America's 50 worst charities have collected over $1 billion, have mostly blown/stolen 95% of the money

[Dan Druff]

You get a telemarketing call from the Kids Wish Network. They tell you that they make dreams come true for terminally ill children. You remember seeing something about them on TV, and give $1000. Indeed, Kids Wish is a substantial-sized charity, and has taken in $127 million in donations over the past 10 years. However, their name is intentionally similar to the very legitimate "Make a Wish Foundation", but that's where the similarities end. Kids Wish is mostly a scam. It pays out nearly 86% of donations back to the telemarketing firm that solicits them. Nearly $5 million went to the charity founder and his own consulting firms. Only 2.5% of the donated money actually made it over to helping sick kids.

So your $1000 donation ends up giving $859 to telemarketers, $38 to the charity founder, $78 to other "expenses", and only $25 makes it over to the kids you're trying to help. Ouch.

Unfortunately, Kids Wish is far from the only large charity like this.

Here is a list of the 50 Worst Charities in the US:

http://www.tampabay.com/americas-worst-charities/

Here are two articles with further detail:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/wor...html?hpt=hp_c2

http://www.tampabay.com/topics/speci...harities1.page

This research was done by the Tampa Bay Times.

Many of these charities are intentionally named similarly to well-known, respectable charities, thus creating confusion when people think they're donating to the huge charity they've already heard of.

I have long suspected that many charities -- including ones closely associated with the poker community -- are run this way. I feel that without complete transparency, a charity deserves ZERO donations, no matter how noble their intentions appear to be on the surface.

For this reason, I actually regret allowing this site to be used for the 22Q foundation broadcast -- and not just because Jasep stole about 70% of the money. They have not been very cooperative in the Jasep investigation (more on this a bit later), nor do they have the transparency that I would typically like to see from a small charity.

I am not saying that 22Q is a scam, but rather that they are not providing the complete transparency that I would personally like to see in order to feel comfortable with them.

Here is 22Q's 2011 tax filing:

http://www.22q.org/images/documents/22q-990-ez-2011.pdf

Note that this pre-dates this community's involvement with 22Q, which was in 2012.

Also note that I am NOT equating 22Q with scumbag charities like Kids Wish, but just stating that, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't pick 22Q as a charity to support, even if Jasep wasn't part of the equation.

[BeerAndPoker]

The call I always get is "Hello, can I please speak to the Woman of the house"? I reply "Sorry, they aren't here at the moment (even though I live alone)" and then they start up with the fraternal order of police looking for donations,etc...

Obviously they want to talk to a female because they are easier marks then guys. Sometimes I mess with these people making them think that I might donate wasting their time as they are harassing several others but usually I just hang up. I've heard these people only donate a small percent of what they take in anyways.

[4Dragons]

I could write a book on this.

[gauchojake]

What exactly isn't transparent about 22Q? It doesn't appear that anyone involved in the charity took any money for doing the work. The money raised looks like it was donated to a kids camp and outreach efforts.

[Dan Druff]

What exactly isn't transparent about 22Q? It doesn't appear that anyone involved in the charity took any money for doing the work. The money raised looks like it was donated to a kids camp and outreach efforts.

I don't necessarily think money was embezzled from there.

$5000 went to the camp. Was it a donation? Was it simply spent so certain kids could attend the camp? If so, which kids were chosen? Were they related to the board members? These are questions that need answering. If $5000 was just donated to the camp without any conditions or benefits attached, that's great. If $5000 was spent on board members' kids attending the camp -- even if the kids have the 22Q deletion syndrome -- I have a problem with that. The problem is we don't know the answer to this.

Much of the other money seems to have been spent on "programming", including conferences. As evidenced by the recent IRS Anaheim conference scandal, simply saying, "We spent the money on a conference about the syndrome" isn't enough for me. I would want a lot more details on where that money went, and how it was used.

Again, I'm not saying I have evidence of any wrongdoing on 22Q's part. I don't. I just would want a lot more detail as to where the money actually goes (and what it's used for) before I would personally donate to them or encourage others to do so.

