AUDIT-Final-FS.pdf |
| WV | 9/30/18 | https://www.worldvision.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/WVUS-FY18-Form-990-Public-Copy-Signed.pdf |
| StC | 12/31/18 | https://www.ob.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/OBI-FY18-990.pdf |
| WHI | 12/31/17 | https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/annual-reports-wp/2017/2017-Form-990-PD.pdf |
| FFH | 9/30/18 | https://www.fh.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2017-FHUS-Public-990.pdf |
| CFI | 6/30/18 | https://www.ob.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/OBI-FY18-990.pdf |
| Samaritan | 12/31/18 | https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.samaritanspurse.org/pdfs/2018-Samaritans-Purse-Form-990-PUBLIC-DISCLOSURE.pdf |
| IRT | 6/30/18 | https://drive.google.com/open?id=18iwGNBowqKoUPRDEQ6nXvTezWi36TJ51 |
| IMC | 6/30/18 | https://cdn1.internationalmedicalcorps.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMC-2017-Form-990.pdf |
| IRC | 9/30/18 | https://www.rescue.org/irc-document/irc-fy-2018-form-990 |
| RI | 12/31/17 | https://www.ri.org//content/uploads/2019/08/relief-international-form-990-2017.pdf |
| HKI | 6/30/18 | https://www.hki.org/sites/default/files/attach/2019/04/HKI%20FY18%20FINAL%20FORM%20990_PUBLIC%20DISCLOSURE%20COPY.pdf |
| Zakat | 6/30/18 | https://www.zakat.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2017-990-IL-July-2017-June-2018.pdf |