See this web site for ratings:



http://oversight.house.gov/doc...s/20071213131834.pdf

>

> Americans gave millions of dollars in the past year to veterans

> charities designed to help troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, but

> several of the groups spent relatively little money on the wounded,

> according to a leading watchdog organization and federal tax filings.

>

> Eight veterans charities, including some of the nation's largest, gave

> less than a third of the money raised to the causes they champion, far

> below the recommended standard, the American Institute of Philanthropy

> says in a report. One group passed along 1 cent for every dollar

> raised, the report says. Another paid its founder and his wife a

> combined $540,000 in compensation and benefits last year, a Washington

> Post analysis of tax filings showed.

>

> Richard H. Esau Jr., executive director of the Military Order of the

> Purple Heart Service Foundation, based in Annandale , said the cost of

> fundraising limits how much his group can spend on charitable causes.

> 'Do you have any idea how much money it costs to advertise? It's

> unbelievable the amount of money it takes to advertise in the print

> and electronic media,' he said. 'I'm very proud of what we do, and we

> certainly do look after everybody. The point is we do the right thing

> by veterans.'

>

> Borochoff said many veterans charities are 'woefully inefficient, '

> spending large sums on costly direct-mail advertising. 'They

> oversolicit. They love to send out a lot of trinkets and stickers and

> greeting cards and flags and things that waste a lot of money that

> they get ittle return on,' said Borochoff, who plans to testify before

> Congress today.

>

> The philanthropy institute gave F's to 12 of the 29 military charities

> reviewed and D's to eight. Five were awarded A-pluses, including the

> Fisher House Foundation in Rockville , which the institute says

> directs more than 90 percent of its income to charitable causes.

>

> One group received an A, and one received an A-minus.

>

> Jim Weiskopf, spokesman for Fisher House, said the charity does not

> use direct-mail advertising. 'As soon as you do direct mail, your

> fundraising expenses go up astronomically, ' he said.

>

> One egregious example, Borochoff said, is Help Hospitalized Veterans,

> which was founded in 1971 by Roger Chapin, a veteran of the Army

> Finance Corps and a San Diego real estate developer. The charity,

> which provides therapeutic arts and crafts kits to hospitalized

> veterans, reported income of $71.3 million last year and spent about

> one-third of that money on charitable work, the philanthropy institute

> said.

>

> In its tax filings, Help Hospitalized Veterans reported paying more

> than $4 million to direct-mail fundraising consultants. The group also

> has run television advertisements featuring actor Sam Waterston, game

> show host Pat Sajak and other celebrities.

>

> Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer of the Better Business Bureau,

> said the agency has 20 standards for reviewing charities, including

> that a charity's fundraising and overhead costs not exceed 35 percent

> of total contributions.

>

> The American Institute of Philanthropy, a leading charity watchdog,

> issued a report card this month for 29 veterans and military

> charities. Letter grades were based largely on the charities'

> fundraising costs and the percentage of money raised that was spent on

> charitable activities. The charities that received failing grades are

> in bold type.

>

Air Force Aid Society (A+)

American Ex-Prisoners of War Service Foundation (F)

American Veterans Coalition (F)

American Veterans Relief Foundation (F)

AMVETS National Service Foundation (F)

Armed Services YMCA of the USA (A-)

Army Emergency Relief (A+)

Blinded Veterans Association (D)

Disabled American Veterans (D)

Disabled Veterans Association (F)

Fisher House Foundation (A+)

Freedom Alliance (F)

Help Hospitalized VeteransSalute America's Heroes (F)

Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (A+)

Military Order of the Purple Heart Foundation (F)

National Military Family Association (A)

National Veterans Services Fund (F)

National Vietnam Veterans Committee (D)

Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (A+)

NCOA National Defense Foundation (F)

Paralyzed Veterans of America (F)

Soldiers' Angels (D)

United Spinal Association' s Wounded Warrior (D)

USO (United Service Organization) (C+)

Veterans of Foreign Wars and Foundation (C-)

Veterans of Vietnam War & the Veterans Coalition (D)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (D)

VietNow National Headquarters (F)

World War II Veterans Committee (D)

WTF, this guy rated AER with an F in an AP interview. Said they are hoarding funds. Now he rates AER as A+. Can not have it both ways.

Well, he just now got his "check" in the mail.

Thanks for the info.
This kind of stuff needs to get out.

You know how I personally take care of service personnel ?.

I'll give you an example from about two weeks ago .

I was in the local Lowes home improvement center a Navy Petty Officer 3 class was in front of me

I instructed the girl cashier to put his bill on mine , as his money wasn't needed .

She looked at me funny like , the Sailor turned around and before he could say anything

I said thank you for your service as it's my privilege .I've been there before !. He asked what

grade or rank were you in the Navy sir ?. Sargent E 7 Rangers Screaming Eagles .

That's that's the Army Sir he kind of stumbled saying it . I laughed and said I was painfully aware

of that fact . I thank you and then he snapped to attention and I saluted him back .

That did me far more good than he will ever know and was a bargain at a little over $50.00 .

From time too time I do things like that , so I know THEY got the benefit from it !.

Many thanks for the list...

quote:

Originally posted by Doc224/375:
You know how I personally take care of service personnel ?.

I'll give you an example from about two weeks ago .

I was in the local Lowes home improvement center a Navy Petty Officer 3 class was in front of me

I instructed the girl cashier to put his bill on mine , as his money wasn't needed .

She looked at me funny like , the Sailor turned around and before he could say anything

I said thank you for your service as it's my privilege .I've been there before !. He asked what

grade or rank were you in the Navy sir ?. Sargent E 7 Rangers Screaming Eagles .

That's that's the Army Sir he kind of stumbled saying it . I laughed and said I was painfully aware

of that fact . I thank you and then he snapped to attention and I saluted him back .

That did me far more good than he will ever know and was a bargain at a little over $50.00 .

From time too time I do things like that , so I know THEY got the benefit from it !.

Well done Doc.

quote:

She looked at me funny like , the Sailor turned around and before he could say anything

I said thank you for your service as it's my privilege .I've been there before !. He asked what

grade or rank were you in the Navy sir ?. Sargent E 7 Rangers Screaming Eagles .

That's that's the Army Sir he kind of stumbled saying it . I laughed and said I was painfully aware

of that fact . I thank you and then he snapped to attention and I saluted him back .

That did me far more good than he will ever know and was a bargain at a little over $50.00 .

From time too time I do things like that , so I know THEY got the benefit from it !.

If I had been witness, I would have readily offered up a weak, Boogabama-style salute in hopes mine would have been accepted, too...