The Alzheimer's Association: Non-Profit Organization

The Alzheimer’s Association is a non-profit organization, while Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a for-profit organization. Even though the two are different entities and, each has their own business ethics and morals, they are similar in some ways; both have a mission to help people and both have faced challenges since their beginning.
In regards to The Alzheimer’s Association, the organization was formed on April 10, 1980, with Jerome H. Stone as founding president. As of today, the organization has 11 Senior Management employees and 43 individuals on the Board of Directors. The Association’s headquarters is located in Chicago, IL, with chapters in every state. It was granted the status 501c) (3) in April 1996.
The Alzheimer’s Association is a
non-profit organization whose area of interest is “to enhance care and support for all those affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias on a global, national and local level” (ALZ, 2015).
Its mission is “to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health” along with its vision “a world without Alzheimer’s disease” (ALZ, 2015). According to ALZ.org, The Alzheimer’s Association has many activities throughout the year to promote its mission; such as Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's® and National Alzheimer's Disease and Awareness Month (NADAM) and Family Caregivers Month®. The Alzheimer’s Association website is very informative and effective for individuals wanting to know more about the disease and how the organization works. One study has shown that the Association’s website does improve people’s knowledge about the disease. The study also shows that healthcare workers benefit from the website. The results of this study, which had
a total of 552 adult participants, showed, “individuals who spent a brief amount of time visiting the Alzheimer’s Association website had significantly higher AD knowledge compared to those with no exposure to the website. Health care workers had a similar level of AD knowledge in the control condition as non-health care workers but had greater AD knowledge than non-health care workers after exposure to the information website” (Hughes, et al., 2015, pg. 3). The Alzheimer’s Association website is a useful tool and worth a person’s time when facing the challenges of this disease, whether he or she is a caregiver or health care worker. Even though the organization has an informative website, it does face challenges.
The Alzheimer’s Association does face some obstacles. The ten “key challenges that the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services must address: a lack of public awareness, insufficient research funding, difficulties with diagnosis, poor dementia care, and inadequate treatments. Other challenges that need addressing are, specific challenges facing diverse communities, specific challenges facing those with younger-onset Alzheimer’s, unprepared caregivers, ill-equipped communities, and mounting costs” (ALZ, 2015). According to The Alzheimer’s Association website, “here is what the National Alzheimer’s Plan must do: Increase awareness of the impact of Alzheimer’s disease. We must bring Alzheimer’s fully into the open, explain the warning signs, address misplaced anxieties, correct misconceptions and overcome the stigma that too often makes a terrible disease even more of a hardship. Real treatments faster. The ultimate goal is a treatment that can completely prevent or cure Alzheimer’s. With appropriate levels of research funding and an enhanced review process, we can accelerate the discovery and delivery of these desperately needed treatments. Better care now. We must change the quality of care provided to those with Alzheimer’s. Better support today. We must change the fact that we are very poorly equipped to support those with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers in our homes, communities and long-term care facilities. Change for all. African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s and less likely to have a diagnosis. Rural populations have limited access to support services, and immigrant communities face cultural and language barriers. This plan must address disparities in diverse and underserved communities” (ALZ, 2015). In addition to these challenges, non-profit organizations, including The Alzheimer’s Association, may face some ethical issues.
According to the Stanford Social Innovation Review, there are “five ethical issues that continually plague the nonprofit industry, leading to fraud and financial abuse. First, are salaries and perks. When a nonprofit leader earns an exorbitant salary, it raises ethical concerns, especially when the efforts of the nonprofit are underfunded. Perks and large travel budgets granted to nonprofit workers and their unpaid board members often raise concerns about the ethics of such generous compensation when the social needs of the organization suffer as a result. Secondly, is accountability. Nonprofit organizations enjoy a number of tax incentives and have little oversight over how they spend their funds. As a result, the services they are supposed to be providing may not be funded appropriately. The third ethical issue is conflict of interest. When board members use their positions for personal gain or giving preferential treatment or lucrative contracts to major donors, conflicts of interest arise and put the nonprofit in a tenuous position. The fourth and fifth ethical issues faced by some non-profit organizations are fraud and tax evasion. In regards to fraud, nonprofits commonly lack the budget to bring in an outside auditor to review the group’s funds on a regular basis. When the board or in-house accounting department is in charge of auditing the books with no outside assistance, it’s easy to overlook or fraudulently change numbers to support the ongoing negligence or outright theft of public funds. As for tax evasion, non-profit groups consistently use their status to promote illegally political issues, act in ways that are inconsistent with their stated purpose and fail to report unrelated business income in their annual returns (Ray, n.d.). Some non-profit organizations face these five different ethical issues; yet, The Alzheimer’s Association faces a few other ethical issues all on its own.
One ethical issue The Alzheimer’s Association faces is the concern for the autonomy of a person facing this disease.
“The Association asserts that people with dementia should be allowed to exercise their remaining capacities for choice, consistent with their cultural expectations. Denying this free exercise challenges their independence and dignity” (ALZ.org, 2015, para. 6); however, some individuals argue this point. Another ethical issue facing The Alzheimer’s Association is “the need for more empathy by caregivers and the need for more empathy training. It has been found that empathy levels are different between male and female caregivers and, that the higher degree of empathy the caregivers show toward their patients, the less distress their patients have” (Gilson & Moyer,
2000).
The Alzheimer’s Association has not had a major crisis, per se, that threatened the non-profit organization; however, to keep research going towards a cure, the organization needs money. Donations help, but funding from the government is needed. As stated on USAgainstAlzheimer’s website, “USAgainstAlzheimer’s has championed the push for increased funding for Alzheimer’s research, engaging Congress and the Administration aggressively on this issue. Earlier this year, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies included in its Fiscal Year 2015 bill a $100 million increase in funding for the NIA. The 2015 government spending package, known as the ‘cromnibus,’ includes an increase of $25 million for the National Institute on Aging (NIA), with an expectation that much of the funding would support additional research into Alzheimer’s and dementia.” (Schmelzer, n.d., para. 1, 4 & 6). Like The Alzheimer’s Association, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has a mission along with facing difficulties in its quest.