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Cancer Charity Scam Uncovered By CNN

Campbell

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A small industrial park in Knoxville TN holds the headquarters of a family conglomerate of cancer charities that return lavish salaries to their owners but according to their own tax records donate very little to dying cancer patients and the last thing the people running this charity want to do is answer questions. They promote their cause using children cancer patients and breast cancer in women. The total picture is that ordinary working Americans donated $26 million to them and about 2% actually ended up helping the cause. Most of the millions were pocketed by five members of the Reynolds family.

Be very cautious about donating your money to any thing or any one these days. Greed knows no bounds.
 
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A small industrial park in Knoxville TN holds the headquarters of a family conglomerate of cancer charities that return lavish salaries to their owners but according to their own tax records donate very little to dying cancer patients and the last thing the people running this charity want to do is answer questions. They promote their cause using children cancer patients and breast cancer in women. The total picture is that ordinary working Americans donated $26 million to them and about 2% actually ended up helping the cause. Most of the millions were pocketed by five members of the Reynolds family.

Be very cautious about donating your money to any thing or any one these days. Greed knows no bounds.

Glad they rest funding their cause. I once worked for a foundation and I can assure you those figures are critical to an organization getting professional philanthropy dollars. Hopefully the Reynolds will face a judge for fraud. A common one are the telemarketing fund raisers. They hook up with charitable organizations and do fund raising for them. The problem is that the charitable organization doesn't see much of the money. They do it because getting something is better than nothing but I'd like to see them avoid this kind of thing because it keeps the telemarketers in business. There are lots of great charities. You just need to avoid the bad ones.
 
A small industrial park in Knoxville TN holds the headquarters of a family conglomerate of cancer charities that return lavish salaries to their owners but according to their own tax records donate very little to dying cancer patients and the last thing the people running this charity want to do is answer questions. They promote their cause using children cancer patients and breast cancer in women. The total picture is that ordinary working Americans donated $26 million to them and about 2% actually ended up helping the cause. Most of the millions were pocketed by five members of the Reynolds family.

The charity's response, per its website:

While the media has reported CFA as being one of the 50 worst charities in our country. They have refused to print the truth as we presented to them. First we explained our mission. CFA has helped over 100,000 patients across our country since we started in 1983. The media wishes to report on cash only thereby ignoring that we are able to purchase products in volume and save in order to serve more families.

The primary mission of Cancer Fund of America is to assist patients through the provisions of needed products for the patient and family. CFA maintains from 40 to 50 large truck loads of products all of which are fresh dated. CFA also helps with the purchase of wigs and sends cash states outside the continental U.S.

In 2012 our independently audited financial statements that have been filed with state regulators and the required form 990 which was filed with the IRS showed our fund raising cost to be less than 20%, administration 3%, and program services 78%. This is much different than what certain slanted media stories represent. Being a charity is vary (sic) difficult these days to raise funds and trying to defend ourselves against those who refuse to write the truth.

Be very cautious about donating your money to any thing or any one these days. Greed knows no bounds.

Well yes, like with most things, just do your homework.

Carol Smith still gets angry when she remembers the box that arrived by mail for her dying husband.

Cancer Fund of America sent it when he was diagnosed with lung cancer six years ago. Smith had called the charity for help.

"It was filled with paper plates, cups, napkins and kids' toys," the 67-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., resident said. "My husband looked like somebody slapped him in the face. - link
 
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Well yes, like with most things, just do your homework.

I live 35 miles from Knoxville. The local news tried to question the Reynolds son who has been raking off millions and he all but ran away from them and as he drove away he stuck up his middle finger. These people are crooks. When their own tax records show that 2% of the donated funds made it to the patients that leaves little to the imagination. Looks like you are the one who should do the homework and take someone's word except the crooks.
 
I live 35 miles from Knoxville. The local news tried to question the Reynolds son who has been raking off millions and he all but ran away from them and as he drove away he stuck up his middle finger. These people are crooks. When their own tax records show that 2% of the donated funds made it to the patients that leaves little to the imagination. Looks like you are the one who should do the homework and take someone's word except the crooks.

Looks like you misinterpreted my post.
 
A small industrial park in Knoxville TN holds the headquarters of a family conglomerate of cancer charities that return lavish salaries to their owners but according to their own tax records donate very little to dying cancer patients and the last thing the people running this charity want to do is answer questions. They promote their cause using children cancer patients and breast cancer in women. The total picture is that ordinary working Americans donated $26 million to them and about 2% actually ended up helping the cause. Most of the millions were pocketed by five members of the Reynolds family.

Be very cautious about donating your money to any thing or any one these days. Greed knows no bounds.


