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The fifty worst charities in the USA.

catsmate

No longer the 1
catsmate
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
37,171
Original article here. Fundraising data here (CSV). Commentary. CNN. Also here.

Between them they've collected US$970M and distributed US$49M.

The list.

  1. Kids Wish Network
  2. Cancer Fund of America
  3. Children’s Wish Foundation International
  4. American Breast Cancer Foundation
  5. Firefighters Charitable Foundation
  6. Breast Cancer Relief Foundation
  7. International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO
  8. National Veterans Service Fund
  9. American Association of State Troopers
  10. Children’s Cancer Fund of America
  11. Children’s Cancer Recovery Foundation
  12. Youth Development Fund
  13. Committee For Missing Children
  14. Association for Firefighters and Paramedics
  15. Project Cure (Bradenton, FL)
  16. National Caregiving Foundation
  17. Operation Lookout National Center for Missing Youth
  18. United States Deputy Sheriffs’ Association
  19. Vietnow National Headquarters
  20. Police Protective Fund
  21. National Cancer Coalition
  22. Woman To Woman Breast Cancer Foundation
  23. American Foundation For Disabled Children
  24. The Veterans Fund
  25. Heart Support of America
  26. Veterans Assistance Foundation
  27. Children’s Charity Fund
  28. Wishing Well Foundation USA
  29. Defeat Diabetes Found
  30. Disabled Police Officers of America Inc
  31. National Police Defense Foundation
  32. American Association of the Deaf & Blind
  33. Reserve Police Officers Association
  34. Optimal Medical Foundation
  35. Disabled Police and Sheriffs Foundation
  36. Disabled Police Officers Counseling Center
  37. Children’s Leukemia Research Association
  38. United Breast Cancer Foundation
  39. Shiloh International Ministries
  40. Circle of Friends For American Veterans
  41. Find the Children
  42. Survivors and Victims Empowered
  43. Firefighters Assistance Fund
  44. Caring for Our Children Foundation
  45. National Narcotic Officers Associations Coalition
  46. American Foundation for Children With AIDS
  47. Our American Veterans
  48. Roger Wyburn-Mason & Jack M Blount Foundation For Eradication of Rheumatoid Disease
  49. Firefighters Burn Fund
  50. Hope Cancer Fund
 
Last edited:
You are missing a M after $49.

Looks like some charities main purpose is to pay the wages of the solicitors. :(
 
You can help clean up the charity industry by contributing to the TragicMonkey Hope For Helping, Hearts For Hope Charitable Foundation Fund today. You won't not lack regret for donating!
 
TM, how did you miss The First Responder's Fund to Fight Breast Cancer in Children?
 
I was once involved a bit in a non-profit. The fund raising outfits work on 10%- 10% for the non-profit, 90% for the pros. Then, the chairmen of the non-profits take their salary based on "If I was the chairman of a corporation handling X much money, I would be getting paid Y salary". And give their daughter a salary of $60k to do filing, and have to beg for postage.
 
In marked contrast to those "charities", my g/f has been involved in this group for 20 years, nearly since their inception. They only have, IIRC, 2 paid employees and they are part-timers paid just a few thousand between them for doing a lot of work. If anyone has money burning a hole in their pockets and want to do a good deed donate to them, you can be assured that 99% of it goes directly to the cause. It relies on volunteers (many of them high school kids looking to fulfill their graduation requirement for community service in a single week) and even much of the food, equipment, and other supplies are donated by local businesses. Even the President and board members are volunteers and do not get paid for the hundreds of hours of work they do every year.

/shameless plug
 
We used to get constant complaints about police-oriented "charities". They were all scams. These were phone-solicitation outfits, and the callers would identify themselves as police officers soliciting money for "widows and orphans" and the like...
None of these were aligned in any way with any actual charity, and the callers were all hired off the street and given a script.
 
Most of the time, when police and firefighter charities call for donations, it is an outside company who keeps somewhere around 90% of every dollar you donate. I learned this from my brother who is a chief in a county fire department. Now, whenever they call me, I ask them how much actually goes to the firefighters. They definitely do not like to answer this question and do quite a bit of dancing around in an attempt not to have to answer.
 
I give via CFC now and stay local. The CFC pamplet shows the percentage overhead it takes to run the charity. I make it a point to never give to phone solicitors (never have) and have never done so even after they ask me to match last year's donation; a clever touch but still a lie.

Ranb
 
catsmate1 said:
Original article here. Fundraising data here (CSV). Commentary. CNN. Also here.

Between them they've collected US$970M and distributed US$49M.

The list.
...
3.Children’s Wish Foundation International
Click to expand...
Isn't that the one where sick children get the opportunity to meet their favorite celebrity or go to disneyland or whatever?

If so, I'd question its appearance on the list. After all, if they spend their time arranging visits from actors/athletes to children, there is very little that they have to "distribute". (I assume that the celebrities do not charge for their time, and any businesses such as Disneyland likewise probably do not charge.)
 
Segnosaur said:
Isn't that the one where sick children get the opportunity to meet their favorite celebrity or go to disneyland or whatever?

If so, I'd question its appearance on the list. After all, if they spend their time arranging visits from actors/athletes to children, there is very little that they have to "distribute". (I assume that the celebrities do not charge for their time, and any businesses such as Disneyland likewise probably do not charge.)
Click to expand...

There's the rub. You're thinking of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The similarity is intentional. Problem is that's where the similarities end.
 
Segnosaur said:
Isn't that the one where sick children get the opportunity to meet their favorite celebrity or go to disneyland or whatever?

If so, I'd question its appearance on the list. After all, if they spend their time arranging visits from actors/athletes to children, there is very little that they have to "distribute". (I assume that the celebrities do not charge for their time, and any businesses such as Disneyland likewise probably do not charge.)
Click to expand...

You're probably thinking of the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Children's Wish Foundation International, a completely different organization, has a sordid history going back years.
 
Segnosaur said:
Isn't that the one where sick children get the opportunity to meet their favorite celebrity or go to disneyland or whatever?

If so, I'd question its appearance on the list. After all, if they spend their time arranging visits from actors/athletes to children, there is very little that they have to "distribute". (I assume that the celebrities do not charge for their time, and any businesses such as Disneyland likewise probably do not charge.)
Click to expand...
They may claim to do that but the famous one is Make a Wish. A lot of these charities have names that sound like other.

BTW I have no idea how well Make-a-Wish handles it's money although I have given them a sizable chunk a few times because a cousins son with Leukemia did receive a dream trip from them.
 
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