Ever Feel Like You Got Duped For Donating To a Charity?

Remy

Remy

Well-known Member
Location
California, USA
I have. I started donating to a cat rescue center that has a live cam on YouTube. They had a web site, volunteers on camera, cats, intakes, adoptions. They looked legit and I do think they are. I purchased their calander featuring the cats and sent a donation for their cat Christmas drive. Well right after the cat Christmas drive was over the woman announces they may have to shut down, not taking in anymore cats, personal "health issues." In the end I guess someone is taking over the rescue and it will continue. But this woman announced she's moving to a southern state island town where property is not easy to find but they were so lucky to have an offer accepted. I can't even find a freaking decent mobile home in a park in California. I feel duped.

I used to donate to Farm Sanctuary and had visited their Northern California sanctuary several times. At one event, the co-founder, Gene Baur, in his talk stated part of your advocacy for veganism was your "appearance." I know exactly what he was talking about. I had stood next to this guy and got a weird feeling from him. I guess farm animal rescue is all about how you look and the animals care about it also. Again, I felt like a fool and never went back. They since closed that sanctuary.

It seems everything I do, bites me back in the end. I don't know if it's just me since I admit I have a negative outlook. Partly earned, I can assure you. But it just gets old. I'm venting and I'll probably get some push back or attacks but it's how I'm feeling right now.
 

Remy,
have you looked in Santa Paula CA for a mobile home? We have some for sale in our +55 park.
 
It's too easy for a charity to dupe their supporters. I don't know what the regulations are today, but in the past a charity had to devote as little as 10% of their intake to "program services".
The rest could go to overhead, expenses and salaries. It wasn't uncommon for a so-called charity to be paying salaries to a husband and wife, offspring and various family members, all of which had some meaningless role in the proceedings.

They could continue this for a number of years before the crows came home to roost.

My favorite example of this was a charity called something like "The Society to Save Foreign Dogs". Four employees, who happened to be husband, wife, son and daughter, took a trip to Singapore, where they picked up a street dog, brought it back to the U.S. and placed it for adoption. Then they dissolved the charity, obviously being too tired out by a deluxe vacation to go on. <snort>
 
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I prefer to donate to an actual place rather than a foundation or advocacy group. For example, I go to a fire station to give donations for house-fire victims, and to our police substation to donate to their charities, and to our animal shelter's sanctuary, etc..

That said, I like that Clean Ocean Project ( cleanoceanproject.org ). It's only a few years old but you can see how they're getting on because they post videos on YouTube and there are articles about them in major newspapers and online tech magazines.
 
I was looking at the polar bears webcam, and out of curiosity
I asked in their forum what do they feed the bears....( I knew the answer)...and they said "nothing", we don't feed them....so i asked how do they provide shelter, got no anser at all...then I said well if you don't feed them and don't shelter them what
the ****:L do you need money for? They deleted my post !!! LOL.....
 
Very few charities are not scams. They know exactly how to reel you in using your emotions.
An example: "The Wounded Warrior Project." Even after their scam was publicized, people are still donating. Gives them that warm, fuzzy feeling & they lose their ability to face reality.
Those "Homeless" people standing at freeway off ramps & market parking lots? Yes, if you have time, you can watch them trade kids & dogs with each other - they get more donations when they have fake starving kids & pets with them. After their shift, they drive home - in a Mercedes SUV, laughing at suckers.
 
win231 said:
Very few charities are not scams. They know exactly how to reel you in using your emotions.
An example: "The Wounded Warrior Project." Even after their scam was publicized, people are still donating. Gives them that warm, fuzzy feeling & they lose their ability to face reality.
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If you don't mind me asking, why do you consider it a scam?
I know a long time ago you remarked on here that the little "free gift" you received in the mail wasn't what you expected, but is there more to it than that?
 
JaniceM said:
If you don't mind me asking, why do you consider it a scam?
I know a long time ago you remarked on here that the little "free gift" you received in the mail wasn't what you expected, but is there more to it than that?
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I have no idea what "free gift" you're talking about. Perhaps you have me confused with someone else.
The "Wounded Warrior's" scam was made public a few years ago when someone revealed how many pennies from each dollar donated went to help wounded veterans.
 
