Call came in as "Pol Protect Fund" on caller ID, left no message.
I pulled up their 2011 IRS 990 form along with the info they provided to our Secretary of State's office on their solicitation figures. Here's what it boils down to:
Last year this group took in:
$5,917,774.00 via telephone solicitation
Last year this group gave out:
$70,918.00
That equates to 1.1% that ACTUALLY went to the purpose for which the money was collected. All of the other monies went to management salaries, employee salaries, rent, equipment and things of that nature.
It's also of interest to note that two of the larger expenses of this company go to "a friend" according to their 990 filing, who just happens to be a 'part-owner' of this charity as well as of the company that is providing 'data services' and 'donor list info' to this charity. (To the tune of just over a million dollars this past year.)
Sorry guys, in my books this is a FOR profit company and WILL NOT be getting any money from me - I give NO money to groups that provide less than 50% of the solicited monies to the actual purpose for which the monies were solicited.
Everyone should take a moment to see where your money is really going and how it is used by these companies - there are several LARGE telemarketing firms that exist very WELL off of YOUR donations, while the actual "charity" is left to starve - receiving very little of the money collected. These groups have plush offices and live very well and represent some of the better known names in the charity 'industry'.
There are also very honest solicitors as well - in looking into this at my State level, there are a number that exceed 80% going to the actual charity. Hats off to these guys!! That is the way to operate.
If more people would examine this info BEFORE giving away money that will NEVER see the charity for which they intended it to go to, then perhaps we would finally starve out some of these scummy players in this field.
Also of note, this group is based in Texas, but they used a North Carolina phone number (spoofed via VoIP?) to make calls in North Carolina. Interesting because it appears as if this charity is to benefit police officers in NC, when in fact according to their 990 IRS filings they only gave money to the Texas based police forces through their charity.
(33 individuals received $1,757 each and they also spent $12,918 on a children's educational program for that year.)
Call came in as "Pol Protect Fund" on caller ID, left no message.
I pulled up their 2011 IRS 990 form along with the info they provided to our Secretary of State's office on their solicitation figures. Here's what it boils down to:
Last year this group took in:
$5,917,774.00 via telephone solicitation
Last year this group gave out:
$70,918.00
That equates to 1.1% that ACTUALLY went to the purpose for which the money was collected. All of the other monies went to management salaries, employee salaries, rent, equipment and things of that nature.
It's also of interest to note that two of the larger expenses of this company go to "a friend" according to their 990 filing, who just happens to be a 'part-owner' of this charity as well as of the company that is providing 'data services' and 'donor list info' to this charity. (To the tune of just over a million dollars this past year.)
Sorry guys, in my books this is a FOR profit company and WILL NOT be getting any money from me - I give NO money to groups that provide less than 50% of the solicited monies to the actual purpose for which the monies were solicited.
Everyone should take a moment to see where your money is really going and how it is used by these companies - there are several LARGE telemarketing firms that exist very WELL off of YOUR donations, while the actual "charity" is left to starve - receiving very little of the money collected. These groups have plush offices and live very well and represent some of the better known names in the charity 'industry'.
There are also very honest solicitors as well - in looking into this at my State level, there are a number that exceed 80% going to the actual charity. Hats off to these guys!! That is the way to operate.
If more people would examine this info BEFORE giving away money that will NEVER see the charity for which they intended it to go to, then perhaps we would finally starve out some of these scummy players in this field.
Also of note, this group is based in Texas, but they used a North Carolina phone number (spoofed via VoIP?) to make calls in North Carolina. Interesting because it appears as if this charity is to benefit police officers in NC, when in fact according to their 990 IRS filings they only gave money to the Texas based police forces through their charity.
(33 individuals received $1,757 each and they also spent $12,918 on a children's educational program for that year.)