What we spent

Program home | kham aid home | Wheelchairs Delivered (Nov, 2000) | Wheelchairs on the way (Oct, 2000)
Status report (July, 2000) | Distribution in Danba (Nov, 2000)
Wheelchair Program in its Second Year (Sept, 2001)

WHEELCHAIRS TO TIBET: what we spent

Dear Friends of the Kham Aid Foundation,

It's not often that you see an NGO exposing its internal accounting to public scrutiny. I'm doing this because I'm proud of the way we get a lot of bang for each donor buck, I want you to feel confident that your donations are being spent wisely. So I've picked the ledger for one program to show you as an example of where our money goes. I chose the wheelchair program because it's more compact than some of our other programs whose ledgers run to many pages. Otherwise, it's pretty typical of the way we do things at Kham Aid Foundation.

In case you don't know, the wheelchair program in 2000 fielded one team, who distributed chairs to disabled people in Chengdu and three counties of Kham from Oct 27 to Nov 8. Here is what my ledger for this trip reads:

				US$
DATE	ITEM	CURRENCY	AMOUNT	EQUIV.
October, 00	travel expenses during advance planning mission	usd	12.27	12.27
09-Oct-00	phone call to Hong Kong	rmb	35.00	4.29
20-Oct-00	meal during advance planning mission	rmb	30.50	3.74
25-Oct-00	photocopy wheelchair distribution maps and Xiangcheng list	rmb	2.6	0.32
25-Oct-00	photocopy WC distribution lists	rmb	8	0.98
25-Oct-00	print out the request to FAO for foreign experts for WC distribution	rmb	2	0.25
27-Oct-00	a bus ticket from Kangding to Chengdu for Wheelchair	rmb	105	12.88
27-Oct-00	taxi to Kangding bus station for Chengdu wheelchair trip	rmb	5	0.61
28-Oct-00	breakfast	rmb	15.00	1.84
28-Oct-00	lunch	rmb	50.00	6.14
28-Oct-00	bags to be sewn into covers for foam pads	rmb	25.00	3.07
28-Oct-00	foam pads for 200 chairs	rmb	1000.00	122.71
28-Oct-00	dinner	rmb	45.00	5.52
28-Oct-00	recharge the cell phone SIM card in Chengdu	rmb	100	12.27
29-Oct-00	lunch	rmb	65.00	7.98
29-Oct-00	dinner	rmb	24.00	2.94
29-Oct-00	hotel for Wu and the two truck drivers in Chengdu	rmb	60	7.36
29-Oct-00	toll for the wheelchair-carrying truck to pass the Express-way	rmb	18	2.21
29-Oct-00	brunch with the two truck drivers for carrying the wheelchairs	rmb	30	3.68
30-Oct-00	pay the truck to deliver the wheelchairs to Danba from Chengdu	rmb	1800	220.86
30-Oct-00	phone call to Foreign Affairs Office from Danba	rmb	3.6	0.44
01-Nov-00	hotel for the wheelchairs distribution team in Danba, 3 nights, 3 rooms	rmb	555	68.10
02-Nov-00	visit the Tagong Monastery for the wheelchairs Danba team	rmb	30	3.68
03-Nov-00	Gasoline, from Dawu to Kangding (car provided free)	rmb	300.00	36.81
04-Nov-00	padding for wheelchairs	rmb	30.00	3.68
04-Nov-00	buy some gauze for the wheelchairs distribution in Guza	rmb	9	1.10
04-Nov-00	buy some foam for the wheelchairs distribution in Guza	rmb	200	24.54
05-Nov-00	lunch	rmb	69.00	8.47
05-Nov-00	Tickets to Mogetso Lake Park (day off)	rmb	176.00	21.60
05-Nov-00	laundry	rmb	30.00	3.68
05-Nov-00	truck to carry wheelchairs from Kangding to Dawu	rmb	800.00	98.16
05-Nov-00	taxi to carry team members from Kangding to Dawu	rmb	600.00	73.62
05-Nov-00	hotel in Kangding, three rooms, five nights	rmb	2800.00	343.58
05-Nov-00	international phone calls	rmb	15.00	1.84
05-Nov-00	car, 9 days @700 per day	rmb	6300.00	773.05
05-Nov-00	Kangding field office director wages, two months	rmb	2000.00	245.40
05-Nov-00	photocopy the materials from Danba	rmb	1.8	0.22
05-Nov-00	phone calls from Danba	rmb	18	2.21
05-Nov-00	taxi and bus transportation in Chengdu	rmb	90	11.04
06-Nov-00	tip to driver Mr. Xie after nine days of travel	rmb	100.00	12.27
06-Nov-00	buy a mark pen for the wheelchairs distribution in Chengdu	rmb	2.5	0.31
08-Nov-00	P. Logan bus fare from Chengdu airport, after seeing off team members	rmb	8.00	0.98
10-Nov-00	photofinishing	hkd	275.59	35.65


	total itemized expenses			2190.09

	administrative overhead (10%)			219.01

	TOTAL EXPENSES			2409.10

PROGRAM	INCOME

	Joe M.	USD		1000.00
	Michelle D.	USD		55
	Ann C.	USD		500
	Ruby L.	USD		50
	Pamela J S.	USD		55
	Betsy W.	USD		150
	Ralph and Joan G.	USD		25
	Wheels for Humanity	USD		600

	TOTAL DONATIONS	USD		2435.00

As you can see, we had a very close match between income and expense! We're not always this close but we do try to live within our means. In addition to these cash donations, we had wonderful support from our American and Chinese partners, without whom this project could not possibly have been done so cheaply. Their contributions were

Wheelchairs for the World donated 240 new wheelchairs, and shipped them from Taiwan to Chengdu
Wheels for Humanity in addition to $600 cash toward field expenses, they also paid the airfare for two team members and some miscellaneous meals
Dana Isherwood and Judy McCalla field team volunteers who paid her own airfare. Judy brought two huge boxes of donated toys for the kids.
David Altman found or bought a lot of supplies such as crutches, safety belts, Velcro, spare parts. He was also the key medical professional on the team, and his time was provided to the project free.
Sichuan Holy Love Foundation provided accommodation, some meals, and airport transportation in Chengdu. Paid some of the customs administrative fees, and shipping of the chairs in four trucks from the customs house to their school, which was project headquarters
Sichuan Federation of Disabled Persons bought nearly all of our meals in Kangding, Dawu, and Danba, arranged for publicity, processed the customs paperwork (and a major headache it was, too!), paid our hotel in Dawu.
Ganzi Civil Affairs Bureau hosted two dinners in Kangding, provided car to transport the Dawu team back to Kangding
Ganzi Prefecture Governor Achi Pengcuo hosted one dinner in Kangding
Melinda Liu hosted one dinner in Dawu

Thanks to everyone who helped, this has been a great program; we're going to do it bigger and even better next year.

Wishing you a happy New Year!

Pamela Logan