Scary

[Joe]

Today, the U.S. boasts more than one million nonprofits, up from about 774,000 ten years ago. Their biggest donations come from corporations, foundations and the ultra-wealthy. Many have been hit hard by the deepening recession. A drop in charitable contributions could shutter as many as 100,000 nonprofits over the next year, says Paul Light, a professor at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.

Wall Street Journal

Be careful whom you choose to donate to. Some so called breast cancer non-profits pay their CEO
$200.000-500,000 a year and are sitting on investment portfolios in excess of $5 million. Charity Navigator

Their websites look more like e-commerce sites as they seem more interested in selling merchandise.

Regards
Joe

[RhondaH]

that IS scary. Take care and God bless.

[Rich66]

Not to pick on law enforcement charities but..I was noticing at one point a lot of LE charities calling me. I decided to ask one of them how they spent their money. I got them to send me a budget and when you looked at it almost all the money went into paying salaries and expanding facilities. I couldn't decide whether the figures irritated me more than the audacity of sending them to me, presumably oblivious they would be considered damning.

[Christine MH-UK]

Hi Joe,

I read that one of the main cancer research charities in the UK (not named in the piece) was expecting donations to be down 20%. Cancer research in the UK is much more dependent on charity than in the US.

I know someone who was recently told by Cancer Research UK that he was one of their more generous donors (as they phoned for a bit more money). He was rather shocked at how little money made one a generous donor now.

Scarey times indeed. Let's hope and pray that the economy gets back on its feet.

[Alice]

It is truly a scary time to have a bad illness, as if it were not scarry enough. I have always inquired as to the monitary structuring of the "non proffit groups" that I have supported throughout the years and I will only support those that do not pay their TOP executives an expodential amount.

You would be suprised at the number of well known charities that I will not contribute to due to the percentage that goes to administration and the number of cents on the dollar that actually goes to the people in need. It can all be a big scam.

[ElaineM]

It is a good idea to check out a charity's financial information before deciding whether or not to donate.
I am interested in finding out what percentage of donations actually goes to helping people.
I can't afford to donate alot of money to any one charity. If I keep receiving mail from a charity I only gave a small amount of money to for a year or more I don't donate to that charity anymore. I ask them to take me off their mailing list if I can. I think they have spent more money on sending me mail than they spent on helping people. I only wrote 2 checks for charities over the holidays and I asked them to keep my name off their mailing lists. I gave cash whenever I could to prevent getting more mail from charities. I also like to give to different charities every year.