Here's Barry's main comment on that THON thread I referred to (upshot - perhaps Ira does not have quite as much control over it as I thought, but it is disturbing that it counts toward their Capital Campaigns):
THON is such a wonderful event, for so many reasons - not the least of which is the incredible dedication and sacrifice displayed by so many PSU students - that one hesitates to discuss anything that may be taken as a "negative"
That said, a large chunk of the $$$$ raised by THON goes towards paying salaries/overhead/expenses etc for Physicians at the HMC. In other words, it offsets PSU HMC expenses.
About 10-15% in any given year goes to direct support of kids and their families. (So that jives with the figures that
Susan Newkirk Lewis shared.....total THON revenues are typically in the $20-25 Million range)
Another 10-15% typically goes directly to Research
"Administrative Expenses" usually take up about another $1,000,000 give or take....
Just about all of the rest is placed into endowments - which are used to underwrite the salaries/expenses etc for HMC physicians
Now, in doing so, does it catalyze significant Ped Cancer related work that otherwise might go "undone"? Quite possibly.
Do I trust the folks in charge (at PSU and HMC....Dambly, Joyner, Erickson et al) to be righteous stewards of those funds? Nope. Not even a little bit. I can't imagine anyone else would either.
Given the current "opaque" , multi-leveled nature of THON finances, is it possible/likely that $$$$ contributed to THON ends up being used as a revenue source for what should be PSU/HMC normal operating expenses? Or even for "other uses"?
One would certainly have a basis for suspicion (at the least).
