"NRA Reportedly $10.8 Million in Debt, Cutting Spending"

[exbrit49]

Is there a public expense report available? What exactly are they spending the donation money on?

The latest financial report available is 2017. I could not find a 2018 which should have been made public by May 2019. In looking at the 2017 report it follows accounting procedures but administrative costs are shown as a percentage only, at just over 3%, There is no real breakdown of officers expenses etc. Its well buried. Here's the location for the report, its a PDF file so its fast to download!

 

[Gary W. Strange]

I do believe the NRA needs new leadership. I have been a life member for over 30 years. I have not always agreed with what the top brass was doing but if we didn't have the NRA our second amendment rights would be gone or at the least restricted greatly. To me it is about what the organization does to protect the second amendment, not what the top brass is doing. It is the members and what they stand for, that Hitchcock is turning away from. The NRA is not perfect but they have protected our second amendment. There is nothing more the Democrat\socialist would love more than to see the NRA collapse and go away. No matter what the NRA top brass is doing, NRA members should and need to stand together now more than ever. If the Democrat\socialist ever get a president and super majority in both houses, like they had in Obama's first two years in office, our second amendment rights will be in grave danger. The mission is to save the second amendment, not what the leadership is doing. That will work it's self out. NRA members need to stand strong and together.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

The mission is to save the second amendment, not what the leadership is doing.

So, if the leadership wastes 99% of your hard earned money, that's okay with you? If they mismanage your money so badly that they become ineffective in defending the 2A, that's okay with you? Let me posit my query another way: What will it take for you to with hold your support and your dollars? At what point will you no longer be able to stomach their policies? Or will you just continue to write a blank check and excuse every bad action and bad actor?

Or let me frame this yet another way: How many gun owners must NRA throw under the bus before you withhold your support? They abandoned bumpstock owners this year. Who is next? Will you wait until after they sign off on, and support, a restriction or ban on guns you own? You know it's going to happen, and you know your turn is coming.

That will work it's self out.

Doubt it.

NRA members need to stand strong and together.

By leaving in droves, all at once, and joining 2AF and GOA.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

NRA: To keep dough-balling that bunch is putting the weasels in charge of the chickens. If you were running a business would you allow a known sneak thief run your cash register?

Addendum: This scandal is strictly an internal matter. There needs to be an audit and investigation to find out what actually happened. By all appearances at this point, we may be looking at a serious opening of a can or worms. I continue to ask how much influence does the NRA have with shrinking membership, scandal and debt?

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Well, ILA head Chris Cox and his #1 Scott Christman seem to be the latest casualties of the infighting at NRA. Wonder if they should pool their resources with Allen West, and really bring this to a head?

 

[Gary W. Strange]

So, if the leadership wastes 99% of your hard earned money, that's okay with you? If they mismanage your money so badly that they become ineffective in defending the 2A, that's okay with you? Let me posit my query another way: What will it take for you to with hold your support and your dollars? At what point will you no longer be able to stomach their policies? Or will you just continue to write a blank check and excuse every bad action and bad actor?

Or let me frame this yet another way: How many gun owners must NRA throw under the bus before you withhold your support? They abandoned bumpstock owners this year. Who is next? Will you wait until after they sign off on, and support, a restriction or ban on guns you own? You know it's going to happen, and you know your turn is coming.



Doubt it.



By leaving in droves, all at once, and joining 2AF and GOA.

Let me ask you, what other group has done and is doing as much to protect the second amendment? Anything the liberal media prints about the NRA, is blown way out of proportion. And no I am not saying what the top brass is doing. If you notice, my first sentence stated the NRA needs new leadership. What i am saying is NRA members need to stand together to protect the second amendment. It is not the top brass at the NRA that makes it a strong organization. It's the millions of members standing together for the cause of protecting the second amendment. If it was just the top brass it would be nothing. The members is what makes it strong. I am just saying all NRA members should stand together until this is straightened out. We just need to ride the storm out. So no it is not the the top brass Hitchcock is turning his back on. It is the second amendment and millions of NRA members, like myself, that is going to ride this storm out and defend our rights and freedoms. NRA members are not the problem. The Democrat\socialist are using this to try to weaken the NRA. If they do they will have free rain with what ever they want to do to the second amendment. Once it's gone, it won't be coming back. That is what I am looking at because we will have another Democrat President and this one will be more radical than Obama ever thought about being and if they ever get a super majority, lookout.

