Feds file suit against cancer charities

Many of you have probably made donations to help people fighting cancer.

Now, the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in all 50 states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against four cancer charities and the people who run them. The feds allege the charities have scammed consumers out of more than $187 million.

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The legal action targets the Cancer Fund of America, Children's Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services and the Breast Cancer Society alleging they violated federal and state regulations. Over the course of 2008 to 2012, the lawsuit claims, 85 percent of the more than $187 million the four groups raised went to professional fundraisers. Operators used much of the remaining donations to cover their salaries and personal expenses, including trips to Disney World, concert tickets and dating site memberships.

The Children's Cancer Fund of America and the Breast Cancer Society have entered into a settlement agreement and will be dissolved. Litigation will continue against Cancer Fund of America Inc. and Cancer Support Services Inc.

How To Donate Wisely

Generous donors will still want to give to legitimate organizations, but you have to be careful when giving your hard-earned money to a charity. Ruth to the Rescue spoke with Melanie Duquesnel, the CEO of the local Better Business Bureau.

She says one of the keys to making a smart donation is to ask a lot of questions, "You have the option and certainly the right to ask them 'How much is actually going to go to the charity? How much is the telemarketing service going to keep?' You have the right to ask those kind of financial pieces of information."

You can also see how the names of charities can start to blend together if you're not paying close attention. Duquesnel says it's important to verify that you are giving to the specific charity, whose work you support. She says there are cases where scam artists create a charity with a name that sound very much like a more popular, legitimate organization.

So, if someone calls asking for a donation, don't give any money or personal information until you can do some homework, "Until you've actually verified what that organization is, you may be giving to the wrong entity," warned Duquesnel.

The Better Business Bureau offered this list of other wise-giving guidelines.

Be cautious when responding to phone appeals. Like all forms of fund raising, telephone appeals can be put to good use by a charity, or can be part of a deceptive campaign that can result in little money going to the claimed charitable effort. Never be pressured to make an immediate, on-the-spot contribution decision.

Seek out additional facts. If interested in the charity, ask the caller for the charity's website address and/or search online on your own to obtain program, financial and other information to make a more informed giving decision.

Watch out for excessive fund raising expenses. While most charities have reasonable fund raising expenses (less than 35 percent of total contributions received in the past year,) if a telephone appeal campaign is not managed well, it can result in excessive fund raising expenses where the charity might receive less than 20 percent or 10 percent of collected funds.

Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. The public can go to Give.org to research charitable organizations to verify their trustworthiness. Charities that meet the 20 "BBB Standards for Charity Accountability" are called BBB Accredited Charities.

Additional local charity reviews are available at bbb.org.