CharityWatch regularly works with the
media and lends our expertise to provide insightful commentary for articles,
help with interpreting charity audited financial statements and tax filings,
and context for understanding broader issues affecting the nonprofit sector.
Here is a sampling of our many contributions to TV, radio, podcast, and print news stories in 2022.
“‘There are so many red flags
here, it’s hard to keep score,’ said CharityWatch’s executive director Laurie
Styron. ‘Taxpayers who subsidize the existence of public charities also have a
stake in knowing that nonprofits aren’t being used to forward the personal
interests of the people running it.'”
“‘One person can’t govern themselves. There is no board. There is no
independence. There are no checks and balances against conflict or competing
interests.'”
“‘The reporting guidance is both rules-based and principles-based, and in
some cases requires the governing body of a charity to make judgement calls in
good faith with respect to whether or not the charity truly has the ability to
make decisions independently of for-profit interests — particularly when a
charity has a small board and there is shared governance between the nonprofit
and the for-profit,’ Styron said.”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, commenting on concerns about the Washington Commanders
Charitable Foundation.
ESPN, 12/22/2022
“‘Well anytime there’s a middle
person in between your donation and the charity there is a little bit more of a
risk that your donation won’t get to the organization or that it won’t get to
the organization [in] a timely manner,’ said Laurie Styron, Executive Director,
CharityWatch.”
“If everything’s above board that store [is] really just acting like an
agent,’ said Styron.”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, warns that while charity checkout donations can create windfalls for
some charities, they are not without dangers for donors.
KPRC2/Click2Houston NBC, 12/19/2022
“’A nonprofit, in theory, should
determine appropriate compensation for an organization’s leader by researching
the market rate for someone with the relevant education, skills and
experience needed to competently perform the job at hand,’ said Laurie Styron,
executive director of Charity Watch, a charity watchdog.”
“’In some cases, there is
circular reasoning applied where a nonprofit working in a particular cause may
look at the compensation levels of the leaders at other nonprofits working in
that same cause to justify higher pay for its own leader,’ Styron said. ‘This
is often done even in cases where someone competent could be found to do the
job for far less.’”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, comments on how some nonprofits cherry pick data as a means of
justifying high salaries and compensation packages.
USA TODAY, 12/16/2022
“’The elevator pitch that I
always give people is to be proactive. Most people, the number one reason they
donate is because they’re asked. But a lot of us have a lot of trouble saying
‘no.’ Especially here in the Midwest, we have a lot of trouble saying ‘no.’ So
the best way to avoid scams is really to just be proactive. Ask yourself what
causes are the most important to me
[and] identify efficient charities working in those causes. Now
you’ve whittled it down to probably three or four. Dig into the programs, you
know. Some charities focus on raising awareness for a cause. Other ones provide
direct grants, direct support, more active types of programs. So, you as the
donor are in control as long as you are more proactive rather than
reactive.’”
“’Well, there are over 1.5
million nonprofits in the United States. It’s really tough to dig into all of
them because it’s very time-intensive to really dig into all the audits and the
tax filings and all the documentation. And it’s pretty easy for charities
to…use creative accounting to make themselves appear more efficient than they
really are. But there are some general tips you can follow…’”
– CharityWatch Executive Director, Laurie Styron, appears on PBS station WTTW’s Chicago Tonight program to
provide Giving Tuesday and holiday giving tips to help donors identify
efficient charities to support.
WTTW’s Chicago Tonight program, 11/29/2022
“This is peak time for scammers,
some of them being professionals who do scamming as a full-time job. This means
that all of us have to be on extra alert this time of year.”
“We [CharityWatch] have a list of Top-Rated
charities organized by cause.”
“A charity could spend $1 of your
$100 donation on its programs and be operating perfectly within the law. It’s
not enough to know if a charity is ‘legitimate.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, encourages donors to avoid charity scams this holiday season by
referring to CharityWatch’s list of Top-Rated
charities by cause.
