Avoiding Charity Thieves

Last year the New York Daily News ran a story about how several charity organizations that were supposed to help cancer victims instead used the funds for cruises, trips to theme parks, concert tickets and dating services – to the tune of $187 million! The article reported that only 3% of the collected cash went for actual charitable purposes. You can see the article here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cancer-charities-misused-187-million-donations-feds-article-1.2228056

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said, “Bogus charitable fund-raising in the name of helping cancer patients is as immoral as it is illegal…it’s charity fraud of the most cynical kind.” It shouldn’t be a big surprise that wherever there’s a lot of money – there’s the potential for it to be misused. So how can you protect yourself from this type of charity fraud?

Fortunately, there are several sites on-line where you can check on charities to see how they rate. Some sites even give a letter grade based on several factors so it’s easy to understand if you’re giving to a group with an “A” rating or something else. But if you need someone to do this for you or manage your charitable giving – contact us at Philanthropology – we’re experts at this sort of thing. But don’t stop giving – giving is good for the giver too.