America’s ’50 Worst Charities’ Spent Nearly $1-Billion on Commercial Fundraisers

America’s “50 Worst Charities” paid almost $1-billion to commercial fundraisers over a decade while spending less than 4 percent of donations on direct cash aid, according to a yearlong investigation by the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

The news outlets named Kids Wish Network, a group that promises to grant wishes for terminally ill children, as the worst charity, finding that it had channeled nearly $110-million to corporate solicitation firms over 10 years, while spending less than 3 cents of every dollar on its mission. A spokeswoman for the charity said it hires outside fundraisers so its staff members can focus on working with children.

The investigation, joined in recent months by CNN, named the 50 charities after combing federal and state records to identify 6,000 nonprofit groups that pay commercial fundraisers. It found that some of the 50 “worst” charities were founded by for-profit firms to act essentially as fronts, while the leaders of others take multiple salaries, pay themselves consulting fees, or arrange fundraising contracts with family and friends.

The investigation also found that charity fundraising rules differ widely from state to state and that minimal penalties offer little deterrence, with some “boiler room” solicitors that have been cited multiple times able to keep operating by setting up in other states.

The Tampa Bay paper and the investigative center also created a database of about 8,000 state regulatory actions against charities and commercial solicitors.

To read more, go to: tampabay.com.