WENY News, 11/29/2022
“‘There are a lot of very
‘scammy’ charities out there that sort of exist just to enrich
fundraising companies, and they will target causes that are really
popular,’ says Laurie Styron, the executive director of
CharityWatch…”
“According to Styron, there is a big difference between being a ‘good’
non-profit and a ‘legitimate’ one. To be ‘legitimate,’ a charity just has to be
registered and in good standing with the IRS. ‘There are no laws
mandating that a charity has to spend a minimum percentage of your donation on
their programs, so the difference between an outright fraud–a scammer–and a
legitimate, but highly inefficient charity might only be the difference between
none of your donation being spent on programs and 1% or 2% of your donation
being spent on programs,’ she said.”
“It’s also important to avoid
making decisions on a tight deadline or under pressure. ‘Instead of waiting to
be asked and then having to react and try to understand if that’s a worthy
cause or a worthy person to help, be proactive,’ Styron suggested.
‘Think about what’s important to you. Find a good charity working in that cause
and support that organization.'”
Arizona’s Family CBS 5 & 3 TV, 11/29/2022
“We see so many people, they get
taken in by emotional appeals of sad photos of…injured animals, or homeless
veterans, or children with cancer. And these images are extremely compelling.
And, you know, to quell that emotional discomfort, a lot of us, we make a
donation and we feel like we’ve done something good. But, in fact, the most
predatory people, they’re going to target those highly popular
causes.”
“Just make sure that you trust
the person running [the charity]…understand how many people are on the board
of directors. Make sure that it’s not a one person operation and that there are
some checks and balances in place and some oversight. And, definitely ask, how
is my money going to be spent? Because, you know, you do, all of us, right? We
want most of our donation to be spent really funding the programs and we want
charities to keep their overhead costs in check–reasonable, but not
outrageous.”
– CharityWatch Executive Director, Laurie Styron, is interviewed
by KOAA 5’s Patrick Nelson about how to find the best charities while
avoiding scams this Giving Tuesday and throughout the holiday giving season.
Don’t waste your donations!
KOAA News5, 11/29/2022
“‘Public charities are not
supposed to be engaging in substantial lobbying activities, and they risk their
tax-exempt status when they don’t follow the rules,’ Laurie Styron, executive
director of CharityWatch, told the Washington Examiner.”
“‘When charities do engage in
small amounts of lobbying activities, they are required to report these to the
public in their annual tax filings so that donors know what types of activities
they are funding and so that taxpayers know what types of activities they are subsidizing,’
Styron said.”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, discusses reporting requirements and limits on lobbying for
501(c)(3) public charities, including Alianza Americas.
Washington Examiner, 11/22/2022
“Sometimes, charities will market matching gift campaigns that involve a deadline
that’s fast approaching.”
“’It encourages you to give without
giving you time to research whether the charity will use your donation
efficiently or not,’ said Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch.”
“’It’s much better to step back
and think about the causes you care about … and target those charities,’ Styron
said. ‘If it’s high pressure, it’s usually not a good charity,’ she said.”
“Sometimes, individuals are
solicited by someone who says they are raising money on behalf of a charity,
but are collecting the money themselves.”
“In those cases, you’d need to know
whether the person definitely is going to pass on the money raised to the
charity.”
“’Even if it’s a legitimate middle
person or donation processor, they might be taking significant administrative
or processing fees out of your donation,’ Styron said.”
“’Sometimes, a person or group
will take the name of a highly popular charity name and slightly change it,’
Styron said.”
“’A lot of times, scammy charities
will leverage a familiar-sounding name to try to scam you out of your money,’
she said. For instance, they might add ‘foundation’ at the end of a charity’s
name or ‘American’ in front of the name to make it sound like a charity that is
broadly trusted.”
-CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, provides giving tips for Giving Tuesday and the 2022 holiday
season to help donors target the best charities to support.
CNBC, 11/17/2022
“‘A charity’s board members have
a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the charity at all times,’
Styron added. ‘Doing so becomes more complicated when there are competing
interests between nonprofit and for-profit legal entities, particularly when
the two organizations share key staff who have to balance their fiduciary
duties between the two. It has the potential to get tricky if there aren’t
adequate safeguards in place.'”
“‘If the charity is granting or reimbursing funds to the for-profit
entity, and the for-profit is then paying money to other companies or
individuals, there is a danger that charitable dollars are indirectly
subsidizing the expenses of the for-profit,’ she added. ‘Money is
fungible.'”
