For many charitable organizations, December is a critical month because a substantial portion of their charitable contributions come in the form of year-end contributions. Many Americans increase their giving at this time in order to take advantage of the deductibility of charitable contributions for income taxes.
Because of the importance of December giving, many citizens receive increased numbers of solicitations by mail, telephone, and in-person requests. While many solicitations come from organizations that do good work and use donations as intended, some come from less scrupulous groups that take advantage of donors’ good will.
In November, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a lawsuit against Cops for Kids Inc., a nonprofit accused of misleading Ohio donors about how their money would spent. The group raised more than $4.2 million over the course of 10 years, but spent less than two percent of it on charitable programming, despite claims that it provided significant programming in most of Ohio’s 88 counties.
Sham charities can take money away from reputable groups that maximize charitable dollars. And because sham charities often use names that sound trustworthy, it can be difficult to evaluate a charitable request based solely on the solicitation. Fortunately, a bit of research can go a long way in ensuring that charitable contributions will go to organizations that make effective use of their funds.
The Ohio Attorney General’s website offers several resources for those trying to make thoughtful decisions about what groups to support. In addition to using the website’s search function to determine what, if any, information about the charity is on file with the Attorney General’s Charitable Law Section, there are also links to watchdog organizations that evaluate charities.
In general, the best approach to avoid feeling pressured about making contribution decisions is to adopt a giving plan listing the specific organizations you wish to support. When additional solicitations arrive, you can ask for more information to evaluate the request.
If you suspect a charity scam or encounter questionable fundraising activity, report it to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office online or by calling 800-282-0515.