Media Kit: Resource for News Media and the Public

The Salvation Army Fact Sheet: Doing the Most Good

 
The Salvation Army is a 129-year old, faith-based charity that helps people with all kinds of social needs in virtually every community across America.

Last year, nearly 30 million Americans received assistance from the Army's 3,600 officers, 63,000 employees, and 3.4 million volunteers.

We have nearly 7,800 centers of operation in almost every zip code in the country.

We also have a worldwide presence, providing assistance for people in 118 countries and territories around the world.

Our mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
 

The Salvation Army helps people in more ways than any other national charity, from survivors of natural disasters to those affected by substance abuse. With the public's generosity in 2008 in the United States:

224,000 underprivileged children attended The Salvation Army's summer and day camps across the country. 

318,000 individuals received help battling drug and alcohol addiction through Thrift Store donations.

The Salvation Army served 69 million meals to the needy.

We provided 6.8 million cash grants to those in need.

1.6 million people received help during times of disaster.
 

The Salvation Army is a responsible steward of your generosity in your community. 

82 cents of every dollar The Salvation Army spends goes directly to support community service programs - far exceeding the Better Business Bureau's guideline of 65 percent. (Source: Forbes, "America's 200 Largest Charities," 11/19/2008; Better Business Bureau Web Site )

According to a 2007 New York Times article, "The Salvation Army is widely considered exemplary among nonprofits in handling cash collections." (Source: The New York Times, 1/5/07)

The Salvation Army enjoys and appreciates the support of many major corporate donors at the national and local levels. Nationally, major supporters include Wal-Mart Stores, The Dallas Cowboys and Target Corporation- all of which donate time, money and resources to help The Salvation Army to serve people in need year-round.

All donations remain in communities where they originate.

To donate please visit https://secure20.salvationarmy.org, call 1800-SAL-ARMY or contact your local Salvation Army office.
  

Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers
 
In 1998, Mrs. Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, donated $90 million to The Salvation Army to build a comprehensive community center in San Diego, California. Her wish was to create a center, supported in part by the community, where children and families would be exposed to different people, activities and arts that would otherwise be beyond their reach. Completed in 2001, the center sits on 12 acres and offers an ice arena, gymnasium, three pools, rock climbing walls, a performing arts theatre, an internet-based library, computer lab, and a school of visual and performing arts.

When Mrs. Kroc passed away in October 2003, she left $1.5 billion - much of her estate - to The Salvation Army, by far the largest charitable gift ever given to the Army, and the largest single gift given to any charity at one time. The initial disbursements of this bequest began in January 2005. The gift had by then grown to $1.8 billion and was split evenly among the four Army Territories - Central, East, South and West. The money was designated to build a series of state-of-the-art Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers nationwide patterned after the San Diego center.

Currently, The Salvation Army is operating four Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers in addition to the original center in San Diego - Ashland, OH; Atlanta, GA; Coeur d'Alene, ID and San Francisco, CA. By the end of 2009, two additional centers - in Salem, OR and Omaha, NE - are scheduled to open. The Army estimates that 28 centers total will be built during the next several years ranging in size, services, location, and cost:

Opened in 2002

San Diego (Note: that this center was built form a separate Kroc gift)

Currently Open

Ashland, OH
Dayton, OH
Atlanta, GA
Coeur d'Alene, ID
San Francisco, CA
Omaha, NE
Salem, OR

Planned to open in 2010

Biloxi, MS
Grand Rapids, MI
Honolulu, HI
Kerrville, TX
Philadelphia, PA
Quincy, IL

Future sites

Augusta, GA
Boston, MA
Camden, NJ
Charlotte, NC
Chicago, IL
Green Bay, WI
Greenville, SC
Guayama, Puerto Rico
Long Beach, CA
Louisville, KY
Memphis, TN
Norfolk, VA
Phoenix, AZ
South Bend, IN
Staten Island, NY