Activated - Vehicle Donation Program fundraising costs not reported?
Posted by on April 07, 2005 at 02:07:07
Perhaps someone will find this information useful.
According to a report by the California Attorney General, in 2002, donors gave Activated Ministries vehicles which were sold for a total of $307,934.62 and of this amount, only 42.73% ($131,364.93) went to the charity. The rest went to the commerical fundraiser Car Program, LLC. Yet on line 15 and Line 44D of its 2002 990 form, Activated Ministries only reported fundraising costs of $55,462, which is significantly less than the fundraising cost of $176,029.69 for just the vehicle donation program. I don't know if they are required to report and disclose the fundraising costs associated with their vehicle donation program on the 990 form but it seems deceptive and unethical to fail to report these costs to the public and donors. Perhaps I am missing something - but how can one evaluate a charity if it does not accurately and publicly report its fundraising and operating costs? I could not find accurate information about their vehicle donation program fundraising costs at http://www.donateacar2charity.com/ or http://www.activated.org/ or on their 990 form. It seems they have only reported accurate information about their vehicle donation program fundraising costs to the California Attorney General and not to anyone else. I guess this is not surprising considering all the other information about their organization that they have failed to accurately and truthfully report.
I am not sure if they are still using the commercial fundraiser Car Program LLC. I have received some information from a reliable source that, in 2004, some Family members sold cars donated to Activated Ministries and received a commission of 30% (still better than the 57.27% that went to Car Program LLC in 2002).
