Hang up on paid fundraisers for police and firefighters

You’re having dinner one evening when someone calls to say that your local police officers or firefighters need your financial help. Who wouldn’t want to give to such a worthy cause?

Possibly you. Most of the telephone and direct-mail fundraising done on behalf of police and fire organizations is conducted not by the organizations themselves but by paid solicitors, who often take 70 cents or more of every dollar they raise. For example, in a recent study, Connecticut’s Public Charities Unit determined that the state’s public-safety groups in 2005 received less than 33 cents of every dollar raised on their behalf. In some cases, the percentage that went to the organization was in the teens.

And the paltry amounts are only part of the story. Just because the word police or firefighter is in an organization’s name doesn’t mean there are police officers or firefighters in the group, the Federal Trade Commission warns. Also, the money that goes to the group might not be used locally or for any public-safety purpose. Finally, donations are not always tax-deductible.

If you receive such a solicitation from a public-safety group, just hang up. If you’re interested in giving to an organization, contact it directly and find out how the money will be used and whether the donation is deductible. Then if you send a check, you’ll be sure the group will get the entire amount instead of a tiny percentage.

Before giving to any group, it’s a good idea to check it out to make sure it’s a legitimate charitable organization and that your donation will be tax deductible. You also might want to dig further to see if the group spends the money you donate on good works and not on overhead and fundraising expenses. Click here for more on how to check out a charity.—Anthony Giorgianni