 

[Wisco]

We should all stand together and demand lapierre resign. Then we should demand the NRA rules are changed to prevent another lapierre from happening.

The anti-Dem, anti-socialist rhetoric is tired, although I get it - I usually don’t let a day pass in my life where I don’t mercilessly mock a conservative or ten.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

he Democrat\socialist are using this to try to weaken the NRA. If they do they will have free rain with what ever they want to do to the second amendment.

Now it's the democratic/socialist are using this to weaken the NRA. This business gets into partisan politics fast. Look at the NRA TV and content of the magazine. Like it or not the NRA has set itself up to be road kill. I have serious money in firearms and reloading gear etc. I want some protection. This is not going to come from possible criminals. How much of this protecting our individual rights comes from self-promotion from the insiders who are in question as we speak. Send them some more money. No doubt, they will handle this new money with transparency and accountability as they have in the past.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Let me ask you, what other group has done and is doing as much to protect the second amendment?

You're trying to rest on NRA's laurels. What have they done lately? Endorsed a bumpstock ban. As I understand it, they even had a hand in writing GCA 68. Meanwhile, GOA fought the bumpstock ban in court, 2AF fought the ammogeddon in CA as well I-1649 in WA. I hate like heck to sound like "The Yankee Marshall" on youtube, because he a pompous, liberal jerk, but in this instance, he is right.

I am just standing by to be thrown under the bus by the NRA. I am just waiting for the next eco-Nazi law that outlaws lead projectiles and the NRA says, "OK with us, just don't take our assault rifles." Or when are they going to embrace and condone UBC? NRA has proven they have no concern for, nor loyalty to, gun owners. Why should I owe them any loyalty in return?

Side note: I never have owned, never have used, never had any desire to own

 

[alsaqr]

The Democrat\socialist are using this to try to weaken the NRA. If they do they will have free rain with what ever they want to do to the second amendment. Once it's gone, it won't be coming back. That is what I am looking at because we will have another Democrat President and this one will be more radical than Obama ever thought about being and if they ever get a super majority, lookout.

Yep, another political rant.

The current leadership of the NRA has done more to damage its image and reputation than all the anti-gunners. Lapierre made the NRA a wholly owned subsidiary of the RNC.

In 2017 La Pierre hauled down $1,366, 688. Chris Cox made $1,099,762 in 2017.

For executive salaries, see page 33 beginning with line 83.

https://www.thetrace.org/2018/11/nra-josh-powell-housing-allowance/

After La Pierre resigns and NRA executives take a significant cut in salary i may resume my monetary contributions.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

We should all stand together and demand lapierre resign. Then we should demand the NRA rules are changed to prevent another lapierre from happening.

I think that has pretty much already been established, and it's not happening. The only thing left to do is to starve the beast of funds until it crumbles under its own weight and then start over.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Many members of the BOD are celebrities and business owners who are not involved in running the NRA. By and large the BOD are enablers for La Pierre and his lackeys. BOD member Allen West is an exception:

"West said he informed LaPierre's office prior to the group's annual meeting in April that he believed LaPierre should resign and that he informed the board of his concerns at the meeting.

"Prior to the NRAAM in Indianapolis I sent an email to Wayne LaPierre's managing director, Millie Hallow, expressing my sentiment that Wayne LaPierre resign immediately," he said. "I also drafted a memo entitled ‘Resolution of Concerns.' Both of these statements are known to the NRA board."

"I do not support Wayne LaPierre continuing as the EVP/CEO of the NRA. The vote in Indianapolis was by acclamation, not roll call vote. There is a cabal of cronyism operating within the NRA and that exists within the Board of Directors. It must cease, and I do not care if I draw their angst. My duty and responsibility is to the Members of the National Rifle Association, and my oath, since July 31, 1982, has been to the Constitution of the United States, not to any political party, person, or cabal.""

https://freebeacon.com/issues/allen...f-leaked-nra-memos-nra-leadership-fires-back/

Many NRA members never read anything critical of the NRA. They blow it off as "fake news". Carolyn Meadows, the current NRA president, serves as La Pierre's propaganda minister.

