Unethical Charity in Missouri

Unethical Charity in Missouri

On a Saturday morning while running errands usually one might notice a few men collecting money at the corner of any two busy intersections. People give the sticky change that has been laying in their car baking for three months, to the organization. Little do they know that the money they worked hard to scrape from the bottom of the ashtray in twenty seconds while at a stoplight is not going where they think. A recent investigation found that a firm run by Missouri’s top police officials has raised millions of dollars on behalf of charity (Bill Smith A 7). More than 80% of the contributions have gone to the foundation’s Texas based fundraiser (Bill smith A 7).

Of a reportedly 3.1 million dollars raised between 2000 and 2004, an estimated 520,000 dollars, or about 17 cents of each dollar, has been returned to the Missouri Police Chiefs Charitable Foundation, state records show. The remaining 2.5 million dollars, or 83 cents of every dollar, went to the United Appeal Inc. United Appeal is profitable organization owned by Bruce Yablonsky, a businessman in Plano, Texas (Bill Smith A 7).

Most of the moneys have gone to administrative expenses, such as salaries and benefits, according to the companies tax records. People believed they were giving to a charity and they were deceived. Not many would give to a profitable organization that pays salaries with the collections. The solicitors called families and became very pushy and several complaints were filed against the Police Chiefs Organization, although many were ignored.

Any time a person gives to a charitable organization they assume the money will go where it’s promised. Sadly things do not always work out that way. We tend to feel good when we donate to charities; it gives us that warm fuzzy feeling. The complete opposite happens when we find we got screwed and our hard earned money went into the paychecks of business people. When Americans give to someone they want to believe they are helping that particular person or organization. It is all about generosity, helping others less fortunate, believing someday the good karma will come back, and overall good morals. We learn at a young age the difference between right and wrong and our morals begin to set