Community Chat

[CalminHeart]

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@lovesallanimals wrote:

This has really made me nervous.  I intended to give most of my estate to various charities that my husband (who has since passed) and I supported.  Reading this article has really made me wonder if in fact it goes to the charity itself.  Who is to say that it will not be "stolen" from its purpose and that it can be stolen by various people who handle these charities.  It really gave me think about considering this.  

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Read up on the charities you support. There is info about every reputable charity....financials, how much is used for operating expenses/salaries, where the money goes, how it's used, etc etc. 

Don't let this string of posts scare you. There are too many people who need help and you're doing a wonderful thing. 

[Patriot3]

I was giving to a charity that I thought was helping. Then I discovered they were helping something I didn't believe in. NO more giving to that one!

[Sooner]

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@bikerbabe wrote:
I do hope this doesn’t turn into an “all charities are crooks” because that is not true at all. I give primarily to several animal sanctuaries, a scholarship at my former nursing school, and a local group that feeds unhoused (homeless) in a local park.

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@bikerbabe I have been very disappointed in some local groups in my area.  Turns out the top administrators of at least one, and more I suspect, are making more than 100,000 per year, their friends are making big bucks working with construction and supply chains for the groups as well. 

It is a business and an industry posing as a charitable group.  

[tansy]

Without knowing all of the details, I don't think 100k is necessarily excessive compensation.

I do my research, then pick a few of my favorite causes to support. 

[Puppy Lips]

We stopped donating to anyone years ago. Unfortunately, I don’t trust any charity. I give my clothes and household items to a group that supports breast cancer research in Florida. Saving any money we have for our kids and grandkids.

[ThinkingOutLoud]

Decided to look at that charity navigator site again and now discovered their hypocrisy and/or discrimination. There's a charity that has a 95%, 4 star rating but no warning label that they've given to others. Glad I have a charity I trust and is much more reliable than this site purports to be.

[Spurt]

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@Sooner wrote:

I am reading more about some well known charities and foundations misusing funds.  A practice that I had begun to suspect a few years ago because so many new foundation, charities, sponsored benefits, etc. were constantly croping up.  Every day I see more local foundations and groups--how many can there be?  

Looking at the amounts they receive in federal, private and corporate money and factoring that against the people actually served, it just doesn't add up.  Locally and nationally.  

Huge amounts go to salaries, travel, lodging and payments to speakers.  Seems sometimes it's a racket serving the top dogs with travel funds, perks, speaking funds and publicity, not the people supposedly being served. 

Yes, I understand it is nothing new, but seems it is being talked about openly more now, lawsuits are being brought, and even well-known ones are being examined.

I am trying to be more careful with what I donate and where it winds up.  

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@Sooner 

Like Laura said CHARITY NAVIGATOR gives you all the info you want and need, how much goes to the cause, how much on advertising, and scroll down to bottom of charity's page, hit the + sign on financials to see salaries of Administrators and others....really eye opening!

[Isobel Archer]

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@CalminHeart wrote:

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

Rather than just looking at how much of the donated money is given to someone  - I'd rather look at the results of the "help."

We have local organizations that assist the homeless - get jobs, manage their money, get housing.  If people are not willing to help themselves, they are removed from the program.  

On the other hand we have taxpayer programs - such as our local public schools that spend more per child than the most expensive private schools and are currently claiming they need much much more money while they are hiring more and more administrators and adding programs which  still leave children in the 4th grade and higher who cannot read.  While parents are advised to hire tutors or teach their kids reading themselves, they are not apparently expected to feed their children as we now have breakfast, lunch, and take home meals programs.  Interesting that it is now the mission of the public schools to feed children, but NOT the mission (or certainly not the requirement) to assure kids learn to read.

And then we also have NGOs who also have a mission to feed schoolchildren - e.g. Helping Hungry Kids and others.  Overlap?  

I am not suggesting that kids don't need help, but if they don't learn to read, they are going to need help the rest of their lives.  Sad.

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Kids will never learn to read if they are hungry.

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And they will never make a good wage if they can't read.

[Spurt]

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@ThinkingOutLoud wrote:

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@shoekitty wrote:

@ThinkingOutLoud  charity navigator and the other charity investigator womt rate a charity without them turning over books. In order to be rated they do a sort of audit.  If the records are not handed over, they aren't rated, or rating is lowered ...and it is noted in the public report.  No report is 100%. In the end, everything can be made up somewhere. I guess if everything is done to investigate a charity, their records have been been audited, other criteria have been met. ...One can only go by faith, or gut instinct at that point. I do what I can to research, and then go from there.  I take my deduction off taxes with their ID.  I get credit on taxes. 

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Ok - so a charity turned over their books and got a very high rating and are now being investigated so they obviously didn't share all of their books so the ratings seem useless.

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@ThinkingOutLoud 

Charity Navigator is better than not having any info and donating blindly....at least they posts salaries....I was shock to see one charity administrator made $112,000 a year, another $165,000... That little bit of info speaks volumes to me...something I would never have known!!!

[shoekitty]

@Spurt  personally , for a large charity a salary of 150,000 or so is not uncommon. Sometimes they are the only paid employee and it is a full time job. If you think about it, if you have a larger charity, the work and delegation is endless.  It is full time job. You coukdnt find anyone with qualifications to do this without a paycheck. I don't mind. It is some of the larger charities like ASPCA, cancer society and the lot that do have a long list of paid employees and costs.