Allen West is a good guy.

 

[old lady new shooter]

The latest financial report available is 2017. I could not find a 2018 which should have been made public by May 2019. In looking at the 2017 report it follows accounting procedures but administrative costs are shown as a percentage only, at just over 3%, There is no real breakdown of officers expenses etc. Its well buried. Here's the location for the report, its a PDF file so its fast to download!

Link?

 

[Mowgli Terry]

This is all about money and influence.I really wish it were possible to follow what is behind the scenes on these connections. Has to do with money. Who is pulling the strings on Ackerman McQueen? This is why the audit and investigation is needed. You want to stand behind something? Stand behind the tradition of what the NRA was all about before the new regime took over many years ago.

"For decades, some NRA employees have complained that Ackerman McQueen consumes too much of the group’s budget. The firm strongly influences much of the NRA’s incendiary messaging, and produces various programs that appear on NRATV." The Trace

Is this piece from the Left wing Commie pinko Socialist, Liberal propaganda machine? No truth to it! Right?

 

[Wisco]

I think that has pretty much already been established, and it's not happening. The only thing left to do is to starve the beast of funds until it crumbles under its own weight and then start over.

I’m just going to keep repeating it every time someone else suggests just going along just because. In the meantime I’ve been starving them for years - over a variety of stances they take.

 

[VonFatman]

G.O.A. life member --- i sent them more money last week. more will follow.

nra i'm also a life member....but quit sending them $$ years ago.

i have quit supporting organizations that compromise on the second amendment.

 

[tipoc]

I'm reporting a useful article here that goes into some of the baseline weaknesses of the NRA's finances.

https://theconversation.com/the-nras-financial-weakness-explained-108582

Essentially the problem comes down to spending more than you take in on a large scale, over years. It's true that taken together (meaning no one of these "small items" alone would add up to much, together they do) the clothing for WLP, expensive dinners and banquets for lawmakers, etc. are an issue the problem is larger than that and institutional.

Compare the NRA to some other large non-profits in the U.S., the ACLU and the AARP...

"The ACLU – although its budget is only a third of the NRA’s – had unrestricted net assets worth $140.2 million when 2017 came to a close, according to its tax form. And the AARP – whose annual budget is nearly five times that of the NRA – finished with a balance over $1.3 billion.

The NRA’s circumstances stand out by comparison not just with its peers but with all nonprofits. IRS data, including for fledgling startups, indicate fewer than 7 percent of American nonprofits ended 2017 with a negative balance."

Over a number of years the NRA has been spending more than it takes in. Only recently, the last year or so, has it begun making cost cutting measures.

One area the article sights is in how much the NRA spends for contractors. It relies on telemarketers a lot.

"The NRA has become so fixated on bringing in new members that its Infocision contracts permit the company to keep 100 percent of credit card payments collected from new and lapsed members. As a result, increasing its membership may no longer boost the NRA’s bottom line, at least not right away since some of their new members’ initial dues will not make it to their coffers." That 100 percent is in addition to regular contractual payments for services rendered.

The NRA spends a great deal on mailings to it's members asking for donations, offering insurance, contests, etc. It also offers "free" gifts. I literally receive once a month, some mass mailing from the NRA and one or more of it's affiliates. This adds up.

Borrowing cash from it's affiliated organizations. The NRA began borrowing cash from it's non profit affiliates to cover it's spending.

"Charity spending rules preclude the affiliated charities from just giving money to the NRA to shore up its funds. But, if the NRA runs out of options for cash, it can borrow from its affiliated foundation. This is precisely what the gun group did in 2017, suggesting that outside cash options were running thin and future options for getting cash may be even thinner."

If you read the article you can see the crisis growing over a number of years.

This is a crisis of vision, leadership and political strategy it's not a crisis of money. The rest flows from that.

