Underbelly of the nonprofit sector
An example of (one reason) why I dislike third-party charities like United Way and MissionFish: http://www.pgdc.com/usa/item/?itemID=513649
MissionFish then deducts a "small portion" of the proceeds to cover its expenses and then grants to remainder to the charitable donee selected by the seller. Its fee begins at 20% for amounts up to $50 and moves down to 3% for amounts exceeding $5,000 (1.5% if the sellers pays via check or EFT). There is no cap on this fee.
Presuming Premiere Radio Networks sent a check or wired the $2,100,100 to MissionFish (rather than using PayPal or putting it on its Visa card), the fee would have been $31,426.50!
Emphasis mine.
If you give through an organization like a United Way or MissionFish, the ultimate recipient never gets your whole gift. Sure, it's peanuts if you're giving $20 off your paycheck . . . But it adds up. And, as you can see above, it's a fair amount of dollars off of a large gift.
Plus, the receiving organization's "expenses" in handling this kind of gift will most likely be the same as if you wrote them your own check--or more. Let me assure you that, in the fourth circle of gift entry hell, condemned nonprofit staff process United Way checks all day long. (And in the fifth circle, they process United Way wires.)
United Ways gives us (usually) the names of the original donors--but no addresses so we could easily identify them, give them recognition in our database, and write them a nice thank-you note. You know, the kind of stuff that is our job. With every United Way check, I have to poke through our database, looking at every donor with the right name (I love it when people John Brown give through United Way!), hoping to find someone who looks like a good fit. Usually, I fail.
And these names come on a chart full of teeny-tiny print and nitty-gritty financial details. Gee, thanks, United Way; your accounting is way more important to me than identifying the donors! If I wanted to know what you do with your money, I'd ask for your annual report, thanks.
And then there's the sheer volume of checks. They adhere to this annoying payout schedule which, often, means a ton of checks for $4.37 to pay out the $30 someone gave them.
It's not efficient. It saves receiving orgs no time or overhead. Most of the little checks probably don't even cover what it costs us to handle the gift.
It's like this with nearly every United Way from which I've processed gifts. I've had brushes with a few other orgs of the same type, and they're typically just the same--maybe a little better about giving me donor details, but they still take their cut, flood me with information, and give plenty of teeny checks among the substantial ones.
Also, various United Ways have sometimes been pretty shady. The national org had a scandal over misuse of funds, and various branches have been accused of inflating their numbers or their overhead fees. (Possibly why they send me those nitty-gritty reports with every check?) There's also the problem that workplace giving campaigns inherently involve pressure--however unintentional it may be--to participate.
. . . That said, it is convenient to donors, so it's easier to give if you want to, which probably does mean more people participating in philanthropy--and getting people to start giving and keep giving (however small the amounts) is a huge development goal. And receiving orgs probably do gain overall.
So, if you've picked a worthy cause that you would like to support, give through another organization if you must. . . . But I strongly encourage you to just donate directly. Please?
MissionFish then deducts a "small portion" of the proceeds to cover its expenses and then grants to remainder to the charitable donee selected by the seller. Its fee begins at 20% for amounts up to $50 and moves down to 3% for amounts exceeding $5,000 (1.5% if the sellers pays via check or EFT). There is no cap on this fee.
Presuming Premiere Radio Networks sent a check or wired the $2,100,100 to MissionFish (rather than using PayPal or putting it on its Visa card), the fee would have been $31,426.50!
Emphasis mine.
If you give through an organization like a United Way or MissionFish, the ultimate recipient never gets your whole gift. Sure, it's peanuts if you're giving $20 off your paycheck . . . But it adds up. And, as you can see above, it's a fair amount of dollars off of a large gift.
Plus, the receiving organization's "expenses" in handling this kind of gift will most likely be the same as if you wrote them your own check--or more. Let me assure you that, in the fourth circle of gift entry hell, condemned nonprofit staff process United Way checks all day long. (And in the fifth circle, they process United Way wires.)
United Ways gives us (usually) the names of the original donors--but no addresses so we could easily identify them, give them recognition in our database, and write them a nice thank-you note. You know, the kind of stuff that is our job. With every United Way check, I have to poke through our database, looking at every donor with the right name (I love it when people John Brown give through United Way!), hoping to find someone who looks like a good fit. Usually, I fail.
And these names come on a chart full of teeny-tiny print and nitty-gritty financial details. Gee, thanks, United Way; your accounting is way more important to me than identifying the donors! If I wanted to know what you do with your money, I'd ask for your annual report, thanks.
And then there's the sheer volume of checks. They adhere to this annoying payout schedule which, often, means a ton of checks for $4.37 to pay out the $30 someone gave them.
It's not efficient. It saves receiving orgs no time or overhead. Most of the little checks probably don't even cover what it costs us to handle the gift.
It's like this with nearly every United Way from which I've processed gifts. I've had brushes with a few other orgs of the same type, and they're typically just the same--maybe a little better about giving me donor details, but they still take their cut, flood me with information, and give plenty of teeny checks among the substantial ones.
Also, various United Ways have sometimes been pretty shady. The national org had a scandal over misuse of funds, and various branches have been accused of inflating their numbers or their overhead fees. (Possibly why they send me those nitty-gritty reports with every check?) There's also the problem that workplace giving campaigns inherently involve pressure--however unintentional it may be--to participate.
. . . That said, it is convenient to donors, so it's easier to give if you want to, which probably does mean more people participating in philanthropy--and getting people to start giving and keep giving (however small the amounts) is a huge development goal. And receiving orgs probably do gain overall.
So, if you've picked a worthy cause that you would like to support, give through another organization if you must. . . . But I strongly encourage you to just donate directly. Please?