But my much bigger problem comes from their lack of cooperation in the Jasep matter. I will have Brandon come out shortly and explain what happened.

[Steve-O]

What exactly isn't transparent about 22Q? It doesn't appear that anyone involved in the charity took any money for doing the work. The money raised looks like it was donated to a kids camp and outreach efforts.

I don't necessarily think money was embezzled from there.

$5000 went to the camp. Was it a donation? Was it simply spent so certain kids could attend the camp? If so, which kids were chosen? Were they related to the board members? These are questions that need answering. If $5000 was just donated to the camp without any conditions or benefits attached, that's great. If $5000 was spent on board members' kids attending the camp -- even if the kids have the 22Q deletion syndrome -- I have a problem with that. The problem is we don't know the answer to this.

Much of the other money seems to have been spent on "programming", including conferences. As evidenced by the recent IRS Anaheim conference scandal, simply saying, "We spent the money on a conference about the syndrome" isn't enough for me. I would want a lot more details on where that money went, and how it was used.

Again, I'm not saying I have evidence of any wrongdoing on 22Q's part. I don't. I just would want a lot more detail as to where the money actually goes (and what it's used for) before I would personally donate to them or encourage others to do so.

But my much bigger problem comes from their lack of cooperation in the Jasep matter. I will have Brandon come out shortly and explain what happened.

It seems pretty obvious why a small, volunteer-led, charity would want to distance itself from (put in the past) what happened with Jasep.

[Dan Druff]

One of my favorite statements about government is, "The smaller the government, the more corrupt it tends to be."

For example, I believe state governments to be more corrupt than the federal government, while county/city governments are more corrupt than state governments. Some of the scandals that have come out of city governments are mind-boggling, and they occurred because there just isn't enough interest or oversight upon these relatively small entities. There's a hell of a lot more eyeballs on the federal government, because of the number of people it affects and the huge money involved. That actually prevents a lot of scandals and abuses from occurring in the first place, where city government officials often think they can get away with anything.

Similarly, the big charities tend to be mostly legit (though sometimes overspend on bureaucracy), while small charities have a much greater chance to be shady or semi-shady. This is simply because small charities don't expect anyone to really be investigating them.

Therefore, there really needs to be a higher level of transparency for small charities. People should see where every penny is actually going.

People give to charity because they believe one of two things will happen:

1) The charity will cause overall conditions of some cause to improve (such as a cancer charity giving money to cancer research)
-or-
2) The charity will improve the lives of individuals who are otherwise unaffiliated with the charity. For example, the Make a Wish foundation grants a "wish" for a certain vacation or activity for terminally ill children. These children are not related to foundation members, but are totally unrelated third parties who happen to suffer the misfortune of a terminal childhood illness.

However, once the members of the charity start to reap fringe benefits -- airfare, hotel rooms, food, sponsorship of their own children -- it crosses the line from charity to semi-shadiness to possible fraud. That line can be blurry at times. If I run a charity for blind children and my kid is blind, am I doing something wrong by using the charity's "scholarship money" to pay for my own kid's school? The answer is yes -- but in many cases this isn't illegal.

[Beebs9Dizzle]

without complete transparency, a charity deserves ZERO donations, no matter how noble their intentions appear to be on the surface.

[Dan Druff]

I don't necessarily think money was embezzled from there.

$5000 went to the camp. Was it a donation? Was it simply spent so certain kids could attend the camp? If so, which kids were chosen? Were they related to the board members? These are questions that need answering. If $5000 was just donated to the camp without any conditions or benefits attached, that's great. If $5000 was spent on board members' kids attending the camp -- even if the kids have the 22Q deletion syndrome -- I have a problem with that. The problem is we don't know the answer to this.

Much of the other money seems to have been spent on "programming", including conferences. As evidenced by the recent IRS Anaheim conference scandal, simply saying, "We spent the money on a conference about the syndrome" isn't enough for me. I would want a lot more details on where that money went, and how it was used.

