Whats the deal with those Feed the Children commericals that are on TV?
Are they legit’?
How do they help the kids?
Have any other organizations like this in the past been busted for fraud or something similar?
Just wondering 'cuz I’m starting to see these commericals pop up alot lately.
bump
Larry Jones is very legitimate. His is one of the most streamlined distributions in the world. There have been some minor scandals in his organization (they are really big news here in Oklahoma City**) but on the whole, he is just like he appears in his commercials. If you are looking for a worthy charity, his is as worthy as any other.
For once Geraldo Rivera is involved with something worthwhile. Geraldo has been a big supporter for years.
I looked up some info for you. Here is the website.
The scandals I mentioned include some loans to Larry Jones’ son (that were apparently later paid back despite his bankruptcy) and employee theft at the Nashville distribution center.
They did a story on 20/20 a few years back about these commercials. From what I remember, most companies go down to a village, film the commercial, give the village some money, then split. The amount and percentage of the money that goes to the children varies by organization, but the main point of the story I saw was the relatively low percentage of the money that actually goes to help the children, somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20%.
I recall from the extensive investigative reporting that was done on FTC two years ago that their ratio of donations to distribution is more like 75%. Other than the minor scandals I mentioned, Larry Jones has put together an admirable organization. When the scandals were the talk of the town here, Jones’ attorney provided copies of IRS filings before they were even submitted to the IRS. Everyone was pretty impressed at how little of the money collected stayed in Oklahoma City. The Jones family income was only about $300,000 (four family members worked for the organization then), a rather modest amount for an organization this large and Larry Jones’ personal salary was considerably lower than executives of many other large charities.
As far as the other organizations with late-night infomercials, I have no idea. I have done business with Feed the Children and can only speak of what I know about them. I was pretty suspicious of them at first (like I am with all christian ministries that spend a lot of time on TV asking for money) but I quickly found them to be pretty forthright and honest. Their primary concern always seemed to be how to effeciently get our client’s product to those who needed it.