People donated 26 million so that only slightly over half a million can be used to help the cause.Hopefully these crooks are thrown into prison this is fraud.
 
People donated 26 million so that only slightly over half a million can be used to help the cause.Hopefully these crooks are thrown into prison this is fraud.

Thats the sad part ...usually they don't get jail time .....thats reserved for harden crimminals who gets caught smoking a joint!!
 
A Charity, like a Church is a business that somebody opens. Charities don't appear spontaneously due to human outcry - they are planned out exactly as any business would be including the expected reward for those who are going to put in the effort to get it started.

I'll go out on a limb and opinionate™ that only 10% of all the charities that register each year have any kind of a care about anything beyond their own success. Sure, there are some (Salvation Army is a good example) that are way on the up and up, pay their management a salary that reflects a true charity and spends most of their money doing the good deed thingy. Researching charities can be very enlightening.
 
A small industrial park in Knoxville TN holds the headquarters of a family conglomerate of cancer charities that return lavish salaries to their owners but according to their own tax records donate very little to dying cancer patients and the last thing the people running this charity want to do is answer questions. They promote their cause using children cancer patients and breast cancer in women. The total picture is that ordinary working Americans donated $26 million to them and about 2% actually ended up helping the cause. Most of the millions were pocketed by five members of the Reynolds family.

Be very cautious about donating your money to any thing or any one these days. Greed knows no bounds.

That is what you get in an unregulated world. I dont know about the US, but in Denmark charities have to be registered and controlled every year by the tax man to verify that they are not breaking the rules set out for their tax exemption and registration.
 
A Charity, like a Church is a business that somebody opens. Charities don't appear spontaneously due to human outcry - they are planned out exactly as any business would be including the expected reward for those who are going to put in the effort to get it started.

I'll go out on a limb and opinionate™ that only 10% of all the charities that register each year have any kind of a care about anything beyond their own success. Sure, there are some (Salvation Army is a good example) that are way on the up and up, pay their management a salary that reflects a true charity and spends most of their money doing the good deed thingy. Researching charities can be very enlightening.

We donated to the Salvation Army for many years. We also donated to a group of volunteer doctors named "Operation Smile" to pay for a group of trained professionals to do surgical procedures to children with cleft palates and/or hare lip at no cost to them. The local Salvation Army was caught misusing donated funds and the Operation Smile organization hired a million dollar a year Asian CEO. Since then we've donated little to anyone except UNICEF.
 
I used to give to local charities that called me, but then I researched them and found out that they were mostly administrative costs.

Likewise, I gave a small donation to my alma mater. It was followed by a barage of glossy mail and phone calls that more than ate up the donation. I told them to stop wasting the money; they agreed, and then kept it up anyway. Now I just don't answer, or I inform them that I don't give over the phone.
 
I used to give to local charities that called me, but then I researched them and found out that they were mostly administrative costs.

Likewise, I gave a small donation to my alma mater. It was followed by a barage of glossy mail and phone calls that more than ate up the donation. I told them to stop wasting the money; they agreed, and then kept it up anyway. Now I just don't answer, or I inform them that I don't give over the phone.

I know exactly what you mean. Over the last 20 or so years periodically a friend or old acquantance has died and several have requested that instead of flowers they would like to help certain charities. We usually send about what we would have spent on a floral arrangement. So help me we still get flyers or pamphlets from some as far back as 10-15 years. I know they've more than spent what we originally contributed to their cause and their mail keeps showing up.
 
I know exactly what you mean. Over the last 20 or so years periodically a friend or old acquantance has died and several have requested that instead of flowers they would like to help certain charities. We usually send about what we would have spent on a floral arrangement. So help me we still get flyers or pamphlets from some as far back as 10-15 years. I know they've more than spent what we originally contributed to their cause and their mail keeps showing up.

yep, it's a real waste. i understand the reasoning, but it just seems a better idea not to send hundreds of dollars in mail to someone who donated forty bucks.
 
One of many reasons I give of my time, knowledge and labor, rather than cash.

St. Judes is about the only place I send a check.
 
One of many reasons I give of my time, knowledge and labor, rather than cash.

St. Judes is about the only place I send a check.

Small world...my dad's last wishes stated that any memorials be mailed to St. Judes at Memphis, TN
 
Small world...my dad's last wishes stated that any memorials be mailed to St. Judes at Memphis, TN

I looked at the link that was posted and though I would have like to see a better efficiency rating, I know way too many people who have ended up at St. Judes, and they have said nothing but the best things about them. Sometimes, you just can't put a 'rating' on that.

Good on your Dad. :thumbs:
 
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