Category: Wise Giving Wednesday

Many of you may have heard the recent news story about Ruth Gottesman, Ed.D., a 93-year-old financier who donated $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, to fund tuition for all students going forward. She is a former professor at the school whose late husband made billions running an investment firm. Dr. Gottesman was on the school’s board of trustees and currently serves as chair. On March 1, 2024, inspired by this circumstance, Jeremy Engle of The Learning Network of The New York Times, wrote an interesting student opinion piece in the Times: “If You Had $1 Billion to Give Away, What Charity Would You Support?”  Jeremy encouraged students 13 years old and older in the U.S. and Britain to read the Times article and post their thoughts on what causes and/or organizations they would support with such a large gift. As of the date of this post, the responses have included a variety of recommendations. This generosity presents an impressive and interesting situation not only because of the size of the gift but also due to the nature of the donor restriction. If any medical school received such a large contribution, how likely would they similarly fund student tuition? The fact that this story made headlines around the country signals its unique use, but it also prompts people to think about how they might decide to apply such a philanthropic gold mine. If given the opportunity, would one choose a favorite charitable organization or spread the donation around many groups devoted to a shared cause, like cancer research or addressing environmental issues? There is no single correct answer, and that helps fuel attention on making this choice. But this story also reminds us of other challenges facing the charitable sector. The number of U.S. households contributing to charity has declined. Research by the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy has shown that while 66.2% of American households contributed to charity in 2000, only 49.6% of households donated in 2018. As a result, some charities are now more frequently turning to wealthier donors for support to help fill this growing gap. For more on this and related donor matters, see the Give.org Donor Trust Special Report on Donor Participation which was released in June 2023. In our experience, most of the users of the evaluative reports produced by BBB Wise Giving Alliance want to verify charity trustworthiness by seeking charities that meet the 20 BBB Charity Standards. Although they are not making huge gifts like Dr. Gottesman, they are responding to various appeals requesting their support. For many charitable organizations, this supply of smaller gifts has served as a reliable backbone of American philanthropy. Large donations are certainly encouraged and welcomed by charities, but those large gifts are unlikely to be repeated by the same contributor. Ultimately, the health of the charitable sector depends on a broad culture of charitable support, with inclusive engagement of many small donors in giving, rather than over-reliance on a few wealthy donors.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

In this week’s Heart of Giving Podcast, our featured guest is Joey Zumaya, Founding Partner of The Zumaya Group which leads social impact teams and initiatives that include nonprofit engagement, community development and diversity.

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We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Scenic America
• Nourish Up
• Childhood Leukemia Foundation

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

There are four pillars or themes within the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability: charity governance, results reporting, finances, and fundraising/informational materials. There is a reason that the governance standards are listed first. In many ways, they address the most fundamental and influential aspects of accountability. A charity with a well-run board of directors will have the best chance to succeed and ensure that the organization’s operations are carried out with great integrity and efficiency.

About two years ago, Wise Giving Wednesday featured a series of posts, linked below, that outlined the three essential elements of good governance that are often featured in guidebooks produced by state government regulatory agencies such as the board responsibility book, Right from the Start: Responsibilities of Directors of Not-for-Profit Corporations, produced by the Charities Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General.

• Duty of loyalty – act in the nonprofit’s best interest and disclosing related party transactions that could result in a potential conflict of interest
• Duty of care – be familiar with the organization’s finances and activities and participate regularly in its governance, in “good faith” 
• Duty of obedience – ensure that the organization complies with applicable laws and regulations, its mission, and its internal governance documents and policies

These are more than just theoretical concepts; they are objectives that all governing board members should take seriously in their deliberations and decision making. The BBB Charity Standards cover these issues within the five standards, which address, among other things, adequate board oversight over the charity’s operations and staff, having at least three meetings with a majority in attendance on average, no more than 10% of the Board being compensated directly or indirectly, and no transactions resulting in material conflicts-of-interest with board or staff member related firms.

From time to time, BBB Wise Giving Alliance unfortunately finds a certain circumstance that can thwart the ability of a charity to have good governance. This is when a charity’s head of staff (whether it be titled CEO, executive director, president, or other name) also serves as the chair of the charity’s governing board. If someone is serving as CEO while simultaneously serving as board chair, that person is essentially in charge of their own oversight. This is a recipe, even with the best of intentions, that can lead to disaster. Also, as these two leadership roles have specific responsibilities that are separate from each other, it is not practical for one person to do them both.

