Why a Fund-Raising Prank Isn’t Funny

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

You can add North Park University to the list of hoaxed institutions (“Why Is a Mystery Man Making Prank Donation Calls?,” August 31). Our story has an unfortunate twist to it.

The major-gifts officer who took the call was quite hurt by this incident.

Although we all had read the story in your publication, the person changed enough of the details that she didn’t catch it at first. He kept her on the line for an hour.

As your article stated, he said his daughter (who he said had died three weeks earlier) had met one of our students on a plane and that had made her life a joy for the duration of it. In this case he was going to give us $40-million for a capital project and $5-million for an endowed scholarship in his daughter’s memory.

After she hung up and told some of the rest of us about it, we did some quick checking and saw the similarities between your story and what he was saying. The kicker was checking “reverse lookup” and finding that the phone number led to a grocery store in Florida.

I am hoping there is some way this person can be exposed. He is having a great time conjuring up the images of all of us gleefully envisioning our goals and dreams met for the year and beyond, then having all of that crushed.

The guy is beyond contemptible — someone needs to stop him.

Alice Hartley
Associate Vice President for Development
North Park University
Chicago

To the Editor:

Thank goodness I am not the only one receiving a call from a creative genius posing as a dying philanthropist who wants to bequeath millions of dollars to charity.

Since Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi Children’s Home Services has received numerous valid calls from people all over the United States who have genuinely wanted to help us in our recovery efforts, so when I received this mystery call in January 2006, I listened intently, trusting that the caller was sincere.

My bogus caller said his name was Richard Leland Haas. I furiously scribbled detailed notes during the hour-plus phone call. His story, though wildly fabulous, seemed to contain some factual elements, yet when I checked the names and number he gave me, I knew I had been duped.

My guy’s offer, however, tops the offer from Baylor University’s mysterious Mr. Bolyer, since my guy promised to die within four months and leave my agency $154-million in liquid assets plus another $100-million to $200-million in his estate after the sale of his Hilton stock and his antique-car collection. If only planned gifts came to us this effortlessly.

Scherry Gilliland
Chief Development Officer
Mississippi Children’s Home Services
Jackson, Miss.