Remy said:
I have. I started donating to a cat rescue center that has a live cam on YouTube. They had a web site, volunteers on camera, cats, intakes, adoptions. They looked legit and I do think they are. I purchased their calander featuring the cats and sent a donation for their cat Christmas drive. Well right after the cat Christmas drive was over the woman announces they may have to shut down, not taking in anymore cats, personal "health issues." In the end I guess someone is taking over the rescue and it will continue. But this woman announced she's moving to a southern state island town where property is not easy to find but they were so lucky to have an offer accepted. I can't even find a freaking decent mobile home in a park in California. I feel duped.

I used to donate to Farm Sanctuary and had visited their Northern California sanctuary several times. At one event, the co-founder, Gene Baur, in his talk stated part of your advocacy for veganism was your "appearance." I know exactly what he was talking about. I had stood next to this guy and got a weird feeling from him. I guess farm animal rescue is all about how you look and the animals care about it also. Again, I felt like a fool and never went back. They since closed that sanctuary.

It seems everything I do, bites me back in the end. I don't know if it's just me since I admit I have a negative outlook. Partly earned, I can assure you. But it just gets old. I'm venting and I'll probably get some push back or attacks but it's how I'm feeling right now.
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I understand your concern about donating to a shoddy charity, especially now that they are shutting down. You ask legitimate questions. Please don't let those experiences keep you from helping legitimate charities. I also am careful about who I donate to. Usually it's a local church-based charity that I know well. Good luck!:)
 
The list of bogus charities is a mile long. If a person wants to donate, they should first go to web-sites such as CharityWatch.org, and see how much of that charities funding actually goes to the intended purpose. Personally, we stay with The Salvation Army, and the local animal shelter.
 
There are a few sites to check % used for purpose and what is absorbed by staff or whomever
It is eye opening that many big well known are awful about what actually makes it to the cause you may want to support.
 
Don M. said:
The list of bogus charities is a mile long. If a person wants to donate, they should first go to web-sites such as CharityWatch.org, and see how much of that charities funding actually goes to the intended purpose. Personally, we stay with The Salvation Army, and the local animal shelter.
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I support Matthew 25 Ministries ,and am researching a 'local' animal shelter currently. Heard too much negative about the national organizations .
 
Rather than a monetary donation, we are taking supplies to the Humane Society .. new bowls, warm blankets, rope toys and food. I dare not go in to look at the dogs though, as we can't have pets in our condo .. also, it would break my heart.
 
Murrmurr said:
I prefer to donate to an actual place rather than a foundation or advocacy group. For example, I go to a fire station to give donations for house-fire victims, and to our police substation to donate to their charities, and to our animal shelter's sanctuary, etc..

That said, I like that Clean Ocean Project ( cleanoceanproject.org ). It's only a few years old but you can see how they're getting on because they post videos on YouTube and there are articles about them in major newspapers and online tech magazines.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I just stick to local charities/people I know. I think it's important to help your own community first.
 
I don't give to charities. I worked for one for over a year. And, no, I don't have any dirt on them. But I can say the most important thing to a charity is fundraising. My own opinion is that charities are poorly monitored, Charities are rated on the money they give to "programs". But there's not much oversight to what their "programs" actually are. The ads on TV for charities are paid ads, so if you see them often that's an indication of the size of their advertising budget,
 
I’ve just I’ve just stopped, period. The only thing I donate to is one particular church’s fabulous music programs. But one recent exception. A relative passed away recently in his 70s after fighting Type 1 diabetes since youth, so I donated to the juvenile diabetes charity his widow wanted. He had been active in it during his very productive life.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I don't give to charities. I worked for one for over a year. And, no, I don't have any dirt on them. But I can say the most important thing to a charity is fundraising. My own opinion is that charities are poorly monitored, Charities are rated on the money they give to "programs". But there's not much oversight to what their "programs" actually are. The ads on TV for charities are paid ads, so if you see them often that's an indication of the size of their advertising budget,
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That's interesting, Fuzz. Dirt or not, it's good information. It does sound potentially dirty, tbh...I mean, the potential for a charity to be a total rip-off is obvious. Needs a new rating system and a lot of oversight. Oversight could include requiring charities to publish easily accessible monthly reports on spending and results or actual effects of spending.
 
helenbacque said:
Most charities/non-profits exist for the sole purpose of providing salaries to those who run it,
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i agree that is why you can see many celebrities and such creating their own "foundation" and employing many family or friends ..
Tax write off and Paying huge salaries to buddies .. win -win
 
Research the charities, find out how much goes to publicity, salaries. If you are fortunate enough to be able to donate then give to the charity close to your heart. I prefer to give to animal or earth charities.
 

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