The Tampa Bay Times recently released a list of the 50 worst charities in the U.S., based on the percentage of donated funds actually paid out in aid versus the percentage of donated funds that went to persons soliciting those funds. The actual link for this list is:
The national scope and reach of these fraudulent charities is clearly within the realm of organized crime. Further, I'm told that some of them have overseas equivalents with the same, or very similar, names, so this type of fraud appears to be international.
Notice how many of them involve law enforcement and other first responders! (Shades of Diop Kamau and the Police Complaint Center; see http://kamaudocs.blogspot.com.)
The ones involving dying children are particularly odious.
Notice how many of them involve law enforcement and other first responders! (Shades of Diop Kamau and the Police Complaint Center; see http://kamaudocs.blogspot.com.)
The ones involving dying children are particularly odious.
I'm posting this list as a public service, and I suggest that you share it with everyone you know to help get the word out about these. I also strongly suggest that you carefully check out charities before donating to them.
AMERICA'S WORST CHARITIES
The 50 worst, ranked by money blown on soliciting costs
Totals from the latest 10 years of available federal tax filings| Rank | Charity name | Total raised by solicitors | Paid to solicitors | % spent on direct cash aid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kids Wish Network | $127.8 million | $109.8 million | 2.5% |
| 2 | Cancer Fund of America | $98.0 million | $80.4 million | 0.9% |
| 3 | Children's Wish Foundation International | $96.8 million | $63.6 million | 10.8% |
| 4 | American Breast Cancer Foundation | $80.8 million | $59.8 million | 5.3% |
| 5 | Firefighters Charitable Foundation | $63.8 million | $54.7 million | 8.4% |
| 6 | Breast Cancer Relief Foundation | $63.9 million | $44.8 million | 2.2% |
| 7 | International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO | $57.2 million | $41.4 million | 0.5% |
| 8 | National Veterans Service Fund | $70.2 million | $36.9 million | 7.8% |
| 9 | American Association of State Troopers | $45.0 million | $36.0 million | 8.6% |
| 10 | Children's Cancer Fund of America | $37.5 million | $29.2 million | 5.3% |
| 11 | Children's Cancer Recovery Foundation | $34.7 million | $27.6 million | 0.6% |
| 12 | Youth Development Fund | $29.7 million | $24.5 million | 0.8% |
| 13 | Committee For Missing Children | $26.9 million | $23.8 million | 0.8% |
| 14 | Association for Firefighters and Paramedics | $23.2 million | $20.8 million | 3.1% |
| 15 | Project Cure (Bradenton, FL) | $51.5 million | $20.4 million | 0.0% |
| 16 | National Caregiving Foundation | $22.3 million | $18.1 million | 3.5% |
| 17 | Operation Lookout National Center for Missing Youth | $19.6 million | $16.1 million | 0.0% |
| 18 | United States Deputy Sheriffs' Association | $23.1 million | $15.9 million | 0.6% |
| 19 | Vietnow National Headquarters | $18.1 million | $15.9 million | 2.9% |
| 20 | Police Protective Fund | $34.9 million | $14.8 million | 0.8% |
| 21 | National Cancer Coalition | $41.5 million | $14.0 million | 1.1% |
| 22 | Woman To Woman Breast Cancer Foundation | $14.5 million | $13.7 million | 0.4% |
| 23 | American Foundation For Disabled Children | $16.4 million | $13.4 million | 0.8% |
| 24 | The Veterans Fund | $15.7 million | $12.9 million | 2.3% |
| 25 | Heart Support of America | $33.0 million | $11.0 million | 3.4% |
| 26 | Veterans Assistance Foundation | $12.2 million | $11.0 million | 10.5% |
| 27 | Children's Charity Fund | $14.3 million | $10.5 million | 2.3% |
| 28 | Wishing Well Foundation USA | $12.4 million | $9.8 million | 4.6% |
| 29 | Defeat Diabetes Foundation | $13.8 million | $8.3 million | 0.1% |
| 30 | Disabled Police Officers of America Inc. | $10.3 million | $8.1 million | 2.5% |
| 31 | National Police Defense Foundation | $9.9 million | $7.8 million | 5.8% |
| 32 | American Association of the Deaf & Blind | $10.3 million | $7.8 million | 0.1% |
| 33 | Reserve Police Officers Association | $8.7 million | $7.7 million | 1.1% |
| 34 | Optimal Medical Foundation | $7.9 million | $7.6 million | 1.0% |
| 35 | Disabled Police and Sheriffs Foundation | $9.0 million | $7.6 million | 1.0% |
| 36 | Disabled Police Officers Counseling Center | $8.2 million | $6.9 million | 0.1% |
| 37 | Children's Leukemia Research Association | $9.8 million | $6.8 million | 11.1% |
| 38 | United Breast Cancer Foundation | $11.6 million | $6.6 million | 6.3% |
| 39 | Shiloh International Ministries | $8.0 million | $6.2 million | 1.3% |
| 40 | Circle of Friends For American Veterans | $7.8 million | $5.7 million | 6.5% |
| 41 | Find the Children | $7.6 million | $5.0 million | 5.7% |
| 42 | Survivors and Victims Empowered | $7.7 million | $4.8 million | 0.0% |
| 43 | Firefighters Assistance Fund | $5.6 million | $4.6 million | 3.2% |
| 44 | Caring for Our Children Foundation | $4.7 million | $4.1 million | 1.6% |
| 45 | National Narcotic Officers Associations Coalition | $4.8 million | $4.0 million | 0.0% |
| 46 | American Foundation for Children With AIDS | $5.2 million | $3.0 million | 0.0% |
| 47 | Our American Veterans | $2.6 million | $2.3 million | 2.3% |
| 48 | Roger Wyburn-Mason & Jack M Blount Foundation For Eradication of Rheumatoid Disease | $8.4 million | $1.8 million | 0.0% |
| 49 | Firefighters Burn Fund | $2.0 million | $1.7 million | 1.5% |
| 50 | Hope Cancer Fund | $1.9 million | $1.6 million | 0.5% |
Database and web production: William Higgins | Times
Dave Stanton and Mike Davis | Smart Media Creative
Dave Stanton and Mike Davis | Smart Media Creative
$970.6 million
paid to solicitors
- $970.6 million cash paid to solicitors
- $380.3 million cash to the charities
- $49.1 million to direct cash aid
The project
SEARCH OUR DATABASE of state regulatory actions
June
6
6
Hundreds of charities do little but turn donations into profit
Tampa Bay Times/CIR – in print June 9
June
7
7
The fractured effort to regulate charities
Tampa Bay Times/CIR/CNN – in print June 10
June
13
13
Charity networks as money machines
Tampa Bay Times/CIR/CNN – in print June 16A chart showing the Reynolds network of charities
About the project
Got a tip on a bad charity?
The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting will continue to shine a light on bad charities. If you think you've been contacted by a suspect charity, share your story with us.Resources for checking nonprofits
- A list of solicitors used by the worst 50
- A list of the worst 50, with addresses
- State charity officials, with contacts for all 50 states
- Florida's gift givers' guide for consumers
- ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer
- Guidestar's research website
- GiveWell does in-depth research into a small number of worthy charities
- Charity Navigator's charity evaluation website
- CharityWatch's charity rating service
- The Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving website
1 comment:
Just in case the above has you wondering "who would do such a thing?"
See:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/secret-past-man-jailed-stealing-1901889
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