All donors are to be celebrated for their generosity and at the same time, we expect that all of them, especially those who are forking out thousands of dollars, are keeping track of administrative and implementation costs associated with their favourite charity.
Citizens also have to be aware of the costs associated with the implementation of provincially guided projects funded by our tax dollars.
The general guidelines to follow for charities focuses on the old 10 and 15 rule. If the charity's transparent books show they are spending more than 10 per cent (smaller charities) or 15 per cent (larger) on administration, you might want to seriously reconsider your own largesse when it comes to doling out hard-earned cash.
And if that favourite charity is reluctant to share pertinent financial information with you upon request, dump it.
Don't allow that charity to send you on an electronic wild-goose chase through a maze of records to seek what you want either. If they aren't up front right at the start, they're shady. There can be no grey areas when it comes to your charitable donations.
We have seen many long-standing worthwhile groups that have done great work over the years gradually become top-heavy in administration, giving former volunteer duties to layers of hired hands in upper and middle management offices, complete with their own layers of supporting staff and furnishings. Some expansion of paid work is necessary with growth, but it's just too easy for some to go overboard. We are not picking on any organization or agency in particular with this warning, just issuing a gentle reminder that even a donation to a worthy cause requires due diligence.
And while we speak of due diligence, let us now turn our attention to the second part of our topic, that of our provincially guided projects funded by tax dollars.
This week we received a media release from our own Sun Country Health Region touting the fact that the electronic health records system is slowly gaining traction in the southeast.
That surprised us a bit since we were under the assumption that this project had been completed some time ago because the first steps toward electronic medical records were taken eight years ago. The fact that the first health centres weren't even online until 2010 suggests that a little oversight would have been nice. The release bore no information as to what this roll out of electronic records has cost us so far, but we have seven health sites now on the system and three more soon to be added.
According to Saskatchewan's relatively new eHealth squads, our health administrations have been busily engaged in getting an electronic tracking system implemented since 1997 at a cost of a half-billion dollars, so far. And they're not even close to the finish line and, in reality it seems, have no idea as to where they might find a finish line.
So that worrisome note takes us back to our original caution statement. We must get a grip on where our donation money is going and to whom it is going.
The same holds true for our tax dollars. We have apparently allowed our provincial governments to get away with layering in all kinds of administrative and implementation costs with no accountability or penalty being attached to the process. When we let that happen, well, we end up with a half billion dollar project that has carried us on a slow train to implementation.
The system, including the modest rollout in southeast Saskatchewan is still salvageable. But we need to know by whom, when and at what cost?
