Gary there are many online tools to ensure your money is well spent. Guide Star, Charity Navigator, Charity Watch, Caring Bridge can be helpful. In CA you can use Registry of Charitable Trusts online lookup from the Attorney Generals office and the Business Entity Search from the CA Secretary of State. They will lead you to complaint forms for both, as well as the organizations tax exempt non profit status. On the federal level you can utilize IRS Pub. 78 which is a lookup for an organizations tax exempt status based on their EIN. If any non profit fails to provide IRS 990 forms (tax returns) for the last 3 years to prospective donors if requested, it is a violation of Federal Treasury Law. Most have it online. Car washes, raffles, selling of candy/popcorn or anything else representing solicitation for a charity/non profit/tax exempt organization is subject to both CA and Federal compliance. You will need one of three things to check them out. EIN (Employer Identification number), CA charity registration number, or CA corporate number. Many folks giving money to charities run it by their tax person and have them check out the organizations 990s (federal) and 199s (state) returns. Tells you how much every board member makes, how much is spent on advertising, expenses, investments, real estate ventures and so on. If you want to give money to a great organization try Warrior Foundation Freedom Station. Practically every dime goes to maintain the 12 cottages that are lived in by the some of the worst wounded veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan as transitional housing while undergoing physical and mental rehab. Not one of their 9 board members takes a single cent.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 16:26:12 +0000
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