I don`t agree that we need as much for support for something like ADD which is not life threatening as we do for PA which is life threatening. It`s great if one has lots of money to contribute to many different charities. However, my resources are limited and I prefer to spend them on support for illnesses which are life threatening. FAAN and PA.com both have many accomplishments to their credit, although both have helped us in different ways.

carefulmom - obviously ADD does not affect your life or you would not make such a callous statement about it. I would prefer not to go into an essay length rebuttal (although I could quite easily), but I will say this.
An EpiPen "literally" saves the life of my PA daughter. Ritalin "figuratively" saves the life of my ADD son, by helping him control his impulsive behaviour (looking both ways before he crosses the street). Studies show 1/4 of jail inmates have previously undiagnosed ADD - impulsivity is their downfall - and this same disorder leads to teenage drug use (self-medicating) and suicide attempts.
I consider my son's ADD equally as life-threatening as my daughter's PA, and it is obvious that organizations like the ADDO must survive in order to educate people like you.
Carolyn

Whether or not salaries of $125,000 each for Anne Furlong and her husband are reasonable is open to much debate. What struck me about the figures quoted here was that expenses are almost double the amount of donations, and salaries and "related expenses" are almost half of the expenses. I admit I am speaking without further research, but that doesn't sound like optimal use of donation money. There are charities that strive to use 20% or less of donations on expenses. It sounds like FAAN is falling far from that mark. And optimal use of donations is certainly an important consideration for me in deciding where my charitable dollars go.

Salaries are a big budget item in most organizations. "Staff salaries" can easily munch up half a budget. People cost money. I worked for a non-for-profit who researched this somewhat to make sure we were in line with budget items.
I am not for or against FAAN. I haven't researched the organization enough to know whether they are doing anything wrong or not.
I am against people hurling unresearched accusations at people out of emotion. I mean, why would you say they do not show PA.com as a link because it offers free information? What do you base that on?
I am all for accountability & debate on oragnizations. But, you really need to have facts & understand the facts before you make accusations. If you disagree with some positions FAAN takes on PA, that doesn't mean you have to dis the whole organization out of anger. Or drag people's name through the mud without researching your points.

I have to pipe up on the brain/body disorder thing. I have a dear friend of over 30 years who right now is in a serious, serious depression. This IS life threatening. We know enough now to know that brain disorders ARE physically based. If you don't think brain disorders can be life threatening, think of the Andrea Yates trial which is currently front and center in the national news.
I know this was a digression from the original thread, but just had to add my $.02.
Amy

Yes, ADD does affect my life or I would not be in a position to compare it to PA. I would rather have ten children with ADD than one with PA. For me nothing compares to having to worry daily about someone eating peanut butter and touching my daughter without washing their hands which for her could be fatal. I don`t live with that daily fear with ADD.
As far as depression, I didn`t comment on it. What I said was I would rather spend my limited resources on illnesses which are life-threatening than those which are not. Going Nuts, I never made a generalization about all brain disorders. What I said was specifically about ADD. Aside from Andrea Yates, all one has to do is look at suicide statistics to see that depression can be fatal, and in fact I have contributed to that cause both financially and by volunteering my time.
[This message has been edited by Carefulmom (edited January 07, 2002).]

carefulmom - you are certainly entitled to your opinion that your child's PA is more serious an issue than my son's ADD. I believe if I post another rebuttal it will turn into an unfortunate contest over who has the biggest burden to bear, so I won't. You can certainly hold the opinion we can pull the plug on "my" groups, like ADD, because they aren't as important as "your" groups, like FAAN. Your money is your money - give it to whomever you like. Whatever.
But have you considered the irony of your post? The one where you discount "my" problem, while knowing nothing about what I deal with? Your ADD situation is not my ADD situation - my PA is not your PA, understand? Other people underestimate the seriousness of PA every day, and our collective wish is that if only people could walk in our shoes for a day, they would "get it". How can we expect compassion, or at least understanding, if we won't give it? Don't negate my experiences.
Carolyn
[This message has been edited by Cayley's Mom (edited January 07, 2002).]

Cayley`s mom: Well, you certainly read a lot into my post that wasn`t there! What I said was I don`t agree that we need AS MUCH support for something like ADD which is not life threatening as we do for PA which is. I certainly didn`t mention anything about "pulling the plug" on ADD groups nor did I negate your experiences; in fact, I didn`t even comment on them! I simply said that with my extremely limited resources I prefer to donate for causes which are life threatening than those which aren`t. If I had more money, it would be a different story.

Rue-
Perhaps you could write or email FAAN & ask them to explain their budget centers & ask them to address the questions you have. Who knows the CEOs in question just might answer you. Good luck [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]