Again, I'm not saying I have evidence of any wrongdoing on 22Q's part. I don't. I just would want a lot more detail as to where the money actually goes (and what it's used for) before I would personally donate to them or encourage others to do so.

But my much bigger problem comes from their lack of cooperation in the Jasep matter. I will have Brandon come out shortly and explain what happened.

It seems pretty obvious why a small, volunteer-led, charity would want to distance itself from (put in the past) what happened with Jasep.

I'm not suggesting they should put out a press release on their website about Jasep. I'm not even suggesting they should ever talk about it again or publicly comment on it.

However, we encountered some real resistance in their willingness to work with us to put a case together against Jasep, even though their "effort" required no more than 30 minutes of their time.

If you are unwilling to cooperate with an investigation into someone stealing from a community in the name of your charity, the least you can do is return the money that you did receive. 22Q basically took our community's money (the $2k or so that got to them through the direct Paypal link, plus Mason's $2500), and gave very little cooperation in the investigation of Jasep's criminal activity with the other money that was meant for them.

Let me put it a different way.

Let's say I decided that I didn't want to play the WSOP this year, due to the variance of tournaments and how the buyins can add up quickly if you don't cash big.

Then you decide that I'm such a great guy that you feel I deserve to play the WSOP. You collect $7000 from the community in donations for me to play the WSOP -- not stakes, not BAP, but just donations as a thank you for me doing radio or whatever. (I'm not saying I deserve this, btw, it's just a hypothetical.)

In the process of getting the $7000 to me, some asshole involved in the process steals $5000 of it. I only end up with $2000.

You report the asshole to the police and want my full cooperation.

I say to you, "Sorry, this is your problem, not mine. You want to report him to the police? Go ahead. I'm not getting involved. I'm happy with $2000. For me it was free money, so if the other $5k disappeared, it's no biggie to me, and I'm not lifting a finger to help."

Would you be pissed?

Would I be an unappreciative ingrate?

The answer to both questions would be YES.

[Steve-O]

It seems pretty obvious why a small, volunteer-led, charity would want to distance itself from (put in the past) what happened with Jasep.

I'm not suggesting they should put out a press release on their website about Jasep. I'm not even suggesting they should ever talk about it again or publicly comment on it.

However, we encountered some real resistance in their willingness to work with us to put a case together against Jasep, even though their "effort" required no more than 30 minutes of their time.

If you are unwilling to cooperate with an investigation into someone stealing from a community in the name of your charity, the least you can do is return the money that you did receive. 22Q basically took our community's money (the $2k or so that got to them through the direct Paypal link), and gave very little cooperation in the investigation of Jasep's criminal activity with the other money that was meant for them.

Let me put it a different way.

Let's say I decided that I didn't want to play the WSOP this year, due to the variance of tournaments and how the buyins can add up quickly if you don't cash big.

Then you decide that I'm such a great guy that you feel I deserve to play the WSOP. You collect $7000 from the community in donations for me to play the WSOP -- not stakes, not BAP, but just donations as a thank you for me doing radio or whatever. (I'm not saying I deserve this, btw, it's just a hypothetical.)

In the process of getting the $7000 to me, some asshole involved in the process steals $5000 of it. I only end up with $2000.

You report the asshole to the police and want my full cooperation.

I say to you, "Sorry, this is your problem, not mine. You want to report him to the police? Go ahead. I'm not getting involved. I'm happy with $2000. For me it was free money, so if the other $5k disappeared, it's no biggie to me, and I'm not lifting a finger to help."

Would you be pissed?

Would I be an unappreciative ingrate?

The answer to both questions would be YES.

Apples and oranges, since your WSOP charity is not a "real" charity. Why on earth would 22Q return money to this community that was donated to them in good faith and complete legally? That statement makes 0 sense. they were robbed too. What you are saying is that because they didn't collect every dollar owed --because somebody stole from them-- they should return the money they did collect.

[Dan Druff]

I'm not suggesting they should put out a press release on their website about Jasep. I'm not even suggesting they should ever talk about it again or publicly comment on it.

