I thought this might be of interest to those of you who care about full disclosure from non-profit organizations like the International Breast Milk Project. From the IBMP website (excerpt from a letter by Jill Youse):

“IBMP will publish quarterly donation reports on our website www.breastmilkproject.org, so you can track the ounces coming in and the funding going out. You will know that 100% of your milk is making a difference in the lives of babies orphaned by HIV in Africa.”

The letter is not dated, but it was written on or before June 3, 2007 because the same letter showed up on a thread in MotheringDotCommune’s message board, written by a user called “Jill Youse” on that date (you may need to log in to see it).

This got me thinking… If I could predict what that first quarterly report will contain, I know it will have to include that the IBMP started with at least a 55,000-ounce stockpile of breast milk (on May 31, 2007), and about 5,300 ounces of that were donated to iThemba Lethu in May 2007. Then the IBMP spent less than $2,000 to pay for two milk banks in an unspecified country in Africa (Cameroon? South Africa?). After that, there are no other milk donations to iThemba Lethu (I called and asked iThemba Lethu myself) nor to any other place in Africa (the “About Us” IBMP page doesn’t say they donated any other milk anywhere else either, and I’m sure if the IBMP had donated any other milk, they would have mentioned it by now).

I have no idea how much milk, if any, has been donated to the IBMP after May 31, 2007 from its generous donors, and the only ones who know the answer to that are the IBMP and Prolacta. This is one reason why I’m waiting for that quarterly report. It would be nice to know how much milk is being donated from the donors to the IBMP, how much milk is being sent to Africa from the IBMP, and how much milk Prolacta gets to buy from the IBMP for $1/ounce. And when I say I’d like to know how much milk, I don’t mean in the form of a percentage. I mean actual amounts. Surely this is being kept track of, so that the International Breast Milk Project can know exactly how much to send to Africa and how much money to collect from Prolacta. Hopefully that information will be shared with the public. Soon.

If you donated to the International Breast Milk Project around or after May 31, 2007, keep track of how many ounces you donated/are donating. Add it up and when the IBMP’s quarterly report comes out, see if your donation was a significant proportion of the total. Wouldn’t that be an interesting exercise?

Oh, one last thing before I finish…I found a curious thing, and I want to share it with you. Recently I visited this site and clicked where it said, “Africa Photo Gallery.” Awwww. Aren’t those kids cute? I wonder where they’re from? Where in Africa are they? It doesn’t say.

Happily, I think I figured it out.

On the IBMP FAQ page is this:

23. What will the dollar per ounce contribution from Prolacta to IBMP be used for? o This past year we have partnered with the Lewa Children’s Home Eldoret Kenya to bring clean water and healthcare to children orphaned by disease and poverty. We will help fund a healthcare clinic that will break ground in late 2007 or early 2008. We will be shipping the milk to Eldoret and exploring the possibilities of local milk donations. 100% of the dollar per ounce will go directly to aid the Lewa Children’s Home and healthcare clinic. Click here to view the photo album of the home.

Unfortunately, the above link won’t work if you click it from here, but it will work if you click it from the IBMP FAQ page (as of the date of this post). Go ahead, try it, but remember to come back here. Go to the IBMP FAQ page, scroll down until you reach #23, and click on the link. Did you click on the link to see the photo album of the home? Those children are really precious, aren’t they? Makes you just want to cry, doesn’t it, the way the Lennon classic is juxtaposed with images of the innocent, smiling orphans…

Wait, aren’t those the same kids? With the same music? What are the chances of that?

Well, regardless, it’s really great that the IBMP will be funding a healthcare clinic for the Lewa Children’s Home Eldoret Kenya. Since the pictures are on two websites, it appears as though the home is not only getting support from the IBMP but from Run for Africa as well! Well, good for them. I hope they are; why else would the pictures be on both websites if that weren’t the case?

Ooh! Bonus for the Lewa Children’s Home! According to the letter by Jill Youse:

Prolacta has also agreed to donate $1 to International Breast Milk Project for every ounce of donated milk that stays in the U.S. Based on current donations, IMBP will receive $50,000 - $75,000 each year, ensuring a sustainable, steady source of funds to build critically needed healthcare clinics for babies orphaned by poverty and disease in Africa, and will provide a vehicle to help local moms donate milk. 100% of every dollar that each ounce of milk provides will go directly to supporting babies orphaned by HIV in Africa.

Thank goodness for that. Now all we have to do is wait for the quarterly report to confirm that the IBMP has received around $12,500-18,750 from Prolacta for this quarter, ALL (100%) of which should go “directly to aid the Lewa Children’s Home and healthcare clinic.” I’ll bet the Lewa Children’s Home in Kenya could sure use that money. I, for one, want to see that those kids get the money promised to them. Wow, just imagine what 100% of $50,000 (the low end of the estimate given by IBMP) could do for that orphanage in one year!

I don’t know about you, but I’m eager to read that quarterly report confirming that all of these wonderful things are taking place. I wonder when it’s coming out?

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 8:11 pm and is filed under Breastfeeding, Milk Banks, Africa, Prolacta, International Breast Milk Project. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.