The Alliance for Consumer Protection tips for making informed decisions when making GIFTS TO CHARITIES By Sidney Elkin, Founder.
At the end of the year, most households are deluged by charity and non-profit group fund raising requests for gifts and donations. Givers should investigate group money management of the charitable funds to make sure that the contributed funds are used to support the charity’s mission.
One may want to know about the allocation of the charity’s income which is used for the group’s programs. What percentage of income goes to fund raising expenses and what percentage is used for management costs. By checking Charity Navigator, www.give.org you can learn about the share of income devoted to programming and other important information.
It has been suggested that you avoid groups which devote less than 75% of income to their mission. Fund raising expenses, including paid professional solicitors, should be below 10% of income. There are also some charities which use names similar to well established groups which confuse well intentioned donors. It is best to check out groups if their name is not familiar to you.
December is the month when online donations surge. According to the Network for Good, 31% of online donations were made in December in 2014 and 12% of donations were made in the last three days of the month. A recent AARP survey found that 70% of charity donors failed to ask how the collected funds were to be used. Donors should verify that fund raisers are authorized to conduct collections in their state. As contributors to a charity, the public should want to make sure that the funds are supporting a worthy cause.
For more information about the Alliance for Consumer Protection, please visit our website at http://www.acp-beaver.org/.