Beware Of Charity Scams

In today’s world, there are many crises happening. From natural disasters and abuse to wars and famines, there will always be a cause for a charity to fight for.

Helping a good fundraiser can be a rewarding experience, even aiding in saving lives. However, some organizations will masquerade as charitable to make a quick buck. They come in different types, but all are scummy. To truly make a difference, it’s important to snuff these out.

It is firstly important to distinguish between a charity and an ordinary nonprofit. A nonprofit is simply an organization that doesn’t just exist to make a profit. Nonprofits only use their earnings to operate and/or to further a purpose. The name not being regulated much, this could even include sports teams as well.

By contrast, a charity is a nonprofit which actively helps people in need. There are specific requirements for a nonprofit to be designated a charity. These vary from country to country, but are generally stricter than the rules for wider nonprofits. [1]

The first type of “charity” this article will go over is the non-charitable organization that pretends to be one.

Sometimes, these are illegal for-profits that pretend to support good causes in the style of a charity, but hardly give a cent. Others are legitimate nonprofits (but not charities) which use similar tactics.

Both types may try to masquerade as already existing organizations [2] - especially on social media. These are by far the easiest to snuff out. The telltale sign for this kind of faker is a lack of transparency. If you can’t find any reports on their spending, it’s probably shady at best and a huge scam at worst. On social media, watch out for the @ handles as well.

When it comes to lazy nonprofits, some will publish legitimate reports that do show their lack of actual help. They also won’t directly impersonate anyone. The trick with these foundations is the marketing. Their ads will be full of poster children/sick people/whatever, their press releases will often center on the token assistance they give, and so on.

But the official description buried deep in their website won’t quite describe them as a charity. If it did, the nonprofit would be shut down pretty quickly.

Secondly, there are charities which really are charities…but for a different cause than the one they claim it is.

Maybe they say they help children in general when it’s only a specific subset that gets assistance. Perhaps they promise to help a marginalized group of people when in reality, they are virulently against a portion of those that don’t conform to an arbitrary definition. Examples of these types include Kars 4 Kids [3] and LGB Alliance [4].

Kars 4 Kids is infamous for its infectious marketing jingle which fails to mention how your car donations will only help an ultra-Orthodox segment of Jews provide services for children in that community. Ultra-Orthodoxy is essentially the rough equivalent to Evangelical Christianity in Judaism, with what that entails.

LGB Alliance, on the other hand, is pro non-straight sexualities. Except…they reject trans people, who sometimes fall under those. Both of them exploit legal loopholes to be able to operate.

The final style of charity scam that will be covered here is the charity that helps the cause, but uses discretely disclosed immoral methods to get there.

Many autism nonprofits are guilty of this. A notable one - and unfortunately one of the most popular - is Autism Speaks. The branding of Autism Speaks has changed in recent years to appear more inclusive. But they still staunchly advocate for applied behavioral analysis when it comes to autism in general.

True ABA therapy, while effective at masking symptoms and for certain other disorders, is cruel when used to treat autism. It makes many patients’ mental health deteriorate by forcing them to hide harmless behaviors that relieve stress. In addition, Autism Speaks has supported Judge Rotenberg Center. This place is essentially a torture facility for neurodivergent youth; they have even used electric shocks to force submission. The list goes on. Suffice to say, this is yet another example of legal loopholes being used. [5]

Fortunately, false charities and nonprofit scams are being increasingly called out. Especially with type 1s, legal action does get taken to eventually shut these ruses down.

Yet there is still work to be done. Type 2s and 3s tend to get away with dishonesty much more, but eventually the loopholes do get harder to take advantage of. To prevent bad actors, there are a few things one can do:

-If the “charity” is doing illegal things in its jurisdiction, report them. On social media, even to the police if you have enough information. Spreading awareness on the affected platforms can also be a huge help.

-If the scam isn’t breaking the law, the best thing one can do is to call it out and warn others.

As long as charities and other nonprofits exist, there will continue to be grifters exploiting their existence. Hopefully one day they won’t be as present.

Sources

1: www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/foundation-vs-charity-vs-nonprofit.

2: ​​www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-beware-of-fake-charities-check-before-donating.

3: www.charitywatch.org/charity-donating-articles/costly-and-continuous-kars4kids-ads-disguise-charity39s-real-purpose.

4: www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/14/lie-of-gender-identity-spurred-founding-of-lgb-alliance-court-told.

5: autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AutismSpeaksFlyer2021.pdf.

Medium version: https://medium.com/@SnarkyLisa/beware-of-charity-scams-ed6fd585f543