Are Modern Day Charities Thinly Disguised Crooks?
Monday, December 8th, 2008I regularly get calls from organizations representing this charity and that asking for donations. Now, I don’t mind donating to what I feel are worthy causes, and nowadays I usually do so directly to whatever charity I choose rather than going through one of these fund raising companies.
I am not saying that every front end to a charity is bad, but that vast majority of the ones that I have dealt with or been called by qualify as crooks and scam artists in my opinion. Oh? How can that be? How can I be so cold? I am going to explain, and you might be shocked by what you find out.
First thing, when someone calls you from one of these companies like the State Police fund, or the Fireman’s Charity League or even the one I received just tonight, the Sheriff’s Department taking donations for “Puppy Patrol” which is taking money for programs that teach kids to say no to drugs in school. These all sound great, don’t they? Yes they do, and that’s what they are counting on.
You see, it’s not the charities themselves that are the problem, at least not in most cases (there are some fraud charities out there, but they are rare). No, the problem normally rests in these front end companies that do the soliciting and collection. That problem is the amount of money, the percentage that gets passed on to the charity. This is where it gets criminal in my opinion.
This “Puppy Patrol” charity that called me tonight, one thing I asked early in the phone call was how much actually got to the charity? Most callers don’t like to answer that one. In this case, it was 15% … yep, that’s it, only 15%. For every dollar they collect from people, they keep $0.85 and give $0.15 to the charity. OMG!!! For every $100 they take in, they keep $85 and pass on $15, that’s it! If they collect one million dollars ($1,000,000) in a year, they keep eight hundred fifty thousand ($850,000) and give only one hundred fifty thousand ($150,000). Does it start to make sense now?
That’s right; these companies keep most of the money and only send bare minimums to the charity. Now, they’ll claim that they have light bills to pay and employees to pay and more and that’s all true. However, why can reputable charities accomplish all of this and keep only 20%? They pass on 80% and not 15%, so what’s the big difference between these two types of companies other than one is legit and the other is run by greedy bastards that are exploiting people’s good nature for profit.
So, what’s my point in all this? Before you give your hard earned money to some charity, make sure you ask them how much actually makes it to the charity. If they only give 10% or 15% or something silly like that, don’t give them your money. Instead give it to a local charity or directly to another to make sure that your entire donation goes where it should. Personally, I don’t give to any company that passes on less than 70%, but that’s just me.



