Deceptive Fund Raising

Fund raisers—often using deceptive or misleading tactics—that take an inordinate amount of the money they collect, leaving little for the nonprofit organizations in whose names they raise that money, and their tactics often corroding the organization's good name in the community, are a bane on the sector.

This story from the New York Times reports on the efforts of the state government to regulate this practice and it is welcome news.

An excerpt.

“The telephone solicitor for the local Police Benevolent Association was polite at first, but when Toby Morse explained that she had decided not to give money this year, his tone shifted. He read aloud her address and wondered how sturdy her locks were. Over the following weeks, she received dozens of phone calls at all times of the day to press her for donations, including one from a man pretending to be a police officer.

“On Wednesday, a year after Ms. Morse reported the harassing phone calls, the state attorney general’s office announced that it was suing to shut down four telemarketing companies in New York that provide fund-raising services for nonprofit organizations.

“The companies…were accused of repeatedly breaking state laws that make it illegal to use deceptive or misleading tactics to do fund-raising. The lawsuit follows a six-month undercover investigation.

“It really leaves a bad taste in the mouth of people who do like to donate,” said Ms. Morse, 40, a state court officer who lives near Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

“The attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, said the companies undermined the faith of philanthropically inclined New Yorkers. He noted that the companies, all of which are for-profit, kept 76 percent of the money they ostensibly raised for charity.”