Yesterday was a good reminder for charities that any organization is susceptible to embezzlement. First, a man was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting he had defrauded charities by billing them for, but not delivering, prizes to be auctioned at fundraisers. The prizes included a walk-on role on Desperate Housewives and tickets to …
Posts Categorized: Scams
Misleading Notices Target Nonprofits
As happens every year, nonprofits are being targeted by businesses that send misleading corporate compliance notices. The first batch for 2014 has just been mailed with the headline “Annual Minutes Compliance Notice.” Don’t fall for these rip-offs. As the California Secretary of State advises, these “letters are being sent to California businesses encouraging them to …
Vendor Warning
Do you check references before you engage vendors for your organization’s fundraising events? If not, you should. The New York Times Haggler recently reminded us why. In a recent post, the Haggler investigated a company called CreditCardMachineRentals.com, which charged a nonprofit a wrongful late fee of $8,100 for returning borrowed credit card machines weeks late …
How to Best Help Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan
Following the devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan, many are trying to figure out the most effective way to help. We’ll cut to the chase: it’s money. Often at times of disaster people want to donate new and used clothing, canned foods, and building supplies. Typhoon survivors need shelter, medicine, and food – NOW. They don’t …
IRS Warns of Pervasive Phone Scam
You may encounter something even scarier than Halloween today. The IRS is warning about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers around the country. The scammers tell people that they owe money to the IRS and that it must be paid immediately using a debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, the …
UPDATE: New Misleading Mailers
Did your nonprofit heed our warning about misleading mailers? Hopefully it didn’t fall prey to the most recent misleading mailers we’ve seen. The first is titled “Statement of Information Officers List” and warns that failure to file a Statement of Information may cause an entity to become suspended. While the warning may be true, it …