Two years ago, I received a recorded phone call that wanted me to donate to an organization that supported Police officers. The recording glossed over the fact that it was “a non-501(c)(3)” organization. (i.e. not tax deductible). Because they used the word “non” instead of “not a”, many people would not catch the fact that it was probably a for-profit organization trolling for bucks. Now, they’re coming after me for donations to first responders, fire fighters, nurses, and others.
Is there a limit? Is it legal for them to pocket 95% of the donations as “expenses”?
Originally, I asked them to send me a donation envelope which wasted $0.55 of their money, but they refuse to do that anymore.
From what you describe, they have identified themselves as “not a charity, in the legal sense”.
Now, let me first caveat with: one is free to give their own money to whomever one chooses for whatever purpose under the sun.
But, in my opinion, they are nothing but a scam, playing on peoples loyalty to first responders, etc. None of the money they collect goes to any first responders or organizations. It goes into their pockets and they use it to buy 6-packs, cigs, and cheese doodles. Again, that is my opinion.
They know that what they are doing is not strictly above-board, but they also aware of how to ride the line of what is technically legal.
When I’ve received calls from organizations like that, I asked them how the money will be spent (at least the tiny fraction that they admit goes to charitable purposes). The ones that claim to be collecting for firefighters might say they’re using the money for “education”. And then during the initial pitch, they’ll mention something about checking your smoke detector batteries, so I think they’re pretending the phone calls themselves are the education.
Those are scams, in that little or no money actually goes to the police officers, fire fighters, or whatever. Now they have a computer calling, instead of a real person, and if you ask how much goes to the police, etc., it just hangs up.
I get these calls, although always from a live person, from time to time, and I always respond that I don’t contribute to charities that solicit through phone calls, and hang up. I don’t care if they contribute to police or orphans or victims of angst, I don’t contribute to charities that solicit through phone calls. I don’t trust them.
The way the (slightly) legitimate ones work is they contract to raise a certain amount for the local department. Once that’s raised and disbursed, they continue to solicit and pocket the cash.
I worked for DialAmerica Marketing in the late 70s selling magazine subscriptions over the phone. Our script started, “Hi, could you help us help The Boys’ Club of America today?”.
There was a room with 20 or so people placing these calls. Every few weeks the company would send a pittance($20) to the charity, but the charity had no clue what was going on; there was no agreement between the group and the company.
ETA: I was fired after a few weeks. I made very few sales, happy just to sit there getting minimum wage.
They are all scams. If you donate, most of your money goes to buy the head honcho’s new yacht or Mercedes.
Check the phone number. The Caller ID shown is often a disconnected number. No legitimate business or charity tries to hide their number.
Before giving money to ANY charity, ask for a copy of IRS Form 990, a public document that itemizes where their money goes. If they hang up or refuse to provide it, you know they are phony. If you can’t reach a human to make this request, not only are they phony, but entirely automated, not a good sign.
That may not be a live person as you think. A common tactic is to use soundboard software that allows a non-English speaking clerk to pretend to be a native speaker. They can select prerecorded phrases as the “conversation” progresses, making it appear personal, when you are only talking to a computer.
I think there are also crude, fully automated programs (think historic “Liza”) that can parse your words sufficiently to respond adequately. The intention, of course, is to fool you as people tend to respond more positively when talking to a person, not a computer.
Back in the 70s I spent a short time working for a company that did door to door charity collections. The charity was perfectly legitimate, but did themselves no favours using this company.
I was part of a small team that pushed a leaflet and an envelope through letterboxes. The following day we went round collecting the envelopes which hopefully contained money.
For every £1 I collected I was paid 20p, my team leader was paid 10p, his supervisor was also paid and the company took out their cut. The consensus among those of us at the sharp end was that less than 10p in the Pound went to the charity.
OP here. In doing readings, many (if not all) of these solicitors are not directly supporting the group which they first mention. Instead they are soliciting funds for a political action committees (PACs) . The PAC claims that one of its missions is to support politicians who (allegedly) support the group mentioned in the opening sentence. In other words, you could be supporting a politician you hate just because they claim to look favorably on the subject group mentioned.