However, we encountered some real resistance in their willingness to work with us to put a case together against Jasep, even though their "effort" required no more than 30 minutes of their time.

If you are unwilling to cooperate with an investigation into someone stealing from a community in the name of your charity, the least you can do is return the money that you did receive. 22Q basically took our community's money (the $2k or so that got to them through the direct Paypal link), and gave very little cooperation in the investigation of Jasep's criminal activity with the other money that was meant for them.

Let me put it a different way.

Let's say I decided that I didn't want to play the WSOP this year, due to the variance of tournaments and how the buyins can add up quickly if you don't cash big.

Then you decide that I'm such a great guy that you feel I deserve to play the WSOP. You collect $7000 from the community in donations for me to play the WSOP -- not stakes, not BAP, but just donations as a thank you for me doing radio or whatever. (I'm not saying I deserve this, btw, it's just a hypothetical.)

In the process of getting the $7000 to me, some asshole involved in the process steals $5000 of it. I only end up with $2000.

You report the asshole to the police and want my full cooperation.

I say to you, "Sorry, this is your problem, not mine. You want to report him to the police? Go ahead. I'm not getting involved. I'm happy with $2000. For me it was free money, so if the other $5k disappeared, it's no biggie to me, and I'm not lifting a finger to help."

Would you be pissed?

Would I be an unappreciative ingrate?

The answer to both questions would be YES.

Apples and oranges, since your WSOP charity is not a "real" charity. Why on earth would 22Q return money to this community that was donated to them in good faith and complete legally? That statement makes 0 sense. they were robbed too. What you are saying is that because they didn't collect every dollar owed --because somebody stole from them-- they should return the money they did collect.

I am saying that when a community gets together and, out of the goodness of their hearts, donates their time and money to your charity, you owe them at least some basic cooperation when a criminal steals some of it.

If you don't give that basic cooperation, you are slapping that entire community in the face for their generosity.

[Steve-O]

Apples and oranges, since your WSOP charity is not a "real" charity. Why on earth would 22Q return money to this community that was donated to them in good faith and complete legally? That statement makes 0 sense. they were robbed too. What you are saying is that because they didn't collect every dollar owed --because somebody stole from them-- they should return the money they did collect.

I am saying that when a community gets together and, out of the goodness of their hearts, donates their time and money to your charity, you owe them at least some basic cooperation when a criminal steals some of it.

If you don't give that basic cooperation, you are slapping that entire community in the face for their generosity.

I don't really want to argue with you on this so this will be last post (I will of course read your last response though), but you seem to think the money we donated to 22Q that Jasep stole was stolen from us and that we deserve compensation; it was stolen from 22Q... if they don't want to aid in a longshot legal process that will only tie up their limited time (volunteers) and bring negative attention to future fundraising efforts (if it can happen once) so be it. Jasep stole, why you are fixated on dragging the charity into the mix is beyond me, but you've been implying (despite all your caveats) since we learned Jasep stole from 22Q that the charity might be complicit.

Now, I'm not saying they did or didn't do anything wrong, or whether they are a bad, decent, great charity. That's for everyone else to decide on their own. But posting their tax forms in a thread about the 50 worst charities and spending 400 words on 22Q seems like you might be hinting at something.

[Dan Druff]

I am hinting at nothing.

I have no knowledge of anything that has occurred at 22Q, aside from their refusal to cooperate with the Jasep investigation.

I do not believe that anyone there conspired with Jasep. He worked alone, from everything I've seen.

I just feel, separately, that they also lack the transparency I would want for a small charity soliciting donations.

You are fixated on the compensation thing. I don't feel we deserve compensation for what Jasep did (except from Jasep).

I feel that a legitimate charity should always cooperate with investigations into money that was stolen using their name, even if the money was stolen BEFORE it reached them. That's the least they owe the community that raised money for them. People donated to 22Q to help kids with 22Q deletion syndrome, not to feed Jasep's gambling habit.

While I don't expect 22Q to spend significant time or money on investigating the matter, it is EXTREMELY ungrateful of them to want to distance themselves from the whole thing and give little-to-no cooperation on the matter.

