From page 24 of the latest issue of eBeacon (the on-line publication of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Association), it's Director of Development claims that the CGAuxA can help your flotilla get a new airplane:

http://www.cgauxa.org/ebeacon/...Summer2009v1%202.pdf

Sounds like another instance of the left hand not knowing anything about the right hand.

Thx for the post. What caught my eye on that page is this statement:

"The fact is that the US Coast Guard only provides a fraction of the operating expenses for the Auxiliary."

Say again? I've looked at a copy of the latest available Form 990 submitted by the CGAuxA, and the total amount distributed for Water Safety Education Programs, Distribution of Educational Materials & Supplies, ISAR competition, National conference, and Misc is $840,653 (out of a total net of $1,476,801). I guess USCG budgets don't have a separate line item for the Auxiliary, but according to a report by Wayne Spivak in 2004, the Auxiliary budget for 2002 was approximately $12 million. It would be interesting to know what that amount is now.

Well, 3/5 is still technically a fraction...

I guess USCG budgets don't have a separate line item for the Auxiliary, but according to a report by Wayne Spivak in 2004, the Auxiliary budget for 2002 was approximately $12 million.

You are comparing 2 different budget numbers. The Aux only counts money that it gets directly from USCG. The last I looked that was about $500,000. The USCG earmarks that money - the Aux is not free to spend it anyway it wants. Again the last time I looked more then half of the money was spent on the minority membership program known as the Aviation Program. About a quarter of a million dollars was spent on about 300 pilots while 28,000 (give or take a thousand members) got squat. The bulk of the remaining USCG money got spent on leadershi* training. You know from the superior leadershi* skills of GNat Aux that the money was well spent.

This is what the USCG counts in the $12 million worth of support that Wayne mentioned.

The cost of the district DirAuxs, their offices, staff and other expenses. The offices, staff and other expenses of ChDirAux. I understand that is the bulk of the expense.

The Auxie fuel budget which may be accounted for thru the district DirAuxs.

The cost to run the Auxiliary National Supply Center in Granite City, IL. This is where "training publications, forms, manuals, pamphlets, posters, and initial issue of medals
and ribbons" (AuxMan 6.A.2) come from. The AuxCen is run and paid for by the Aux.

The USCG funds some Auxie officers to attend NACON and N-Train. If the USCG specifies program specific training for N-Train it then funds (or at least used to fund) the respective DSOs to attend N-Train.

And of course bureid in the $12 million is the half million that they give the Aux for the training mentioned above.

CGAuxA can help your flotilla get a new airplane:

Your flotilla will get its boat or plane right after the USCGAuxAssInc gives your flotilla the PowerPoint equipment it promised to help provide. They made that promise more then 5 years ago. In other words - don't hold your breath.

And the dirty secret is that almost none of the moeny raised by the USCGAuxAssInc goes to the flotillas, divisions or even districts. It is used to underwrite NACON, N-Train and ISAR (now NSAR). I don't know if NSAR is doing any better but ISAR, which was originally proposed as a money maker was a huge financial sinkhole for the Aux. One year the USCG had to bail out the Aux with a $60,000 emergency transfusion.

Another big item for USCGAuxAssInc is funding the junketing for the Grandees to N-Train, NACON and other conventions hosted by other organziatons.

One reason USCGAuxAssInc will not provide a detailed budget or financial statements, is that most members would flip if they saw how their money was really being spent. The USPS provides just such a budget and fianncail reporting to its members and has for years.

In the meantime folks will have to make do with the information in the latest CGAuxA Form 990 & Schedule A, a public information document that's 24 pages long. For example, $21,002 went for the ISAR competition and $48,121 for the National conference.

It looks like the numbers are coming from the 2007 990 filed in 2008. That is the latest available from GuideStar.

The $48,121 for the National conference is an interesting expense. On the prior page (page 2) they list $76,197 on line 40 for "Conferences, conventions, and meetings". I would suspect the bigger figure includes the N-Train expense which does not appear to be separately reported.

The $21,002 expense for the ISAR competition was off-set by $3,095 in ISAR income. A supporting schedule (pdf page 22) states that the income was "fees received from participants in search and rescue competition".

So not only was ISAR a big money loser, the only income was the fees charged to the participants.

The Navigator supposedly brought in $241,864 in income on expenses of $141,915. I wrote supposedly since The Beacon, which is also published by the CGAuxAssInc is not mentioned at all. It is hard to see how the Navigator pulled in any revenue at all when it does not accept any ads. Just check the just published summer issue. I don't see a single ad in it.

I have to wonder if some of the Navigator expense is being attributed to either the $455,799 expense for "water safety education programs" or the $303,866 expense for "distribution of educational materials and supplies".

And according to the CGAuxAssInc report to the IRS the "primary exempt purpose" of the organization is not zooming around in Auxed Out boats. It is not to run a private flying club for 300 members nor is it to augment for the CG. On Page 3 of the IRS form the primary exempt purpose of the organization is stated to be: "Safe Boating Awareness".

The idea that the Aux Assn. funds the majority of Aux operations is laughable. If there are any real "operations" that are getting funded by them, I'll eat my hat. The CG is paying for any operations. I know they're not sending any money towards the support of my flotilla and station.