Be careful who you donate clothing to - One group only gives 28% of proceeds away

[Shallah Kali]

Bins give little to needy, BBB says
Only 28% of proceeds from clothing put in them are used for charitable programs.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080919/NEWS/809190328

Some boxes say the donations are for Green World Recycling, Green World Action and the Gaia Movement. The boxes' innocuous appearance is deceiving, says Mike Coil, president of the Better Business Bureau of Northeast Indiana.

Research by the BBB has found the bins' owner operates under at least 20 other names and that only 28 percent of proceeds collected from sales of the donated clothing go for charitable program use.

The BBB issued an alert late Thursday, warning that the Gaia Movement's founder, Amdi Peterson, of Denmark-based Tvind - also called the Teacher's Group - and six of the organization's leaders have been indicted related to money-laundering, embezzlement and criminal tax evasion schemes in Denmark.

snip

Some of the many other names Tvind operates under include: Humana People to People; U'SAgain, Garson and Shaw; Child Aid in Africa; Necessary Teacher Training College; Traveling Folk High School; Gaia Living Earth Movement; University of the Seven Seas; College Aid; and Planet Aid.

Planet Aid gets an F from he American Institute of Philanthropy as they only give 31% to actual charity work. I have been seeing those boxes all over the place in my area the past year and have been wondering if they were legit or not. Now i know and I am glad I stuck to giving my fat clothes to Goodwill.

[ikojo]

1. I give my clothes away via freecycle.com

or reuseit st louis. That way I know real people are getting things they need and for free.

[orleans]

12. .org?

[Oceansaway]

2. D.A.V. gets all my 'stuff'...n/t....

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Salvation Army and

The Vietnam Veteran's Association Gets my 'stuff'. :-)

[KoKo]

5. Many DU'ers don't like Salvation Army...but I see posts from Houston that they are Only Ones

with stations set up to serve "Hot Meals" and my FIL...who served in Navy WWII and Korea said...don't give to Red Cross the only good ones are the Salvation Army...and he was a life long Catholic...but served in all theaters of WWII and in Korea. He said Salvation Army really served the people. :shrug:

[readmoreoften]

7. Well they don't give all their money to the poor cuz they give a whole bunch fighting gay marriage.

I learned this about a decade ago when the Mormons and various Catholic organizations and the Salv A were bankrolling the anti-gay movement. Fundies were at a minimum. So long as they don't separate the LGBT partners and families during the rescue, I don't have any other issues with them. I just wish their supporters would write them and say LOOK: CUT IT OUT.

[slampoet]

16. The Salvation Army in Rhode Island had a person, Shirley Stafford, who bled them dry for years...

...by diverting donations to her antique shop.

[KoKo]

4. VietNam vets (when will they change name to Viet/Iraqi Vets) OR Goodwill...don't give to

anything named GAIA...don't see folks in my area giving to them either. :shrug:

[goodgd_yall]

6. I think I"ve seen one of those bins

Luckily I never used it. I try to give to St. Vincent de Paul. If I'm in a hurry or just happen to see a Goodwill donation trailer, I'll donate there.

[Beregond2]

8. Mine goes to a local shelter that hands out the clothing entirely to local people in need.

They have no paid staff.

[KoKo]

10. We have a new local group who just gives to Pet Shelters...and I give some stuff to that one, too.

Many new local groups springing up. Don't know that all are "vetted" as to how much the donations go to real care and how much to overhead.. and with small local groups it's hard to know. But, I do try to give a few things to those devoted to animals... Books and stuff like that.

[1]

9. be careful of any "charity" you give anything to...

ever get a call from one of those "police/sheriff" organizations?

total scam.



but i'm a local kind of guy...

in my perfect world we would get to know our neighbors and give directly to those who need help. it doesn't have to be big. one simple toy for a child at a birthday or christmas or whatever.

big is great if you can do that. help pay the rent. that kind of thing.

but small is so under appreciated.

get to know your neighbors.

a smile from a child that gets a small gift and feels the love will send shivers down your spine...

[KoKo]

11. Yes...get calls from Police Groups all with different names all the time..

They get very hostile to you if you ask more info from them. If you say you don't want to donate..they really pressure you and I don't believe any of them are real..

[1]

13. i've posted this before...

for a while, every time i got a telemarketer call and the caller asked if mr. cw9 was available, i replied "he died."

in every case (except for the cop call) i was offered symphony and a quick hang-up. when the "supposed cops" called it was like...

(and i'm paraphrasing here)

"is cw9 there?"

"no. he's dead."

"you are you?"

"ah, um, no one. just ahhh... a relative settling his affairs." (???)

"well, what state do you live in?"

"fuck you, motherfucker!" *and cw9 hangs up loudly*



those bullshit cop calls are the worst. they don't even care if you are dead...

[Shallah Kali]

17. My Mom almost donated to a military charity I couldn't find any info on

They said they were helping soldiers returning home from the war get back into regular life and my Mom made a comment how awful it was that a charity had to do what the government should be doing for them. The man on the phone had a fit so she asked for their address so she could send a check then asked me to look them up. Well I couldn't find anything and unfortunatly I lost that bit of paper so I could try reporting this possible scam.

[WHAT]

15. especially Red Cross, who wants to support Dole's wife...

salary equal to or greater than a million.?

Has anyone noticed the way Red Cross is being pushed wrt Galveston coverage.? And, individual charity is illegal.?

Charity is smacking its lips at its own piousness and after seeing so much product placement in corporate news, I always assume another scam.

It's a hell of a thing when charity is forced through third channels so to skim the cream of cash and concern, simultaneously. This shows an inordinate amount of intelligence...must be ivy league.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Should find out if the business has given approval to have the bin located there.

The business should then be strongly encouraged to have the bins removed.

[Beaverhausen]

18. Oh crap. I put a ton of old clothes and shoes in those bins last year after I lost 50 lbs

darn darn darn.

It just seemed better than taking them to Goodwill who always seem to be overwhelmed with clothing.

Well, now I know what to do in the future.