#280 BBB 12-31-09 150
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Transcript of #280 BBB 12-31-09 150
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8/9/2019 #280 BBB 12-31-09 150
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MAGNOLIA CLIPPING SERVICE(601) 856-0911 I (205) 758-8610DAILY JOURNAL
TUPELO, MS Circu lation = 34322
DAILY12/08/2009
Ii 11\\11111111 11111111111111111111\ _. State p r o y i ~ e s easy-to-use tool to check out charities Ia December mood? F e ~ l i n g generous? Wallet empty? Not a pg)blem, saysBill Moak., p n ~ s i d e n t of theBetter B u s i n ~ ~ B u r e a u ofMississiPWT . ~ ' -Give time: , . '
"The Pe,Jsqhal'rew(!rds forv o l u n t e e r j n , g ! ! t ~ s p e c i a l l y during the holiday season, canbe as important to charities ' .as a cash contribution,"Moaksaid.And' he's right. There arevery few service groups thatcouldn't use a hand, especially from someone whohas a bit of expertise - carpen try, plumbing, computertrouble-shooting, bookkeeping, floor mopping.I f nothing else, buy orbake some cookies and takethem to the office of an organization you think isdoing good work in yourcommul)ily; You sp_end $5\ i i r u t h e 1 t gets i6'me'tfi'IDginvaluable - a vote of encou.ragement.Mississippians are themost philanthropic peoplein -America. We've'been-told
that for years. The ranking isbased on giving as a percentage of income reportedto the Internal Revenue Service. The fact we are a statewith alot oflow-incomepeople a lot of churchgoing tithers provides part ofthe explanation. But not allof it. People in this state willreally rally.I saw what individuals,formal and informal organizations and nongovernmentagencies did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.Dozens of groups fedthous a n ~ s ofpeople for weeks.I watched in a suburbanBaghdad community centeras paralyzed teens accepted- from a Mississippi church- the first wheelchairs they'dever had.
It's impressive how neighborly MissiSSippians can be.Others have noticed, too,and, sadly, the world ofeharities has pecome infested with predators.There are groups and indi
viduals who make fortunesby U$ing deception to gainthe compassion of others.Christmas is their feedingseason.So how do you tell if a donation will actually do whatyou want it to do?A first step could be calledthe "name test." It works almost as well as a mathematical formula. Here it is: Themore emotion-packedwords in the organization'sname, the more likely theorganization is not a charityat all. Hence, i f the mailmanbrings you a solicitationfrom the "Society to ProvideKittens to the Blind Babies~ ~ ~ e r a n s . ~ ' ' 1 9 . .tioning eye5row"il ioUfd goup. There are plenty of legitimate .charities that really aidanimals, vision-impairedhil,dr!ID ! ! ! < I ! l Y _veterans. But there are alsoplenty of con artists whoseonly priority is separatingyou from your mQney. Theharder they pluck yourheartstrings, the more likelythey can get a check.Another term bogusgroups like to employ is "lawenforcement" or "first responders." Every honest person is grateful for law enforcement and knows firstresponders save lives. So itfollows that scammers arenot shy about tapping intothat gratitude. In tum, theydo very little, if anything, toactually support law enforcement or first responders. .The second step is using atool- an invaluable toolthe Mississippi Legislaturehas made available to thepublic through the secretaryof state's office(www.sos.state.ms .us) forseveral years.An annual report on allcharities registered to ask formoney from Mississippians
(and registration is required)is available online in full andsearchable formats. Mostpublic libraries have printedversions.When contacted andasked to give money, a citizen can check the registry
before donating.If the charity isn't listed,it's operating illegally.If a charity is listed, don'texpect the state to try to tellyou whether it's on the leyel.It's a free country. Anyonecan ask for money.What the annual reportsdo show is how much
money a group raised in themost recent year, the cost ofraising the money, the costof administrative staff andthe amount actually spentfor the stated purpose.It does cost money to raisemoney, so i t would be wrongto hold all staff salaries orfundraising expenses againsta ch!P.ily. _If, however, a report shOWSa charity spent 75 cenis orm.ore of every donated dollaron overhead - and a surprisingnumber do - wary donoI'Smight choose to give theirchecks to organizations thatminimize their internal coststo maximize their effect.Back to a BBB idea. Moaksays, and it's true, that charities are limited by the taxcode on how much, if any,lobbying they can do. Volunteers, however, can be theiradvocates and write letterson their behalf.
If people have money t6give, the best advice is togive it close to home toknown, trusted individualsand organizations. Anygroup soliciting a gift bymail, telephone or otherwiseshould be. checked out. Thestate makes it pretty easy todo.And remember money, asBBB says, is not the onlything that has value. Timedoes, too. As do words andactions showing support.Charlie Mitchell is executive ed itor ofThe Vicksburg Post. Write to him at Box821668, Vicksburg, MS 39182, ore-mail [email protected] .
http:///reader/full/www.sos.state.ms.ushttp:///reader/full/www.sos.state.ms.ushttp:///reader/full/www.sos.state.ms.ushttp:///reader/full/www.sos.state.ms.ushttp:///reader/full/www.sos.state.ms.usmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:///reader/full/www.sos.state.ms.usmailto:[email protected]