Additional guidance and recommendations on the BBB Charity Standards can be found in the implementation descriptions of the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features Omari Maynard, an artist, activist, educator, and founder of ARIAH Foundation. This organization seeks to support individuals, families, and communities that experience the devastating aftershock associated with maternal/infant morbidity and mortality.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Boulder Crest Foundation
• Planet Aid
• Hagar USA

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

On February 14^th, it was shocking to learn about the mass shooting that disrupted a parade celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory. Over 20 people were shot including one woman who was killed. As expected, many are seeking to help the victims and their families. BBB Wise Giving Alliance encourages interested contributors to consider the following six questions about donating in response to tragedy-related philanthropy.

1. Do fundraising appeals respect families of victims?

As charitable organizations and/or crowdfunding postings raise funds to help, they also should get permission from the families to use either the names of the victims and/or any photographs of them. Don’t assume there is an official connection if photos are displayed.

2. Are the appeals clear about how money will be used?

Be cautious about vague appeals that don’t identify the intended use of funds. For example, is money being collected for medical expenses or other family needs? Also, unless told otherwise, donors will assume that contributed funds quickly collected after a tragedy will be distributed or spent just as quickly. Be mindful of public announcements that describe family assistance to help avoid donating to duplicative efforts.

Contributions that are donor-restricted to help a specific individual/family are not deductible in the U.S. as charitable donations, even if the recipient organization is a charity. See IRS Publication 526, page 7, for more information on this subject.  

It is not unusual for fundraising to start within hours after a tragedy has occurred. Please keep in mind that while some crowdfunding sites take precautions in carefully screening, vetting, and managing postings after a tragedy, others might not. If unsure, review the posting procedures described on the crowdfunding site and find out about transaction fees and other specifics.

Tragedies can generate donation requests from a variety of organizations seeking to help victims of violence or advocate on related issues. As always, we remind donors to check out charities by visiting Give.org to verify if the charity meets the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability (i.e., a BBB Accredited Charity). Be cautious about newly created groups that may be difficult to check out.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features Part 2 of an interview with Toshi Hoo. Toshi leads Institute for the Future’s Emerging Media Lab (EML), where he explores the implications of rapidly evolving technologies that are transforming the ways humans communicate, collaborate, and connect.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Cure Alzheimer’s Fund
• 808 Cleanups
• Heartline Ministries

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

South Carolina-based Blackbaud, Inc. provides data, fundraising, and financial services to more than 45,000 companies, including nonprofit organizations and foundations. On February 1, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced as part of a consent agreement, that Blackbaud, without admitting to any violation of law, has agreed to “delete personal data that it doesn’t need to retain… over charges that the company’s lax security allowed a hacker [in 2020] to breach the company’s network and access the personal data of millions of consumers including Social Security and bank account numbers.” 

In September 2023, in addressing this 2020 data breach, the company agreed to an assurance of voluntary compliance with 49 states and the District of Columbia that included a payment of $49.5 million.

Those interested in learning more about the data breach that occurred four years ago are encouraged to review the referenced agreements. There are important lessons in this story for both charities and donors.  Charities should take active measures to increase their own data security on a continuing basis not only for their own operations but also through the vendors it may hire to carry out fundraising or other data needs.  In turn, donors should recognize the important stewardship role that charities have in not only managing their finances but in protecting donor data.

Previous posts in Wise Giving Wednesday provided a variety of recommendations to help address cybersecurity, such as a five-step process to address this concern:

1. Identify cyber risks by assessing risk exposure

2. Protect data through technology and data governance planning

3. Detect a cybersecurity problem when it happens

4. Respond effectively to a cybersecurity incident

5. Recover from the impact of a cybersecurity or data impairment event

In addition, there are common sense actions organizations can take such as requiring employees to use strong passwords and update them at least every six months, and ensuring that staff only use laptops provided by the organization, not their home computers which might increase risk exposure when they are used for personal purposes.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features Toshi Hoo. Toshi leads Institute for the Future’s Emerging Media Lab (EML), where he explores the implications of rapidly evolving technologies that are transforming the ways humans communicate, collaborate and connect.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Virginia Sheriffs’ Institute
• Christian Freedom International
• Orphans in Need USA

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

If someone were to ask what leads you to trust an individual, you would probably point to multiple signals. Among other things, you might consider whether the person appeared open and honest in their communication, whether they followed through on their promises, and if they have healthy and responsible ties with both peers and supervisors. It might be helpful to learn about their personal achievements, but achievements alone would not guarantee a trusting relationship.