“‘Charities have pretty wide
latitude to decide what programs they want to conduct without breaking any laws
or hard rules,’ Styron told The Daily Beast. ‘But there is still a question of
whether or not it is ethical for a charity to focus so much of its resources on
programs that provide publicity for its founder. The answer really depends on
how much public good is being provided and whether or not this publicity is
what is driving the charity’s decisions about what programs to conduct.'”
“‘A lot of philanthropy is some combination of providing public good while
garnering public goodwill for a charity’s funders,’ Styron said. ‘But in this
case, the person who appears to be benefiting from the public goodwill isn’t
providing significant funding to the organization.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, commenting on the relationship between Tom Brady’s charitable
foundation and for-profit company, TB12, Inc.
The Daily Beast, 11/17/2022
“‘Any reasonable person who
visits this site will immediately assume it’s a nonprofit based on the
presentation and all the nonprofit and social justice buzzwords that are
incorporated throughout its content,’ said Laurie Styron, executive director of
CharityWatch, a nonprofit watchdog group. ‘If it is a for-profit, or if it is
an aspiring nonprofit in the process of applying for tax-exempt status, it
should explicitly communicate this information on its website so that people
can make an informed decision about whether or not they want to fund
it.'”
“It’s a problem that the public
has to guess, dig, or invest time in researching the legal status of an
organization that is soliciting funding for social justice or other charitable
causes,’ said Styron. ‘Just tell us.'”
– With respect to Race2Dinner,
CharityWatch Executive Director, Laurie Styron, urges those raising money in
the name of social justice causes to be transparent
about their non-profit or for-profit status.
The New York Post, 11/10/2022
“Still, the MPTF’s boards of
directors and governors — the former focused on its administration, the
latter on fundraising — also have a fiduciary duty to ‘act in the best
interest of the nonprofit that they’re overseeing,’ says Laurie Styron,
executive director of nonprofit watchdog CharityWatch.”
“A concerning aspect of the
MPTF’s predicament, notes Styron, is that it ‘has made some pretty serious
operations obligations for ongoing care of people,’ and that retracting any
services in the face of financial difficulties would be tricky.”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, comments on money troubles at the Motion Picture Television
Fund.
The Hollywood Reporter, 11/08/2022
“But using charitable donations
for personal benefit is still wrong, she said. ‘A foundation is not a personal
piggy bank for someone who’s running it, no matter how hard-working they
are.'”
“Styron lamented that state
agencies such as the Attorney General’s office and Arizona Corporation
Commission did not do more to investigate and hold RecFX Foundation accountable
if the allegations were confirmed. ‘For the state to basically shrug its
shoulders is pretty obnoxious,’ she said. ‘This is really a shame.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, weighing in on Arizona charity CEO who lied about military
service and conned veterans out of thousands of dollars, according to the
charity’s former supporters.
Arizona Republic, 10/24/2022
“‘You can’t say you’re raising
money for one purpose and then spend it on something totally different,’ Laurie
Styron, executive director of CharityWatch, told The Athletic. ‘Charities have an ethical obligation, and in
some cases a legal obligation, to fulfill the intentions of its donors in the
way funds are spent.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, comments on the Brett Favre charity scandal.
E! Entertainment News, 10/15/2022
“One of the reasons that
crowdfunding is so incredibly appealing is that it typically centers on one
individual or one family,’ said Laurie Styron, with the watchdog organization
CharityWatch. ‘It gives us that very personal, emotional connection, and it
makes us feel like when we give money, it really will make an impact and help
the person.'”
“But Styron says who you’re helping may not be who you think it is. ‘You
don’t really know if the person you’re donating to could be located 6,000 miles
away on a computer farm somewhere. There are people at the ready in any
disaster to exploit it as a fundraising opportunity to scam you,’ Styron
said.”
“‘If you insist on donating
through a crowdfunding campaign – at a minimum – do a reverse image search,’
Styron said. ‘Make sure that the images you’re seeing or the story that you’re
hearing hasn’t been repeated in multiple places across a lot of platforms.
That’s usually one sign that it could be a highly sophisticated type of scam.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, warns donors about the dangers of donating through crowdfunding
websites in response to natural disasters.
