What percentage of donations to St. Jude goes directly to patient care and treatment?
Executive summary
St. Jude/ALSAC reports that 82 cents of every dollar received goes to support treatment, research and the hospital’s future needs — a figure St. Jude repeats across its FAQ and financial pages [1][2]. Investigative reporting and independent analyses raise a competing picture: ProPublica’s review of filings found roughly 30% of contributions paid for fundraising and about 20% was added to reserves, leaving about half of revenue for patient care and research in the period it examined [3].
1. What St. Jude officially says: “82 cents of every dollar”
St. Jude’s public materials and financial FAQ state that “82 cents of every dollar received” goes to support patient treatment, research and future needs, a claim reiterated on the organization’s financials and donation FAQ pages [1][2]. Those pages frame the 82% as covering treatment, research and the hospital’s strategic plans and invite readers to consult the annual report and combined financial statements for details [2][1].
2. How independent reporting interprets the money flow
ProPublica’s investigation of St. Jude and its fundraising arm ALSAC analyzed IRS filings and concluded a different allocation in recent years: roughly 30% of contributions covered fundraising costs and about 20% of donations were shifted into reserves, leaving roughly half of total revenue for research and patient care—much lower than the 82% figure cited by St. Jude [3]. ProPublica reported that ALSAC and St. Jude are separate entities: ALSAC raises funds while St. Jude provides care and research; that separation affects how dollars are recorded and transferred [3].
3. Why the numbers differ: accounting choices and entity structure
Available sources show St. Jude’s 82% figure appears on institutional pages describing how donations support treatment and research [1][2]. ProPublica points to the dual-organization structure (ALSAC and St. Jude) and the organizations’ IRS filings to highlight that fundraising costs, transfers between entities, and allocations to reserves change the effective share of public donations spent on direct patient care in particular years [3]. The sources show a clear disagreement stems from differing definitions — “supporting treatment, research and future needs” versus immediate cash spent on patient care and the portion retained or used for fundraising [1][3].
4. What “goes directly to patient care” means — and what the sources actually measure
St. Jude’s language groups treatment, research and future needs together when calculating the 82% share, so that figure is not limited to immediate bedside expenses but includes research activity and investments for future operations [1][2]. ProPublica’s reporting, based on IRS filings, separates fundraising, reserves and hospital spending and finds a substantial share of annual revenue diverted to fundraising and to bolstering reserves instead of being spent that year on operations and patient services [3].
5. The reserve controversy and the motive question
ProPublica reports St. Jude had multibillion-dollar reserves — $5.2 billion at the time of reporting — and that the organization regularly steered hundreds of millions into reserve accounts while families still faced financial strain, framing this as a tension between prudent saving and immediate use of donations [3]. St. Jude officials cited the need for large reserves because the hospital’s operating model relies on donations [3]. The competing narratives suggest different implicit agendas: St. Jude emphasizes mission and long-term sustainability [1][2]; ProPublica casts scrutiny on whether the scale of reserves and fundraising spending matches donors’ expectations [3].
6. Practical takeaway for donors and journalists
If your question is narrowly “what percentage goes directly to patient care and treatment,” the sources do not provide a single universally accepted number: St. Jude’s public-facing metric is 82% for treatment, research and future needs combined [1][2]; independent analysis of IRS filings highlighted by ProPublica shows about 30% for fundraising and about 20% to reserves in the years examined, implying a lower immediate-share for care and research in practice [3]. Donors seeking clarity should examine St. Jude’s annual report and combined financial statements, and compare those to ALSAC’s filings and third‑party investigations to reconcile definitions and flows [2][3].
Limitations: available sources do not provide a reconciled line‑by‑line accounting that converts St. Jude’s 82% statement into a single “direct patient care” percentage usable for every donor question; specific year‑by‑year breakdowns require reviewing the cited tax filings and annual reports referenced above [2][3].