Charities

[Gerr]

What do you do with the mail from 'Charities' that send you gifts or pennies/nickels/dimes? And when you check them them out with Charity Watch (American Institute of Philanthropy), they are either not even listed or not rated?

[Woody]

Donate the nickel to ADRA

[Dottie]

I'd put it in our church building fund.

[phkrause]

All the charities that I gave money to have always been legit.

[Gerr]

They are probably all legit, but according to Charity Watch (formerly American Institute of Philanthropy), much if not most of the money goes to the fundraisers'

pockets and not to the advertized beneficiaries. For years I gave to "Paralysed Veterans of America". Then I saw a news broadcast where its president was being grilled for giving, if I recall correctly, less than 20% to the veterans. The rest was spent on fundraising or lining his pockets or the pockets of various family members who have been placed in various positions in the organization. I stopped giving to the American Cancer Society because its CEO receives over $1 MILLION a year. That's charity for you!

I suggest to all charity givers to check out Charity Watch/American Institute of Philanthropy to see which ones are worthy of trust.