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American Morning
Contradictions Facing Salvation Army After it was left $1.5 Billion Donation
Aired January 22, 2004 - 08:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is one of the largest donations ever to a single charity. The estate of the late philanthropist Joan Kroc, the widow of the McDonald's magnate, gave the Salvation Army $1.5 billion. It will be used to build community centers around the country.
Joining us this morning from Washington to talk about the good fortune, Todd Bassett is the national commander of the Salvation Army.
Nice to see you, Mr. Bassett, Commissioner Bassett.
Thank you for being with us.
W. TODD BASSETT, NATIONAL COMMANDER, THE SALVATION ARMY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what the problem was, because you got this big award, $1.5 billion. You didn't accept it right away. In fact, you said whoa, let's think about this.
Why the hold off?
BASSETT: Well, it's not that we saw it as a problem. What we saw it was is a challenge and we needed to look at what the expectations were of a very specific gift, which would restrict the kind of program that was to be carried out as a result of the gift itself.
And so therefore we felt it only a responsible way in which to address our present program and our present service delivery and whether or not this would impinge in any way on the fulfillment of what our ongoing mission is.
O'BRIEN: The challenge, of course, is that it's come with -- this big gift has come with some serious strings attached.
Explain to me what the strings are. What are the restrictions?
BASSETT: Well, it is restricted specifically, 50 percent of the money, for the construction of Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers. And 50 percent is to be placed in an endowment to be used to pay for the support and the operating of the facilities. However, that 50 percent endowment really will only cover 40 to 50 percent of the actual operating costs. Therefore, we are going to have to increase our fundraising efforts in order to not eliminate or diminish the programs we now conduct, but also adequately fund these new community centers.
O'BRIEN: And we're talking about tens of millions of dollars, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars is what you're going to have to fund for these new centers that would be built. You have kind of a double problem now, to some degree, or maybe problem is the wrong word. But many people who would donate money would say well, I don't want to send it to the Salvation Army. They just got a billion five. And that's sort of a big problem in order to make up that shortfall in the money to take care of those centers, right?
How are you going to overcome that?
BASSETT: Well, we are looking at that and we've already discussed it, because we realize that there's going to have to be a public awareness campaign so that people fully understand what this all means. However, in keeping with the spirit of what Joan Kroc expected, her desire and ours is that there will be a community alliance so that we will broaden the community involvement in addressing the very needs that the Salvation Army will be attempting to address in providing the activities and programs through these centers.
O'BRIEN: As we started by saying, this is the biggest single donation to a single charity.
Do you have a sense this morning of a pinch me, wow, I can't believe that Joan Kroc picked us?
BASSETT: Well, we knew she liked us and she studied us very carefully before she made the first donation in San Diego. But since then, we never in our wildest imagination would have believed that she would have left this extensive a gift. And so we feel very honored and humbled by that kind of trust.
O'BRIEN: Todd Bassett is the national commander of the Salvation Army, joining us this morning.
Thank you, sir.
Nice to see you.
BASSETT: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
$1.5 Billion Donation>
Aired January 22, 2004 - 08:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is one of the largest donations ever to a single charity. The estate of the late philanthropist Joan Kroc, the widow of the McDonald's magnate, gave the Salvation Army $1.5 billion. It will be used to build community centers around the country.
Joining us this morning from Washington to talk about the good fortune, Todd Bassett is the national commander of the Salvation Army.
Nice to see you, Mr. Bassett, Commissioner Bassett.
Thank you for being with us.
W. TODD BASSETT, NATIONAL COMMANDER, THE SALVATION ARMY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what the problem was, because you got this big award, $1.5 billion. You didn't accept it right away. In fact, you said whoa, let's think about this.
Why the hold off?
BASSETT: Well, it's not that we saw it as a problem. What we saw it was is a challenge and we needed to look at what the expectations were of a very specific gift, which would restrict the kind of program that was to be carried out as a result of the gift itself.
And so therefore we felt it only a responsible way in which to address our present program and our present service delivery and whether or not this would impinge in any way on the fulfillment of what our ongoing mission is.
O'BRIEN: The challenge, of course, is that it's come with -- this big gift has come with some serious strings attached.
Explain to me what the strings are. What are the restrictions?
BASSETT: Well, it is restricted specifically, 50 percent of the money, for the construction of Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers. And 50 percent is to be placed in an endowment to be used to pay for the support and the operating of the facilities. However, that 50 percent endowment really will only cover 40 to 50 percent of the actual operating costs. Therefore, we are going to have to increase our fundraising efforts in order to not eliminate or diminish the programs we now conduct, but also adequately fund these new community centers.
O'BRIEN: And we're talking about tens of millions of dollars, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars is what you're going to have to fund for these new centers that would be built. You have kind of a double problem now, to some degree, or maybe problem is the wrong word. But many people who would donate money would say well, I don't want to send it to the Salvation Army. They just got a billion five. And that's sort of a big problem in order to make up that shortfall in the money to take care of those centers, right?
How are you going to overcome that?
BASSETT: Well, we are looking at that and we've already discussed it, because we realize that there's going to have to be a public awareness campaign so that people fully understand what this all means. However, in keeping with the spirit of what Joan Kroc expected, her desire and ours is that there will be a community alliance so that we will broaden the community involvement in addressing the very needs that the Salvation Army will be attempting to address in providing the activities and programs through these centers.
O'BRIEN: As we started by saying, this is the biggest single donation to a single charity.
Do you have a sense this morning of a pinch me, wow, I can't believe that Joan Kroc picked us?
BASSETT: Well, we knew she liked us and she studied us very carefully before she made the first donation in San Diego. But since then, we never in our wildest imagination would have believed that she would have left this extensive a gift. And so we feel very honored and humbled by that kind of trust.
O'BRIEN: Todd Bassett is the national commander of the Salvation Army, joining us this morning.
Thank you, sir.
Nice to see you.
BASSETT: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
$1.5 Billion Donation>
