http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/us/scam-charity-investigation/index.html "Washington (CNN)In a rare joint action with attorneys general for each of the 50 states, the Federal Trade Commission says four cancer charities run by extended members of the same family conned donors out of $187 million from 2008 through 2012 and spent almost nothing to help actual cancer patients." "Jessica Rich, chief of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, says that in all, the charities spent about 97% of donations they received either on private fundraisers or on themselves. Only 3%, she says, went to help actual cancer patients." Children's Cancer Fund of America are being dissolved, according to the complaint. James Reynolds Jr. faces a judgment of more than $60 million in fines and Rose Perkins, who runs the Children's Cancer Fund of America, faces a judgment of around $30 million. Under a proposed final order, the judgment against Reynolds Jr. will be suspended when he pays $75,000. The judgments against Children's Cancer Fund of America will be partly met upon liquidation of its assets, and the judgment against Perkins will be suspended due to her inability to pay. The FTC's Jessica Rich, however, said there are few assets left. Government regulators will be lucky to recover $1 million, she told CNN." http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/us/scam-charity-investigation/index.html I myself donate to charities all the time but its things like this that make me limit my donations to local charities... How is it possible that these people could scam millions of people and yet get just a slap on the wrist? This bothers me to no end that scum like this are not rotting in jail till their last breaths!
Proof that as long as you steal BIG you not only do not face jail time, you get to keep 99% of what you steal. $75,000 on $60 million. $0 on $30 million. No jail time for anyone. Oh boy what justice.
Well scams have been going on for centuries, so when these issues crop up, I don't get too riled. It will interesting, if found guilty, how these people will sentenced.
It's important to research the organizations you donate to. I give regular contributions to two organizations whose causes I care about. One I volunteer time with and am, very much, aware of where the money goes. The other, has their financial documents available, and I examine them annually. I never give a dollar with my grocery bill or toss my change into a random cause bucket. I also feel it's important to set aside funds for family or friends (or friends of friends) that find themselves in an emergency situation.
You seem to have missed the point. There's nothing wrong with paying yourself an enormous salary while only pennies actually go to charity. That's not what they are charged with. Their crime isn't that the charity is a scam (all charities cost something to pay administrators and fund raisers), but that they faked the books to make it LOOK like money was going to charity. Plenty of people, especially big donors, do their due diligence to make sure the money is being spent as represented. So these outfits concocted fake books to create that impression, in order to get the donations in the first place. This is important. These people did not steal. They only lied. The penalty for misrepresenting (cooking the books) isn't all that large -- indeed, the biggest penalty they have to pay is that their operations are closed down and their munificent income is cut off. There are publicized lists of charities with the percent actually spent on charitable causes listed - according to the books, of course. And a surprising number of charities contribute practically nothing to charity, and pocket the donations. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as the accounting is properly presented.
It actually it is a big crime and these charities face $60 million and $30 million dollars in fines do to fraud and are being dissolved. If you or me don't pay a $250 fine for speeding we literally can end up in jail. Doesn't matter if we have the money or not. These charities have $60 million and $30 million dollars in fines. They spent all the money they took in and so they get to walk away with one only paying 0.25% of a 60 million dollars in fines and the other paying 0% of the 30 million dollars in fines. They did in fact commit illegal acts constituting fraud. That is why they were brought down.
This does not seem to be the case, your sense of justice notwithstanding. As I said (and you ignored), every charity spends a certain percentage of revenues for fundraising and other overheat. There is no legal minimum that must go to charity, and no legal maximum that can go to everything else. And as I said (and you ignored), there are plenty of legal charities that contribute amazingly small amounts to charity. These are not frauds. I wouldn't put money into them, but they are not frauds. The fraud these people committed was in faking the books, to mislead donors into thinking the money went to charity. And they were punished for faking the books, not for spending the revenues. You ignored that part too. Now, I personally have a line which I consider the practical overhead maximum, and that's no more than 15%. For me personally, any more than that and it's a scam. But this isn't the law, it's my personal policy.
