How Honest Are Some Charities?

The phone rings. A husky voice answers and states that he is collecting for first responders such as police or firefighters. The voice sounds like a policeman or fireman, but is he? Usually the answer is no. Actually he is a paid fundraiser who makes money by getting you to contribute your money to his charity. According to Charity Navigator's, "10 Charities Overpaying Their For-Profit Fundraisers", one such organization Firefighters Charitable Foundation pays 93.8% of the money they raise for program expenses, including their large salaries and professional fundraising fees. Only 6.2% of their collection goes to firefighters direct causes. So if you donate $10 over the phone, firefighters see 62 cents. Similarly Charity Navigator's,"Disabled Police Officers of America" pass along even less, only 2.7 cents from every dollar they raise directly to disabled police officers. The rest goes for program expenses and professional fundraising fees.

I do not think most Americans know what becomes of their donations and how little reaches the recipients they think they are helping. Let's take a closer looks at where there lion's share of this money is really going. Administrative and fundraising costs can be immorally high.

Administrative costs include payment for the salaries or commission of everyone on the charity's paid staff down from the CEO to the individual fund raisers. Many relatively small charities such as Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco employ a CEO who makes $385,204 a year according to Charity Navigator's article "10 Highest Paid CEO's At Low-Rated Charities". This is less than the President of The United States earn per year but only by about $15,000. Both jobs have associated expense accounts as well.

Another large operating expense is travel, meals, fundraising costs, as well as those wasteful mailing tags which seem to be a popular donation incentive these days. At least one fundraising firm actually sends you a nickel in an envelope to get you to give. If I had a nickel for every nickel that has probably been thrown into the trash since many people don't examine their "junk mail," I would be very happy and perhaps rich person.

Other jobs pay well down to the paid telephone solicitors. Often this is based on the amount of money they raise, so you can see why callers for first responder charities have a vested interest in sounding like a policeman or firefighter. They send you a bumper sticker if you contribute, which makes you think the next policeman who gives stops you for speeding will let you go once he sees the sticker. Quite the opposite is true. Policemen consider this an insult and an implied bribery attempt.

Please don't get me wrong. Many charities are quite reputable and use non-paid volunteers to work the phones. It is always best to do some research before donating money blindly to any official sounding charity that manages to get your phone number or mailing address. Generally a highly rated charity will turn over sixty five to seventy cents of any dollar donation to the actual recipients they legitimately represent.

There are many charity rating sites on the net to obtain good information and help you choose a charity which helps its started cause. They include but are not limited to 1) Charity Navigator, 2) How American Institute of Philanthropy Rates Charities, 3) Which Charity - The Charity Comparison Site, 4) Find The Best Charities, etc.

Without these tools you may be donating to the charity's management and workers get rich quick schemes.