wfn.org | Lutheran Services in America is Recognized, Listed or Not

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 25, 2003

Lutheran Services in America is Recognized, Listed or Not
03-220-FI/DJ*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- For the past three years, Lutheran
Services in America (LSA) has topped The NonProfit Times' list of
the United States' 100 largest nonprofit organizations.  When the
publication released the "NPT 100" this Nov.1, LSA was not
ranked.  However, the Oct. 30 issue of The Chronicle of
Philanthropy put LSA as 6th on its annual list of the top 400
nonprofit organizations.
     "The reason is not that the LSA system of social ministry
organizations has declined in size; in fact, available data
indicates that it has grown, with reported revenues of $8.2
billion -- up from $7.6 billion last year," LSA said a Nov. 5
news release.
     "However, in setting parameters for nonprofits that are
included in its Top 100 list The Nonprofit Times considers only
those organizations which receive 10 percent or more of their
revenues from gifts and in-kind support," the release said.
     Based in Baltimore, LSA is an alliance of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
and their more than 280 social ministry organizations.	The
independent health and human service organizations serve more
than three million people in 3,000 communities across the United
States and the Caribbean each year.
     The Chronicle ranks nonprofit organizations according to the
support each receives from the public in gifts and in-kind
contributions.	The members of the LSA system "continue to
receive strong support, with gifts totaling more than $723
million, even in a year in which charitable giving declined for
the first time in over a decade," the LSA release said.  However,
that $723 million is less than 10 percent of LSA's total reported
income of $8.2 billion for 2002.
     The National Council of YMCAs topped this year's NPT 100,
reporting more than $4.27 billion in income for 2002.  The
American Red Cross was second with about $4.09 billion, followed
by Catholic Charities USA, $2.62 billion, Salvation Army, $2.16
billion, and Goodwill Industries International, $2.06 billion.
     An article by Matthew Sinclair in the November 2002 issue of
The NonProfit Times cited Jill Schumann, LSA's president and CEO,
who credited the organization's jump to the top of the NPT 100 in
1999 to a larger number of Lutheran hospitals reporting in 1999
than in 1998.
     Sinclair's article that accompanied this year's NPT 100
explained that "the larger elements of the Lutheran Services
system are hospitals that do not receive a large percentage of
'public support' revenue.  Instead, the third party payments
through insurance drove up program service revenues and altered
the proportion so much that Lutheran Services can not claim it
has 10 percent in public support for its system."
     "It is important to note that The Nonprofit Times does not
intend this 10-percent figure to be a measure of an
organization's efficiency of operation or quality of service.
Lutheran Services in America's diverse system of health and human
service organizations continues to grow, even in challenging
economic times," the LSA release said.
     In August that publication issued its "2003 NPT Power and
Influence Top 50," a list of those its panel considered the most
significant "movers and shakers" in "the nonprofit world."  That
list included LSA's president.	It noted LSA's revenue figures
and said, "Schumann has a major say in how social services are
delivered and what legislators think about them."
-- -- --
The home page for Lutheran Services in America is at
http://www.lutheranservices.org/ on the Web.  The NonProfit Times
is at http://www.nptimes.com/ on the Internet.

Past articles of The Chronicle of Philanthropy are available
at http://philanthropy.com/ for subscribers to that publication.

*Doug Johnson is director for leadership and communication
programs, Lutheran Services in America, Baltimore.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news