Again, we were not asking for more than 30 minutes of their time and some basic cooperation, which would have turned the Jasep case into a theft-from-a-charity situation instead of just theft-from-degenerate-gamblers.

When I said they should return the money, I am saying that morally that's the right thing to do if they don't want to cooperate with this investigation.

If they want to wash their hands of this whole thing, return everything we gave them and we will handle it.

If they want to keep the money, they should at the very least cooperate regarding the thefts.

Here Brandon spent COUNTLESS hours putting together a 100-page report about money stolen that was supposed to go to THEIR charity, and they didn't even want to spend a few minutes to basically state the facts of what happened.

[chinamaniac]

Here Brandon spent COUNTLESS hours putting together a 100-page report about money stolen that was supposed to go to THEIR charity, and they didn't even want to spend a few minutes to basically state the facts of what happened.

As far as I am aware all they had to do was issue a statement that the money was stolen etc.. Could have taken 5 mins to type up and as far as I am aware they refused to do so. If they had then Brandons report could have went a long way towards seeing justice.

[Cokehead]

Here Brandon spent COUNTLESS hours putting together a 100-page report about money stolen that was supposed to go to THEIR charity, and they didn't even want to spend a few minutes to basically state the facts of what happened.

As far as I am aware all they had to do was issue a statement that the money was stolen etc.. Could have taken 5 mins to type up and as far as I am aware they refused to do so. If they had then Brandons report could have went a long way towards seeing justice.

but according to steveo they are justified to refuse because they don't want their charity associated with a scammer lol. so fuck the poker ppl as long as 22q comes out smelling like a rose

[Steve-O]

As far as I am aware all they had to do was issue a statement that the money was stolen etc.. Could have taken 5 mins to type up and as far as I am aware they refused to do so. If they had then Brandons report could have went a long way towards seeing justice.

but according to steveo they are justified to refuse because they don't want their charity associated with a scammer lol. so fuck the poker ppl as long as 22q comes out smelling like a rose

That's not what I said.

The point I'm making is there are plenty of legitimate reasons they want to wash their hands of it; chief among them to not have to spend time filing a lawsuit (do you guys think their involvement ends at a statement? Obviously if it ever went to court they would have to be witnesses) and/or not to scare off potential donors with the "well, if it happened once it could happen again line of thinking."

Not everyone who is wronged files charges, people choose to just move on for whatever reason, it happens all the time. Trying to paint them as shady or "not transparent" because they'd just assume move on from this incident is silly. I wish they would have helped, but they didn't. I'm simply not going to vilify them for coming to that decision

[Deal]

That's not what I said.

The point I'm making is there are plenty of legitimate reasons they want to wash their hands of it; chief among them to not have to spend time filing a lawsuit (do you guys think their involvement ends at a statement? Obviously if it ever went to court they would have to be witnesses) and/or not to scare off potential donors with the "well, if it happened once it could happen again line of thinking."

Not everyone who is wronged files charges, people choose to just move on for whatever reason, it happens all the time. Trying to paint them as shady or "not transparent" because they'd just assume move on from this incident is silly. I wish they would have helped, but they didn't. I'm simply not going to vilify them for coming to that decision

Steve, you are either with us or you are a communist errrr terrorist. You decide.

[FR1GHT]

I don't really want to argue with you on this so this will be last post (I will of course read your last response though), but you seem to think the money we donated to 22Q that Jasep stole was stolen from us and that we deserve compensation; it was stolen from 22Q...

I completely disagree with this. The money was just as much stolen from the donors as it was from the 22Q foundation. People expected that money to go somewhere that it did not. Their money was stolen. Had they known Jasep was going to use it to gamble, then they would not have parted with it. The fact that their money went anywhere else other than where they intended for it to means they were stolen from.

If anything I would say the money was more so stolen from the donors than it was for 22Q. The 22Q foundation didn't have to do anything, but open their hands to receive the cash, whereas, the donors were giving up money they had earned.