There are similarities between this example and the standards-based approach used by BBB Wise Giving Alliance in evaluating the trustworthiness of charities. We don’t focus on any single measure or issue. Instead, we advance a holistic picture of a charity’s accountability. We seek to verify that the charity will be open and honest in their solicitations, that they follow through on their promised goals (as demonstrated by their financial statements and other materials), and that the staff has healthy ties with both supporters and their governing board. It is helpful to know about the charity’s achievements and results, but those facts alone might not fulfill your trust in that charity.  

Trust is one of the most valuable components of the charitable sector. Without it, donors would hesitate in their funding, projects would get less community support, and organizations would likely have a harder time reaching objectives. Given its value and significance, a charity would be wise to consider what proactive steps it has taken to strengthen the public’s trust. BBB WGA believes that the accountability assessments it completes can help charities address this vital element of charity stewardship.

BBB Wise Giving Alliance does not charge charities for these assessments and the resulting reports are available for free public access at Give.org.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features Charlie Bresler, the Co-Founder of The Life You Can Save, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing extreme poverty and its devastating effects on over 700 million people worldwide.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Girls Who Code
• Heifer Project International
• Marfan Foundation

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

Every two years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) produces a report to Congress about the Do Not Call Registry. The latest report issued on January 8, 2024, announced that 249 million Americans placed their telephone number on this registry. The FTC received over two million complaints last year that alleged violations, mostly due to robocalls. While signing up for this Registry helps people reduce the volume of telemarketing calls from businesses, the Do Not Call Registry does not apply to charities. Charities are not required to stop calling people on this Do Not Call listing.

Although there are many charitable organizations that make fundraising calls responsibly, there are some that don’t. Potential donors might be annoyed by the frequency and timing of such calls. In other instances, they are upset to learn that mismanaged fundraising campaigns that call people can sometimes result in very little going to the charity and more than 80% going to the fundraising company.

There are some things that donors can do, however, to help reduce the volume of charity telemarketing:

• If a for-profit telemarketing company calls, you can request that they place you on their internal do not call list. The firm can no longer call you on behalf of that charity but could call on behalf of other charities.
• In making such a request, make sure to use the words “place me on your do not call list” and note the date, time, name of charity, and name of the telemarketing firm.
• If they call again on behalf of that charity, you can file a complaint with the FTC at www.ftc.gov.

If you are interested in supporting a charity that has called you, BBB Wise Giving Alliance urges you to find out more about the group before you donate. Visit Give.org to see if there is a report that verifies if they meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability. Also, visit the website of the organization to learn more about their planned activities.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features Donald Summers, Founder & CEO, Altruist Partners which seeks to help charities deliver impact and address strategic, fundraising, and organizational challenges.

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Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Gift of Adoption Fund
• MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
• For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST)

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

The United States is known for having more charities than any other country. Specifically, the IRS Data Book for the year ended September 30, 2022, reports there were 1,480,565 organizations that were tax exempt as charities under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. This includes 115,506 new organizations that applied for and received charitable tax-exempt status in that fiscal year. While the majority of new charities are of small size, some contributors will still be interested in making an informed giving decision. This can be a challenge since a relatively new charity will not yet have an annual report, financial statement and/or IRS Form 990 to review. BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers the following tips about giving to charities that have been around for less than 18 months.

Find out about state government registration. About 40 of the 50 states in the U.S. require charities to register with a state government office before they solicit donations. Usually, this is a division of the office of the Secretary of State or the Attorney General in that state. For specific information, see the following link.

Review the charity’s website.  Even a new charity will likely have a website that includes basic facts about its intended goals and activities. Be wary of vague descriptions that do not provide any specifics about how the charity will carry out its efforts.

