The Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Questionable Payments to the IAFF Continue During Fill the Boot

As the weather begins to get warmer, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and fire stations throughout the county will being starting Fill the Boot drives to raise money for MDA. Fire Fighters will work tirelessly, literally putting their lives in danger by weaving through traffic, to collect donations from drivers for what they assume is a good cause.

But it turns out, more and more fire fighters are discovering that the money they are collecting isn’t going where they think it’s going, and more and more fire stations have stopped participating in Fill the Boot altogether, including many where I live.

They’re learning about MDA making millions of dollars in payments to the International Association of Fire Fighters.

At best, this seems odd. But at worst, this seems corrupt.

While anyone owning or working for a business or nonprofit knows it takes money to make money, does it really take $650,000 a year (as reported in the IAFF’s latest LM-2 filing with the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Management Standards) to hold these events? What is MDA exactly paying for, and why so much? They’re not paying the fire fighters for their work, that’s for certain.

But if this truly is a legitimate cost to the organization, why won’t they come clean and tell us when they have been repeatedly asked to clarify why the payments were made?

And why aren’t these payments explicitly shown in MDA’s tax returns as fundraising costs?

In addition, MDA is paying the IAFF when most of the fire fighters donating their time for Fill the Boot aren’t even IAFF members. According to the IAFF site, they have approximately 334,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. However, according to the most recent FEMA statistics, there are over 1.2 million career and volunteer firefighters in the U.S. alone. This means that, at most, only one-third of fire fighters in the U.S. are IAFF members. In fact, most, if not all, fire stations in the metropolitan city where I live are not affiliated with the IAFF.

If these payments were made to assist the fire fighters with the drive, then why weren’t payments made to the non-union fire stations as well?

In this video from January 2021, IAFF members and then IAFF presidential candidate Mahlon Mitchell discuss these payments and their relationship with MDA. In the beginning of the video, Frank Ricci states the following:

Millions of dollars are being siphoned away from MDA in the form of contributions and donations back to union coffers. Our members believed these funds were going to dying adults and kids stricken with this dangerous and debilitating disease.

The panel claims that the IAFF never told members that MDA was giving the union money — they only found out after the IAFF’s LM-2 filings were posted.

If these payments are legitimate, why didn’t the members know about them?

The panel also question why MDA is even the IAFF’s preferred charity. Mitchell also states that “every dollar that’s raised should stay to help cure muscular dystrophy.” IAFF members were also told the money raised through Fill the Boot helps the local community, but how can it do that when 1) MDA shut their local offices and 2) they have stopped funding nearly everything they used to fund, including wheelchairs, braces, support groups, and flu shots?

They aren’t the only fire fighters and union members who feel this way. In this Reddit post from 2023, which sadly informs of the death of a fire fighter during a Fill the Boot campaign, many fire fighters expressed their frustration with MDA and Fill the Boot.

“I think one of the most perplexing details is that the board members for MDA are making something like 6 times the average salary of the guys out there standing on the street. I know that is pretty standard for “charity” organizations, but it just seems a bit backwards to me. Ok actually if I’m being honest it seems downright crooked and it pisses me off.

The more I think about it, the more it seems that fill the boot is maybe one of those not very well thought out things we do because of tradition.”

“The IAFF gets about 1–1.5 million a year in donations from the MDA to get your local members to go panhandle.”

“The cringe part is that most donators think that their money is going toward our department or new equipment, meanwhile MDA suits drive around in brand new sports cars when they show up to events.”

I have wonderful memories of meeting hundreds of fire fighters during my time with MDA. You will never meet braver, more compassionate people than fire fighters. And the fact that they’re giving their heart, soul, time, and energy to a cause they think is worthy, but isn’t, is heartbreaking.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association and the International Association of Fire Fighters has had a relationship for the last 70 years. Is it about to burn out?