Solicitation Warning

[salleys]

MOST OF YOU PROBABLY KNOW THIS BUT IT REALLY TICKS ME OFF. Sorry, didn't mean to yell. There are many orginazations that have official sounding military names. They call asking for money to send packages to the troops or some other sympathetic cause. PLEASE always ask what precentage that is going to the troops. The one I got tonight was giving 20% to the troops and the rest was fund raising costs. So be careful who you give your money to. There are many great orginazations that give 80% to 99% to the cause.
I'll get off my soap box now. Thanks for listening.
Salley

 

[akcire]

You can always ask a public charity for a copy of their 990, most will have them on their websites...with a little hunting around. This also allows you to see the salaries of the 5 highest paid officers, so you can have a better idea if this charity is truly charitable. Keep in mind the largest charities are like large companies and it is not uncommon for the top people to earn large salaries. However if a local or small charity is paying their director (with no specific qualifications) $500,000......run!

You can also look up charities on a website called guidestar, but they are frequently a bit out of date---not saying the site is bad but it is not perfect

 

[Maddie2]

We've been getting these calls as well ... and this is why we give LOCALLY. I would much rather hand a check to someone I know ... or at least 'know of' and someone I can ask what percentage of our donation will go toward charity X.

We have a local national guard unit in Afghanistan, so we send care packages directly to them. Another reputable group that we have sent packages through is www.anysoldier.com. ... So, if anyone out there is looking for a way to support an individual soldier - or a group, check out this website. There are variety of ways in which you can help.

It is unbelievable the companies out there that make a ton of money from unsuspecting contributors. So sad.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I never donate to people who call. You can use this site http://www.charitynavigator.org/ to find out how various charities rate and what the percentage each really uses for their cause.

 

[DawnM]

I don't even listen anymore. I just say, "sorry, no" and hang up.

 

[rflorek]

We have a group locally called Operation Shoebox that actually collects goods and the money to ship the goods to the troops. They have local drop-off points, a Paypal donation button on their site to offset the postage costs, and local events for helping to pack the boxes (they had one this past weekend for Christmas boxes).

 

[Mathfailure]

Please know the same goes for supporting the police,and others.

Really good to give where you want, and not because someone asked you.

Hang up.

 

[Chicago526]

I have a list of charities I trust that I rotate my donations to. Other than the Salvation Army bell ringers at Christmas time, I don't donate to people that call/walk up to my car/set up outside of stores. There is just no way of knowing where that money is going.