July 26, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
By HARVY LIPMAN
Donors in Ohio and Connecticut are cutting back sharply on the amount they give to telemarketers and other professional solicitors hired by charities, according to new reports by state regulators.
Donations by Ohio residents decreased by 24 percent in 2000, from $118.4-million in 1999 to $90.3-million. Of that, $57.6-million (64 percent) went to expenses and profits for the fund-raising companies, according to a report by Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery.
Connecticut residents also donated less in 2000 to in-state charities that hired telemarketers, according to a joint report by state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Consumer Protection Commissioner James T. Fleming. Contributions fell 23 percent, from $11.2-million in 1999 to $8.6-million. About two-thirds of those donations ($5.7-million) were kept by the professional solicitors.
Donations fell despite the fact that the number of fund-raising campaigns increased in both states. In Ohio, professional solicitors ran 493 charitable fund-raising campaigns in 2000, compared with 486 the year before. In Connecticut, the number of state-based organizations hiring professional fund-raising companies rose from 110 to 117. (Connecticut does not keep figures on what donors give to charities not based in the state.)
Police, firefighter, and other public-safety groups were the biggest users of telemarketers, the Connecticut report found. These types of organizations accounted for about two-thirds of all nonprofit groups in the state that used paid telephone solicitors to raise funds.
Both states’ findings are in line with a Chronicle study earlier this year that found that about a third of the $1-billion Americans donate annually to charities through paid solicitors goes to the nonprofit group (The Chronicle, April 5).
Free copies of the Connecticut report can be obtained by calling the Connecticut Attorney General’s office, (860) 808-5318, or writing the office’s Charities Bureau, 55 Elm Street, Hartford, Conn. 06106. The report is scheduled to be posted soon on the Department of Consumer Protection’s Web site, http://www.state.ct.us/dcp/Charities.htm.
The Ohio report can also be obtained free by contacting the Ohio Attorney General’s office, State Office Tower, 30 East Broad Street, 17th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215-3428; (614) 466-4320. The Ohio report is also available online at http://www.ag.state.oh.us/charitab/2000charitablereport.htm.