Consider board oversight. Although the charity is new, it will have a board of directors that is ultimately in charge of the oversight of the operations and staff. See if the organization’s website has a board roster that identifies who serves on the board and provides their professional affiliations. This may help you determine if the charity’s governing body is being led by individuals who have the knowledge and/or experience to address the identified cause.

Be cautious about emergency appeals. If the charity is raising funds for some type of disaster or other emergency need, it should be able to substantiate that the timing and nature of its expenditures will be in accordance with what is stated, expressed or implied in its solicitations. Also keep in mind that even with the best of intentions, it can be challenging for new charities to address emergency situations unless they have adequate connections or skills to address the circumstances at hand.

See the charity’s privacy policy. See if the charity’s website includes a clear and accessible privacy policy that tells visitors (i) what information, if any, is being collected about them by the charity and how this information will be used, (ii) how to contact the charity to review personal information collected and request corrections, (iii) how to inform the charity (e.g., a check-off box) that the visitor does not wish his/her personal information to be shared outside the organization, and (iv) what security measures the charity has in place to protect personal information.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features BBB WGA President & CEO, Art Taylor, providing highlights of all the podcasts produced in 2023. This is Part 2 of a two-part series.

Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Love146
• Foundation for Economic Education
• Eco-Soap Bank

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

With over a century of experience in reporting on charities, BBB Wise Giving Alliance recognizes that people often look for communication short-cuts in identifying concerns about charitable giving. While the term “charity scam” is frequently used as a generic criticism of suspicious charity behavior, it actually has a narrower definition. When a person or an entity is accused of conducting a charity scam it generally means someone has been tricked into donating money under false pretenses. In other words, the scammer has committed a fraud, an illegal act, with an intent to deceive the donor to provide a contribution that will be used for personal gain, not a charitable purpose. With sufficient evidence, a government law enforcement division can take action against such alleged behavior.

What are some examples of such charity scams?  A website that collects funds for a disaster relief charity that does not exist. An email message claiming to be raising money for a well-known charity is actually a phishing activity seeking to obtain personal and financial information from potential victims. Or a telephone solicitor that claims to be raising money for a veterans charity but uses the donor’s credit card number for other purposes. While activities like these have occurred over the years, charity scams are really just a small part of the solicitation marketplace.

The vast majority of charities are well managed but sometimes deficiencies can occur in an organization’s governance, finances, transparency and/or accountability. These are the type of issues that are addressed in the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability. While some of the most egregious circumstances that are covered by these standards might help reveal potential illegal activities (for example, strongly misleading appeals), such conclusions are very rare. Most potential donors are seeking to give with confidence by identifying a charity that meets recognized standards and is fully accountable to contributors. Charities that meet all of our standards are called BBB Accredited Charities and can be found on Give.org.

So, the next time you wonder whether a charity appeal is a scam, you might want to consider whether you are really asking about fraud or just have potential concerns about how well the charity is run.

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Video of the Week

As part of BBB WGA’s Building Trust Video Series, BBB Wise Giving Alliance interviews Karen Knudsen, MBA, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society (a BBB Accredited Charity) that seeks to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, treat and survive cancer.   

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features BBB WGA President & CEO, Art Taylor, providing highlights of all the podcasts held in the past year. This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Equality Florida Institute
• Heifer Project International
• Population Media Center

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

BBB Wise Giving Alliance is pleased to release this seventh entry in a series of posts by Kateryna (Katya) Zhuk. Katya heads a Ukraine charity monitoring organization, Charity Tuner. This organization, along with BBB Wise Giving Alliance, is a member of an association of standards-based charity monitors from around the world.

Community Media Covering Ukraine During Wartime

By Kateryna Zhuk

Community or regional media play an extremely important role during wartime. Sadly, regional journalists based in the Russian occupied Ukraine territories during 2014-2015 were among the first media representatives killed in that conflict.  Due to the destruction of the area (for example, Bakhmut) media survivors relocated and remain in the de-occupied territories, helping large international media to tell the real stories and fight fakes.

Readership Trust in Regional Media
No matter where Ukrainians are in the world now, no matter where they have traveled inside Ukraine fleeing from the war zone – we all (and me, of course, among others!) read our local news. By virtue of my profession, I am subscribed to local small media and groups all over Ukraine. I have believed for many years that community media influences the world because their representatives are those who live close to the action and have earned trust. But they all need help now more than ever.