 

[Tommygunn]

So, if the leadership wastes 99% of your hard earned money, that's okay with you? If they mismanage your money so badly that they become ineffective in defending the 2A, that's okay with you? Let me posit my query another way: What will it take for you to with hold your support and your dollars? At what point will you no longer be able to stomach their policies? Or will you just continue to write a blank check and excuse every bad action and bad actor?

Or let me frame this yet another way: How many gun owners must NRA throw under the bus before you withhold your support? They abandoned bumpstock owners this year. Who is next? Will you wait until after they sign off on, and support, a restriction or ban on guns you own? You know it's going to happen, and you know your turn is coming.



Doubt it.



By leaving in droves, all at once, and joining 2AF and GOA.

This is why I belong to several progun, pro 2A organizations (G. O. A. is one) at the same time. 'Every port in a storm.' ~~paraphrasing an old quote.

 

[old lady new shooter]

The NRA spends a great deal on mailings to it's members asking for donations, offering insurance, contests, etc. It also offers "free" gifts.

Yes, it's very wasteful, although I hardly receive anything now. Don't know if this is due to their financial straits or to my repeated requests to confine their communications with me to email. Big fat full color envelopes with full color contents. The items they give away as membership bonuses can't be costing too much, but they make these "gun giveaways" where the grand prize is 20 or more expensive firearms and sometimes a vehicle as well.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Just another reason why I'm no longer a member. I followed George H.W. Bush out back in the 90s and stayed away until the Parkland, FL shooting. Bought a 1 yr membership and didn't renew it when they signed off on the bump stock ban. I'm a member of 2AF and GOA.

As far as NRA being the biggest etc etc etc. If enough members leave NRA and join 2AF, 2AF will be the biggest etc etc etc. Power abhors a vacuum. If NRA goes down, another will rise to take its place. Others are already waiting in the wings.

Things don't get done by people waiting around nipping at the heels of the DOERS. If those "waiting in the wings" COULD do any thing then they WOULD be doing things. We called that the peanut gallery when I was growing up.

 

[VonFatman]

imagine how much stronger we'd be today had the nra leadership focused these lost dollars on the fight?

 

[Jack Ryan]

So, if the leadership wastes 99% of your hard earned money, that's okay with you? If they mismanage your money so badly that they become ineffective in defending the 2A, that's okay with you? Let me posit my query another way: What will it take for you to with hold your support and your dollars? At what point will you no longer be able to stomach their policies? Or will you just continue to write a blank check and excuse every bad action and bad actor?

Or let me frame this yet another way: How many gun owners must NRA throw under the bus before you withhold your support? They abandoned bumpstock owners this year. Who is next? Will you wait until after they sign off on, and support, a restriction or ban on guns you own? You know it's going to happen, and you know your turn is coming.



Doubt it.



By leaving in droves, all at once, and joining 2AF and GOA.

You cry about the NRA "abandoning" bumpstock owners so you ABANDON every other gun owner and the gun organization who has done more for gun owners and American citizens than any other for 100 years before you even born, not to mention all they have done while you "wait in the wings" hoping for their down fall so you will have the chance to step in the hero. Phhht, I doubt it.

 

[GEM]

If all folks have to offer us socialist/ liberal as an insult , you are at childish level and offer little. Just as calling some a fascist is usually stupid, so is this level of discourse.

 

[Jeb Stuart]

So is Liberal a bad word? Something to get banned and emailed, and threatened. If the word Liberal is forbidden then just say so. And Please post on what you prefer to be called and we will oblige. I do not get it. Most of that party refer to themselves as liberals. I guess it is one of those things, they can say and others cannot. And excuse me, I understand you can ban whom you choose at your discretion, but please learn a little about Different Political platforms. Call me a socialist, no problem. Isolationist, Communist etc. Do not worry, I will not send you a email. I might debate you, but I will not threaten you. And I would not be surprised if just writing this gets me banned. I am getting sick of being Politically correct anyway.
I am a Right Winger. and feel free to call me that. I promise to not have a snowflake meltdown.

And by the way, my Private club makes it mandatory to be a member of the NRA. And I like that. Another reason to get banned i assume.

 

[Insignificant bill]

According to Charles Cotten, the truth will come out when the NY Lawsuit is settled. I'm not holding my breath. Once corruption becomes endemic, it is near impossible to overcome it.