Newsy, 10/06/2022
“‘Meaning, that if this charity
decided that it wanted to help past grant recipients rectify some of these
issues that they’re having with their housing,’ said Styron, ‘ I don’t see
anything in the financial reporting that would prevent them from doing
that.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, says that affordable housing nonprofit with many years’
worth of assets on hand could choose to help past participants of its
housing program if it wanted to.
CBS KUTV News, 10/03/2022
“‘Resist the urge to give
impulsively,’ says CharityWatch executive director, Laurie Styron. ‘If you
donate to a charity and don’t know how it’s going to be used that’s not a great
way to give. That’s not a great way to ensure that your donation will actually
make an impact,’ she says.”
“Many people like to help many
charities, rather than donating to only one or two. Styron encourages donors to
rethink this approach. ‘When you donate very small amounts of money to a lot of
different charities, less of your donation is available for programs because
… much of it gets eaten up in these administrative fees,’ Styron told DC News
Now.”
“‘One particular victim of a
disaster can end up with $1 million or more, whereas people in the exact same
situation, affected negatively by the exact same tragedy, sometimes have no
help at all,’ Styron warned. ‘This can occur when the tragic story of one
individual or family goes viral or is highly publicized by media, resulting in
an outpouring of donations directed to only a few victims via a crowdfunding
campaign or other medium. A better way to ensure that your donation is
used not only efficiently and effectively, but also equitably, is to identify a
worthy charity to support that is equipped to provide boots-on-the-ground aid
to all of the victims of a disaster.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, talks to D.C. News Now about Hurricane Ian giving, what to
avoid, and how to make sure your donation makes a real impact.
D.C. News Now, 09/29/2022
“‘If the charity told donors it
was raising money for breast cancer but then spends the resulting donations on
an athletic facility, the people running the organization are not fulfilling
their obligations to spend the nonprofit’s donations the way its donors
intended,’ she said.”
“‘Charities are not personal
piggy banks for their founders to tap into for pet projects. Celebrity athletes
don’t get a free pass, and if anything, should feel more of a personal
obligation to set a good example by operating not only legally within the
rules, but ethically so.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, communicates to ESPN that celebrity athletes like Brett Favre should hold themselves to high ethical
standards in their charitable endeavors.
ESPN, 09/28/2022
“‘You can’t say you’re raising
money for one purpose and then spend it on something totally different.
Charities have an ethical obligation, and in some cases a legal obligation, to
fulfill the intentions of [their] donors in the way funds are spent.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, reacts to news that Brett Favre’s charity, Favre 4 Hope, which has a
stated mission to support disadvantaged children and cancer patients, made
grants over three years to help fund the University of Southern Mississippi’s
volleyball facility.
The Athletic, 09/28/2022
“The BLM Global Network
Foundation is ‘like a giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting in the night
with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction,’ CharityWatch
Executive Director Laurie Styron previously told the Washington
Examiner in January [2022].”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, commenting on governance and transparency issues at Black Lives
Matter Global Network Foundation.
MSN, 09/02/2022
“‘A charity isn’t a
cookie jar for its officers and directors to raid,’ said Styron. ‘The people
running charities are not owners, they are stewards. That’s the job. Charities
are not vehicles for personal benefit.'”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, commenting on a would-be fallen officers charity that reported a
long-deceased relative as being on the board.
WGCU PBS & NPR, 08/26/2022
“There’s…a slew of private
charity raters, such as BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator, and
GuideStar. These groups confer a sheen of credibility on nonprofits through
numerical ratings and gold stars. And yet a large number of problematic
nonprofits enjoy high ratings on these sites.”
“These ratings are routinely
called out by CharityWatch, the only real aggressive watchdog. The organization
helps journalists interpret IRS nonprofit disclosures while revealing how the
documents themselves can be easily gamed to understate executive compensation
and overstate impact. ‘The whole system is propped up on false assumptions and
flawed automated methods,’ said Laurie Styron, CharityWatch’s leader.”
– CharityWatch Executive Director,
Laurie Styron, contributing commentary to The New Republic’s August 2022
article, “There’s Never Been A Better Time to Be a Scammy Nonprofit”.
The New Republic, 08/12/2022
Visit In The News to view more quotes and interviews by CharityWatch.