Greenpeace, and their interesting accounting euphamisms

Greenpeace Annual Review 2010, page 19

Whilst looking for some info in the latest Greenpeace annual report, I came across this wonderful set of euphemisms.

Greenpeace puts out two reporting documents each year - a glossy Annual Review full of pretty pictures and nice graphs, and a very unglamorous set of financial statements. You can find both sets going back several years here.

The top picture is an extract from the glossy review. Under expenditure, its lists two items:

• Investment in New Supporters - $3.281 million
• Communication & Campaign Information for Supporters - $1.947 million

These two add up to $5.228 million, or 31% of everything Greenpeace raised last year.

After reading that, I sat there wondering, "What the fuck does that mean"?

So I read the more boring financial statements.

Greenpeace financial statements 2010, page 29

In the very boring statements, which only idiots like moi read, there appears to be a more straightforward explanation. "Direct costs of fundraising appeals" came to $5.222 million. Interesting that the numbers don't add up across the two reports.

What got my attention was this - why exactly do Greenpeace feel the need to use terms like "investment in new supporters" and "Communication & Campaign Information for Supporters"? Why can't they just come out and say "cost of dressing up idiots in koala suits and having them annoyingly shake buckets at people in the street"?

What have they got to hide?