Charity Telemarketing Cheat Sheet

Image by Tim Dorr via Flickr

The Washington Post today put together a cheat sheet when receiving calls from telemarketers representing charitable organizations.  We full encourage charitable giving throughout the year, but as the Post points out it makes a lot of sense to fully qualify the charity prior to sending them money.

“Are you a third-party company raising funds on behalf of the charity?” You need to ask this question because for-profit fundraisers — companies that primarily are used in charitable telemarketing campaigns — can keep 25 cents to 95 cents of every dollar they collect, according to Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities’ fundraising efficiency. Most efficient charities spend less than 25 percent on fundraising and administrative fees.

Read the full story here.