If you want a better understanding of what the AHA spends their money on I'd recommend checking their financial reports.

29% of their expenses go to paying education/training staff and the expenses involved with operating that but about the same amount comes back from their trainings in revenue. And that amount that comes back is actually near equal to all the donations they get.

Another ~31% goes to public health education staff.

~5% goes to operating various community services.

~18% goes to research.

and then overall management is ~8% with fundraising expenses making up the remaining ~9%.

For a group split between running various emergency training and certification programs (ex CPR), general public health awareness and education, advocacy, and research, those are pretty reasonable numbers.

https://www.heart.org/en/about-us/american-heart-association...

https://www.heart.org/en/-/media/Annual-Report/2024-2025-Ann...