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A wealth of information is available from an organization’s most recent IRS information return (Form 990, Form 990-EZ or Form 990-PF). My first place to look for an organization’s 990 is the awesome database maintained by the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS). NCCS has a terrific search tool, Continue reading “Find an Organization’s Form 990″
A while back, we posted about Tom Petters, convicted Ponzi schemer, who had been a big donor to charities in and beyond Minnesota. At that time, Miami University (Ohio) was giving back $5-million that Petters had donated. Read the post/story. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the court-appointed receiver sorting out the Petters mess is seeking the return of Petters’ donations to almost 100 charities. Disgorging the Petters donation would be a major disaster for at least one of them, a drug treatment center in Minneapolis. Read the Minneapolis – St. Paul StarTribune story. Charities don’t typically have the law enforcement’s ability to investigate donors. And it took quite a while for law enforcement to catch up with this bad-guy donor. What’s a charity to do?
Does your favorite charity have a written conflict of interest policy? IRS Form 990 asks charities whether they have such a policy. While having one isn’t required by the Internal Revenue Code, the Form 990 question is a pretty strong suggestion that a charity have such a policy in place. We agree wholeheartedly with the suggestion. The IRS has gone so far as to include a sample policy in Appendix A to Form 1023 (application for tax exemption). IRS Sample Conflicts Policy We’ve also attached a sample policy we created Continue reading “Charity conflict of interest policy sample”
While some disagree with its approach, Continue reading “I love AIP’s work”
According to the AIP report, CDG telemarketers lied to potential donors about the portion of moneys that would go to charity, and typically turned over not more than 15% of the moneys raised to charity. CDG fundraised for numerous local firefighter, police and veterans charities and also had contracts with several groups that received “F” ratings from AIP. Read the AIP article. Continue reading ““Charity” telemarketer hit with $18.8 million fine”
While the report doesn’t mention it, I’m guessing they looked for cash donations. If a donor wrote a check to the police charity, the scammers would have to alter the check to get anything for their efforts. If they did that, the donor likely would get their money back from the bank (for honoring a false instrument). But, if a donor gave cash — it’s gone. A good reminder about the perils of donating cash.
Is your favorite nonprofit one of them? The IRS has made the list available to the public — there are more than 35,000 nonprofits at risk in California alone. For many, getting back on track will be quite easy. Neither larger nonprofits nor private foundations, however, are included in the last chance program. According to the IRS, it will publish a list of revoked organizations in early 2011, and donors who contribute to any of the at-risk organizations are protected until the final revocation list is published.
Elaborating on charity abuse, the IRS reported
You can do it in three steps:
While there are undoubtedly charities that operate reputable vehicle-donation programs as part of their fundraising work – in our view vehicle-donation programs in general are suspect. Cuomo’s message: “be cautious and do some research.” We agree. |
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Yikes! – charities must wonder. We might have to pay back donated money we’ve already spent?!?
The American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP) is a charity watchdog and information service. At its 
The “charity” telemarketing company Civic Development Group has been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to pay an $18.8 million fine, the largest penalty ever handed down in a consumer protection case — as detailed in the American Institute of Philanthropy’s latest Report. CDG and its owners have now earned our not-so-coveted 
Tampa Bay police apprehended two bogus solicitors using the name of a recognized police charity. The couple had also been active in Orlando, and when apprehended were headed to Louisiana.
Want to calculate a charity’s program spending percentage?
The New York Daily News reports that Andrew Cuomo, NY’s attorney general, has sued a local “charity” called Feed the Hungry over the handling of its car donation program. The suit alleges that less than 2% of the proceeds of the donation program went to helping the homeless. The suit is part of a wider probe of vehicle-donation charities.