31/3/2019 Update: After dissecting ASAN’s 2019 flyer here, I’ve finally figured out what they are doing to get these numbers. I’ve edited this post to remove the speculation.

ASAN’s 2018 Flyer (https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AutismSpeaksFlyer_color_2018.pdf)

Consider the facts, they say. So I did. I went straight to the source and found something strange…

Autism Speaks Form 990 for 2016 (https://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/2016-form-990.pdf)

Total expenses for current year = 46,739,673

Science = 11,729,054 / 46,739,673 = 25.09%. Correct.

Fundraising = 9,981,115 / 46,739,673 = 21.35%. Correct.

Family Services Grants = 2,497,935 / 46,739,673 = 5.34%. Wait what? This isn’t 4%.

Awareness, Family Services, Advocacy (labelled as “Awareness” & Lobbying by ASAN) = (23,188,019–2,497,935) / 46,739,673 = 20,690,084 / 46,739,673 = 44.27%. Hmm… This isn’t right either. It’s not 46%.

It seems that they took the figures reported as Family Service grants in Schedule I Part II and combined them with the non-doctoral-fellowship grants in Schedule I Part III. This works out to $1,881,045.

1,881,045 / 46,739,673 = 4.02%.

(23,188,019 – 1,881,045) / 46,739,673 = 21,306,974 / 46,739,673 = 45.59%.

However, doing it like this is wrong as only grants that are more than $5,000 need to be reported in this section.

ASAN’s 2017 Flyer (https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/AutismSpeaksFlyer_color_2017.pdf)
Autism Speaks Form 990 for 2015 (https://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/default/files/2018-09/2015-form-990_2.pdf)

Total expenses for current year = 60,617,406

Science = 19,564,193 / 60,617,406 = 32.27%. Correct.

Fundraising = 12,806,970 / 60,617,406 = 21.13%. Wait what? Why is it 24% on the flyer?

Family Services Grants = 2,524,195 / 60,617,406 = 4.16%.

Awareness, Family Services, Advocacy (labelled as “Awareness” & Lobbying by ASAN) = (25,621,093–2,524,195) / 60,617,406 = 23,096,898 / 60,617,406 = 38.10%.

However, doing the same thing as before, we get 2,239,239 / 60,617,406 = 3.69%.

(25,621,093–2,239,239) / 60,617,406 = 23,381,854 / 60,617,406 = 38.57%.

As for how Fundraising got to be 24%, only ASAN knows.

Now, let me illustrate how strange it is to used non-scientific grants reported in Schedule I as a measure. Here are figures from ASAN’s 2016 990 form.

30,000 / 738,688 = 4.06%.

4.02 / 4.06 = 99%. Is ASAN really taking Autism Speaks (AS) to task for only doing 99% of what they do?

Now for ASAN’s 2015 figures.

ASAN didn’t file a Schedule I in their 2015 990 form. So, 0 / 694,043 = 0%.

Compare this to AS’ 3.69%.

3.69 / 0 = This measure is so stupid that even your calculator will tell you that you cannot divide by zero.