Exposing a Fraudulent Charity.

How does a person go about exposing a fraudulent charity? From a legal standpoint, I don’t even know how much I should say about the situation.

This charity is supposed to fund something that hits REALLY close to home, so I appreciate all of the help.

So, to be brief - the charity is set up under a 501(c)(3). I think the money was initially being used for its proper purpose, but the project ended a few years ago.

Now, the money is either being used for completely unrelated projects, or worse - just going into this person’s pocket. I got this info secondhand from someone I trust completely, and I understand why they don’t want to be the whistleblower.

So, hopefully a careful examination of the paper trail is all that’s needed. But who do I go to? I want take this person down - not just play phone tag with some agency without anything ever happening…and not get sued in the process.

Again, thanks for anything you can add. I know we’ve got some very intelligent people here, but more importantly I know we’ve got a lot of people here interested in making sure justice gets done. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to be online this weekend for more clarification, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

The Human Fund?

Money for people.

Hehe :slight_smile:

No, this is a real charity that receives money from the United Way. The money involved could be huge. Is there a quick way to get that info? I assume the IRS is ridiculously slow at handling requests.

Feel free to call me a cold hearted prick, but I think that most charities are a crock.

Everything seems to be about awareness these days. Well, how does that help anyone? I’m sure most people know what autism is, and even if they didn’t, what will telling them do to help my nephew? Use donation money to fund actual research, not to mail out blue ribbons and sponsor walking events all over the damn country.

For what it’s worth, every time I’ve called the IRS (for business related questions, not charities specifically) I’ve reached a human relatively quickly who could tell me where to look for what I needed, if he or she couldn’t find out him/herself.

As much as we all hate the IRS, its customer service is better than a lot of private companies.

I think my soul just died, when I wrote that.

Stick it in their metaphorical pooper

The FBI. They will investigate it. If it is a fraudulent charity they will take care of the people responsible for perpetrating the fraud.

[quote]SkyzykS wrote:
The FBI. They will investigate it. If it is a fraudulent charity they will take care of the people responsible for perpetrating the fraud.
[/quote]

+1

The FBI has local branches in every state, call the number for making claims/reports. They deal with this stuff - http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/charityfraud070808.htm

Calling something fraudulent is a heavy charge. And to do so on hear-say…

I’ll give you my perspective on charities for what it’s worth. I’ve been involved with a few NGOs and non-profits that function as charities. Thing is, they have excellent intentions, but donations and appropriations can take a long time to be distributed.

The reasons for this are many but I think there is one main hang-up. There are so many NGO’s and non-profits that they in effect compete with one another for your time and money. Resources become diluted and they must invest your money before any distributions take place.

While investing your money makes sense on all sorts of levels, due to resource dilution, money must be invested for a lot longer of a period of time.

Soooo… be careful before you call something fraudulent. It all might just be part of process.

[quote]analog_kid wrote:
Feel free to call me a cold hearted prick, but I think that most charities are a crock.

Everything seems to be about awareness these days. Well, how does that help anyone? I’m sure most people know what autism is, and even if they didn’t, what will telling them do to help my nephew? Use donation money to fund actual research, not to mail out blue ribbons and sponsor walking events all over the damn country. [/quote]

I believe the thinking is that by raising awareness you can increase the number of donations received, as well as generate better attention in the media, the government and in non-specific philanthropic societies that distribute grants to worthy causes. That’s my educated guess. Certainly not the most direct route, but perhaps the best in the long run