What percent of Saint Jude hospital donations are for administration
Executive summary
St. Jude’s own materials state that five cents of every donated dollar — 5% — goes to administration costs [1]. St. Jude also reports that over the last seven years 82 cents of every donated dollar went to research, treatment and operations, with the remaining 18 cents covering fundraising and administration together [2]. These are the principal figures the organization publishes for donor-facing allocation [1] [2].
1. What St. Jude publicly says: “Five cents of every dollar”
St. Jude’s donation FAQ explicitly states “Five cents of every dollar supports administration costs,” a direct, headline figure on the hospital’s website [1]. That statement is the clearest, single-number response the organization gives donors when asked what portion of giving goes to overhead and administrative expense [1].
2. Alternative presentation: the 82/18 breakdown
On its charity-ratings page St. Jude frames donor impact differently: “Eighty-two cents of every dollar donated … has gone toward funding research, treatment and our operations. The remaining 18 cents support fundraising efforts … and administration costs” [2]. That phrasing groups administration with fundraising, so it does not isolate administration alone and implies administration is some portion of that 18% [2].
3. Reconciling the two messages
Both numbers appear in St. Jude’s public materials: 5% for administration (explicit) and 18% for fundraising plus administration (composite) [1] [2]. Taken together, the organization communicates that a small, specific share is administration while a larger combined share covers fundraising plus overhead; specific allocation between those two inside the 18% is not detailed in the cited snippet [2]. Available sources do not mention a line-by-line split of the 18% into fundraising versus administration beyond the 5% administration claim [2] [1].
4. Financial statements and audit filings: more granular detail exists but not in the provided snippets
St. Jude publishes audited combined financial statements [3] and a financials page that points to annual reports and GAAP-compliant audits [4] [3]. These filings typically break out functional expenses — program services, management/administration, and fundraising — but the specific line-item breakdown is not quoted in the current search snippets. Therefore, available sources do not mention the exact administration-dollar amount or percentage from the audited statements in these excerpts [3] [4].
5. Context: what “administration” and “fundraising” usually include
St. Jude’s FAQ and reporting language tie administration to general operating activities and refer to fundraising activities such as the St. Jude Walk/Run [1] [2]. The Commercial Appeal reporting about NIH rules also describes “administration” or indirect costs as including items such as accounting, personnel and the director’s office when discussing facilities and administration related to NIH grants — but that article addresses NIH indirect-cost rules, not donor-restricted charitable donations [5]. Use caution comparing grant accounting (NIH indirect costs) to donor-based nonprofit functional expense reporting; the sources here show both topics but do not equate them [5] [1].
6. Competing interpretations and potential for confusion
St. Jude’s 5% claim is a direct answer to donors; the 82/18 framing gives a broader view that bundles fundraising and administration. Donors focused on overhead ratios can point to either figure depending on whether they want a single-line administration percentage (5%) or the total non-program share (18%) that includes fundraising [1] [2]. Journalists and watchdogs sometimes prefer audited financial statements for precise functional splits; those statements exist for St. Jude but are not fully quoted in the current excerpts [3].
7. What you can do to verify beyond these summaries
For an exact, audited percentage of administrative expense: consult St. Jude’s full audited combined financial statements and the ALSAC/St. Jude combined financial statement PDF referenced on the hospital site [3]. Charity accountability reports (Give.org) and HHS grant trackers can provide complementary views of fundraising efficiency and government-grant indirect-costs respectively, but the precise audit lines are the definitive source [6] [7].
Limitations and transparency: this report relies solely on the provided search snippets. The snippets include St. Jude’s donor-facing claims (5%; 82/18) and links to audited statements, but do not quote a detailed, audited line-item percentage beyond those public summaries, so the granular audited split within the 18% is not found in current reporting [1] [2] [3].