The head of one of these regional Ukraine publications tells me, “…Foreign correspondents come to us [with] armored vests, helmets, a jeep, all taped up with “press” signs. And I say to them:  ‘Do you want to film or do you want to sit down for a coffee? …Then quickly change your clothes, shorts, t-shirt, get in that dirty red local car, which all the drones already know, and pretend that you are local. Because your jeep will be bombed first, don’t you dare even bother.’ “

Who thinks about these nuances? Who knows where to go and where not to go? Regional small media. One small print publication noted that even Ukrainian soldiers on the front line read their paper.

Grant Funding Struggles
One of the main problems is that grant funding for regional media is often restricted for special projects. In other words, you have to think of an additional project beyond your regular publications to pply for funding. And then the journalist has a double burden – to do his regular work and, of course, cover the project as well. In fact, there is very little funding for institutional activity as such. Galyna Petrenko, director of a large portal for media professionals (Detector Media) also notes that you must know English to apply for funding which can sometimes involve a rather complicated grant reporting process.

Regional journalists help collect evidence of war crimes. It is not always the case that local residents who have suffered at the hands of the Russian military will tell big media about their experiences. Also, big media may face challenges in finding, contacting, and negotiating with local contacts. Local journalists, in contrast, can more easily identify humanitarian aid needs, know where it should be sent, and help check the facts while scraping together funding for salaries and office rent.

Unfortunately, Patreon and similar funding services don’t work in our situation. These funding  systems usually require that you provide something extra to the patrons. Collections are very small and most of our readers have no money for obvious reasons. Many of the displaced Ukraine people can barely make ends meet (see my previous article – https://give.org/news/ukraine-housing-crisis.) They are more likely to donate to help the Ukrainian armed forces.

Staffing and Outreach Challenges
In addition, many of these regional publications are short-staffed. Some journalists have gone to the front lines. Others have gone abroad to save their children. It is impossible to cover local events from abroad, so people quit their jobs, look for work in new places and try to survive there.

It is difficult to reach a Western audience, get material properly translated to English, and later, to find a place to publish the article. Our way is to cooperate with large media outlets that come to us. After all, regional media is not only about news, it’s also about offering potential solutions. Our job can help change the world for the better by helping with investigations and fighting misrepresentations.

A newspaper editor from Bilopillya told me, “We have mobile apps with alarms, just to know – oh, the post office and the shop are closed. We are so used to it, we are bombarded all the time…”

A few months ago, Detector Media launched a platform that collects information about regional media that it verified for accuracy. I invite interested readers to go to the portal https://map.detector.media/# and select section 4 “regional”, there are 128 media so far. Find someone you like and please help them financially with their regular but incredibly important work.

Also, community media is a resource that helps me to monitor charitable foundations by region (reputation, partners, recipients, etc.).

The following are links to information from regional newsrooms that may provide more insight into what is happening in Ukraine, beyond the publicly available news from the big and, often, paywalled publications.

Kharkiv (constantly under rocket attacks): gwaramedia.com/en/
Bilopillia (Sumy region, under constant shelling) https://bilopillia.city/articles/327445/bilopilska-gromada-pid-obstrilami-situaciya-za-minulij-tizhden
Izyum (Kharkiv region, 6 months under occupation, largest unmarked burials of murdered civilians)  https://city-izyum.pp.ua/help-and-support-of-media-raisin-information-donate/
Bakhmut (City in Donetsk region, completely destroyed, cannot be rebuilt, portal about the life of Bakhmut migrants)  https://bahmut.in.ua/

Katryna Zhuk
Warsaw, Poland
January 02, 2024

Notes from BBB Wise Giving Alliance:
The links to news publications listed above were compiled by the author, Kateryna Zhuk. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of Kateryna Zhuk and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance and its employees. 

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Heart of Giving Podcast

This week Heart of Giving Podcast features Jennifer Rodriguez, Executive Director, Youth Law Center. YLC is a charitable organization that works “to transform foster care and juvenile justice systems so every child and youth across the nation can thrive.”

Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Southern Foundation for Homeless Children
• SOAR365
• FoodCorps
  

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.