NEW YORK (AP) — For 45 years, many Americans identified the Muscular Dystrophy Association with one man and one event — comedian Jerry Lewis and his annual Labor Day telethon.
The MDA dropped Lewis as its national chairman and telethon host in 2011, then scrapped the telethon itself last year.
So how is the charity faring in this new era, as a no-telethon Labor Day approaches? The report card is mixed.
On the upside, the MDA's leadership brims with enthusiasm about steps taken this year — among them, expanding online outreach and fundraising, and pledging to double spending on research toward drug development and clinical trials to better combat a range of muscle-debilitating diseases.
"We expect more new treatments and therapies in next five years than in the past 50 years combined," said Steve Derks, the MDA's president since 2013.
On the downside is a challenging financial picture.
In its latest report to the IRS, the MDA said it received contributions totaling about $135 million in 2014. According to data compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, that's down from a peak of $183.5 million in 2007. The data also shows the MDA slipping in comparison to other U.S. charities — it ranked 32nd in 1991 in terms of private donations, and fell to 192nd in 2014.
The impact has been tangible. The MDA says its staff is now about 800, compared to about 1,200 a decade ago, and the funds invested in research dropped from $37 million in 2006 to $18.5 million in 2014.
Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the MDA's decision to abandon the telethon in favor of new, online-based fundraising methods epitomized the challenges faced by many long-established charities.
"Everything a nonprofit does these days could have the potential of turning off one of the groups that's been very loyal," she said. "How do they reach a new generation of donors while not losing their longtime supporters?"
The MDA's ties with Lewis date back almost to its founding in 1950. The next year, Lewis and his comic partner Dean Martin mentioned the charity on their NBC show, and they hosted a telethon in 1956.
Lewis began hosting the telethon regularly in 1966 and continued through 2010. Guest stars over the years included Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Celine Dion.
In its peak years, the telethon ran for more than 21 hours, with the tuxedo-clad Lewis pushing himself to exhaustion before ending with his schmaltzy rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone."
Lewis' abrupt exit, announced by the MDA a month before the 2011 telethon, was never fully explained, though it was clear that the declining reach of broadcast TV was a factor. The rift was patched over last January when Lewis taped a message for the charity's launch of its new logo and motto, "Live Unlimited."
"Families have disagreements, families make up," said the MDA's chief spokeswoman, Roxan Olivas. "We would not be where we are today without him."
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