Where Does $100 to the Alzheimer’s Association Go (2023)?

The Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association is commonly referred to as the Alzheimer’s Association. A tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) 3 whose goal is to eliminate Alzheimers Disease through research but also offer support, information/public awareness, and education on the disease, the Alzheimer’s Association raised $412 million in 2022 (compared to $502 million in 2022, $405 million in 2021, $403 million in 2020 and $390 million in 2019), primarily from contributions, gifts, and grants ($408 million including $28 million from the government).  The 20% decline in revenue from 2022-2023 was due to two reasons:  lower contributions and lower investment income.

Expenses totaled $460 million – 111% of revenue  (including $3 million in depreciation)  and can be categorized as follows:

• $220 million (53% of revenue):  Compensation
• $ 86 million (21% of revenue):  Grants
• $ 63 million (15% of revenue):  Office-related Expenses
• $ 39 million (9% of revenue):  Fees for Services (primarily other with no detail provided)
• $ 25 million (6% of revenue):  Travel and Conferences
• $ 24 million (6% of revenue):  Advertising and Promotion
• $  3  million (1% of revenue):  Other Expenses

The largest expense for the Alzheimer’s Association is compensation for the 2,360 employees (90 more than in 2022) who received $220 million, which equates to an average compensation of $93,000.  406 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the most highly compensated employee reported to be Harry Johns, the ex President and CEO who received $1,481,516 in compensation (although he left the organization in Nov, 2021).

Grants totaled $86 million (compared to $85 million in 2022, $66 million in 2021, $52 million in 2020 and $53 million in 2019) and were primarily made to domestic medical schools, foundations, research institutes, and medical centers. The 10 largest domestic grants (all for program support) were awarded to:

• $9.9 million:  Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, of Chicago, IL
• $8.2  million:  Wake Forest University Health Sercices, of Winston-Salem, NC
• $3.8  million:  University of Southern California, of LA, CA
• $7.1  million:  Washington University, of St Louis, MO
• $2.3  million:  The Regents at the University of California, of San Francisco, CA
• $2.3  million:  Massachusetts General Hospital, of Boston, MA
• $2.2 million:  Indian University, of Indianapolis, IN
• $2.2 million:  Broad Institute, of Cambridge, MA
• $1.6 million:  Brigham and Women’s Hospital, of Boston, MA
• $1.2  million:  American College of Radiology, of Reston, VA

It is important to note is that only 21% of revenue was awarded in grants (compared to 17% in 2022). Given that research holds the answer to eliminating or treating Alzheimers Disease, it is surprising that more revenue is not allocated to research.

Office-related expenses is the third largest expense ($63 million or 15% of revenue) for the organization with general office expenses and occupancy the primary office expenses.  And, finally, $39 million was spent on fees for outside vendors (primarily “other” with no detail provided), $25 million on travel and conferences and $24 million (or 6% of revenue) was spent on advertising and promotion.

Using the above information, every $100 in revenue received by the Alzheimer’s Association was spent as follows:

$100:  Revenue

-$ 53:  Compensation

-$ 15:  Office-related Expenses

-$  6:  Advertising and Promotion

-$  9:  Fees for Services

-$  6:  Travel and Conferences

-$  1:  Other Expenses

-$ 90: Subtotal Expenses (Comp, Office, Travel, Conferences, Advertising, Fees, and Other)

  $ 10:  Revenue Remaining

-$ 21: Grants

-$ 11:  Excess Expenses over Revenue

As illustrated above, most revenue goes towards compensation, office-related expenses, travel and conferences, advertising and promotion, and fees for services. $21 out of $100 was spent on grants.

At year-end, the Alzheimer’s Association had $292 million in net assets (compared to $320 million at the beginning of the year) because the organization spent $48 million more than they raised which was partially offset by $19 million in unrealized gains on investments,

To read the IRS Form 990 (2020 for the year ending June 30, 2023), click here.