Great, so what brought you to this website? Did your friend tell you there is a website where folks complain about unruly telemarketers that are posing as charities?
On several occasions in the last three months they have called my house asking my family to donate clothing to their charity. We have asked them to quit calling our house and that if we have clothing to donate, that we would contact them.
Also talked with a Julie Adams who said that she was representing this charity and asked that my phone number be removed from their listing.
The reason you get 5 calls a week with no one there is a lovely invention called "predictive dialing". It works like this - the computer knows that for every x calls, only 1 call is likely to be answered. So if they have three people working the phones who aren't currently on a call, and only 1 in 5 is LIKELY to be answered, the computer dials 15 different people's phone numbers, all at once. As soon as three calls get answered, there is no one available anymore to handle any additional answered calls, so you get to go pound sand. Nice, eh? Anyway, that is why you sell so many posts on this and other sites saying "I answered, but no one was there". Be sure and tell your friends, and get them to ask their elected representatives why we don't have a real "Do Not Call" law. You can't ignore a "No Trespassing" sign on someone's law without penalty, why should you be able to intrude by telephone?
I am interested to see your post, but remain totally unconvinced. Charity Navigator ORG does not list you, and in my mind that is a bad sign. If you are legitimate, then I suggest you get in touch with them and provide the required documentation. It is my strong suspicion that you are not a legitimate operation. I invite you to offer INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIABLE proof that you are legitimate, and that your overhead and fund raising expenses are at reasonable levels. Can you meet the terms of my challenge?
You know folks, its funny, but I have never received a "cold call" telephone solicitation from a charity with a respectable track record, and that is why NSPIRE's phone numbers are now blocked in my PBX.
FOR THOSE WANTING TO DONATE TO A VERY REPUTABLE CHARITY SERVING THE SAME POPULATION THAT THIS BUNCH CLAIMS TO SERVE, I SUGGEST ATLANTA UNION MISSION. DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT HOWEVER, LOOK THEM UP AT CHARTY NAVIGATOR . ORG and decide for yourself. Just type "Atlanta Union Mission" in the charity search box on their web site, and you will see they have a four star rating, while searching for NSPIRE yields no result because they are not listed - at all.
Do the research, and draw your own conclusions, because you should never take the word of a total stranger posting on this site.