Donating to a Charity That “Helps Vets”? Might Want to Check It Out First
Charitable giving is good. But there are good charities and there are those who give the word “charity” lip service. It always pays to check before you send that check.
For example: are you thinking of donating to Help Hospitalized Veterans – or any other organization founded by Roger Chapin? If so, you might want to read this article first.
Help Hospitalized Veterans is pretty efficient at raising money – an average of $40+M a year over 10 years. But it seems they’re not exactly one of the more effective charities when it comes to putting that money to good use. In fact, it seems there are quite a number of questionable practices at Help Hospitalized Veterans, such as
- $80,000 golf memberships for board members
- Loans and grants by Help Hospitalized Veterans to other organizations founded by Roger Chapin
- Only around 35% of donations actually going towards program costs
- Highly inflated and “spiked” salaries for senior officials, including Roger Chapin and his successor
- A $2M “golden parachute” retirement for Roger Chapin when he retired from the charity in 2009
Indeed, this isn’t the time Roger Chapin and Help Hospitalized Veterans have been in the public spotlight. They were investigated by Congress in 2008 for allegations of mismanagement.
But this does appear to be the first time they’ve been taken to court. The state of CA is suing them for financial improprieties as a charitable organization. The state is seeking the ouster of the current president and several board members – and to recover at least $4.3M that’s alleged to have been misspent.
I’m not against the head of an organization with annual revenue of $40M+ receiving a good salary. But I do have a problem with charities using donations as a “cash cow” and skimming big bucks off the top for salaries and perks for their leadership, then spending barely 1/3 of what they take in on actual charitable programs. And based on what’s been made public to date that’s certainly what seems to have been be going on at Help Hospitalized Veterans – though it has yet to be proven in court.
Given what’s been discovered at Help Hospitalized Veterans I’d also be wary as hell about giving my money to any other organization founded by Roger Chapin, too. He’s apparently founded over two dozen other organizations besides Help Hospitalized Veterans.
Hey, Yon: if you want to spend time bitching about a charity, you really might want to check these guys out instead of Soldier’s Angels.
Category: Military issues, Shitbags, Veterans Issues
Par for the course.
They are not alone. Check out WWP’s fiscal reports.
This is a good article, especially with Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) set to kick off soon. One thing I always look at is the charity’s overhead. I like to see how much of every dollar I give actually goes to the cause.
If it’s been mentioned before, my apologies.
I found a site that rates charities using numerous classifications, i.e., The Top Ten:
10 Non-University Education Charities
10 Charities Expanding in a Hurry
10 Most Frequently Viewed Charities
10 Celebrity-Related Charities
10 Super-Sized Charities
10 Charities Overpaying their For-Profit Fundraisers
10 Highly-Rated Charities with Low Paid CEOs
10 Charities with the Most Consecutive 4-Star Ratings
10 Top-Notch Charities
10 Charities with the Most Consecutive 4-Star Ratings (Excluding Universities)
10 Highly Rated Charities with Favorable Reviews
10 Well Known Charities without Reviews
10 Charities Routinely in the Red
10 Highly Rated Charities Relying on Private Contributions
10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of
10 Charities in Deep Financial Trouble
10 Charities Worth Watching
10 Highly Paid CEOs at Low-Rated Charities
The web site is: http://www.charitynavigator.org/ – The Charity Navigator.
[…] over at This Ain’t Hell reminds us to research charities before we open our wallets. Just because an organization has a nice-sounding name (like "Help […]
Going along with that, I’m planning on adding a new widget on my blog for charitable donations. I unfortunately don’t know enough of the Mil Charities, so if you could put together a list of the good, responsible ones so I can filch it, I would deeply appreciate it. I already am planning on Soldiers Angels, CCF, Salvation Army, Good Samaritans, and St. Vincent DePaul. If you have or know of a vetted list, please post it.
Lot’s of non-profits actually spend very little on whatever their goal is for. CEOs and boards make the most…then full time staff…then by the time they send some money to where it’s supposed to go…”opps, sorry it cost a lot to run this show.”
I refuse to donate a dime to any group that doesn’t put most of the money where it’s supppsed to go.
@5: There are a lot of very good military charities such as The Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Operation Homefront, Homes for Our Troops, Wounded Warrior Project etc. Spend some time on the charity vetting sites like charity navigator and I am sure you can find some real good ones.
@7.
You should re-read and break down the publicly available financials of WWP.
You might rethink your comment.
Also, avoid scam charities like Soldiers’ Angels.
Some more coverage
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/hospitalized-veterans-csi-actor-cuts-ties-serving-vets/story?id=16996255
Some charities that I will recommend you look at and consider. Since Cooking with the Troops (cwtt.org) works with some of them, I am biased and you need to consider that. 🙂
Hope for the Warriors
Semper Fi Fund
Warrior Gateway
Pin-Ups for Vets
Fisher House
Jericho Project
Soldiers’ Angels (highly commend Valor-IT and SA Germany)
ReMIND
USO Indiana
USO Europe/Germany
USO
Things I look for: pledge to keep admin/fundraising below 20 percent, pref. around 15 percent max; financials online; volunteer board of directors; and, salaries in line with best practices (i.e. not huge). Things that make me go meh — a great Guidestar or Charity Navigator score for having a huge bank account. I’d rather know the money is going to where it is needed.
There are a LOT of charities out there, and frankly a lot of redundant ones. Look for charities that play well with others, have a unique niche, follow best practices, and do what needs to be done (as opposed to talking about it). Sometimes the best isn’t the biggest, but the ones that team up to provide a more holistic approach.
Just my thoughts…