Discerning the clothing collection boxes

We have often seen the blue and green collection boxes in parking lots across America. The boxes have drawings of the globe and claim to give the clothing to far flung reaches of the globe. Do the clothes actually make it to the poor across the world? Also how do these boxes effect donations to your local charities like the Salvation Army and Goodwill?

From the Chicago Tribune, writer Monica Eng describe why those boxes may not be as charitable as they seem.

With more-established charities reducing their fleets of clothing boxes, commercial recyclers have moved in with their own boxes to tap into the valuable supply of discarded American clothing — sometimes, but not always, in partnership with charities.

Although some larger charities around the country have blamed the new boxes for a decrease in donations, local Goodwill and Salvation Army representatives say donations have remained generally stable, considering the economy.

Some of the more controversial new boxes are placed by recyclers who consider collecting used clothes to be a charitable environmental program or who create and run their own charity to which they donate funds.

One of the biggest players, Gaia, falls in the first category. Over the last several years it has been criticized for characterizing itself as an environmental charity with projects around the world, when most of its environmental work remains collecting clothes for sale. Along with the related organizations Planet Aid and USAgain, Gaia has expanded in the last decade despite its connection to the controversial Danish organization Tvind, whose leader was acquitted of charges of money laundering and embezzlement in 2006.

An example of the second category is Florida businessman Jay Katari, who owns or has a stake in several textile recycling companies and has also headed charities called Shoes for a Cure and Cancer Free America, whose logos have emblazoned hundreds of boxes.

Critics contend that he gives very little of his profits to cancer causes, and the controversy led Johns Hopkins Cancer Center and Children's Center to stop taking donations from his organizations. Katari did not return phone calls from the Tribune seeking comment, but he said in one television report out of Maryland that he has given at least $87,000 to cancer charities.

In 2009, boxes for a new cancer charity called Go Green for the Cause began to appear in parking lots across the nation. Nicole Leve, executive director of the organization, says it has about 1,000 boxes nationally and about 200 in the Chicago area that raise money for cancer charities. Commercial recyclers operate most of the clothing operations and pay Go Green for clothes deposited in the bins, Leve said. Katari runs one of those recyclers and has been a generous donor to the charity, she said.

A lawsuit over "Three Cups of Tea"

Two Montana legislators have filed suit against Greg Mortenson and his charity the Central Asia Institute. Mortenson was recently the subject of a 60 Minutes piece where it was alleged that his book "Three Cups of Tea" contained some misrepresentations. The book is the story of how the charity CIS was created and describes its mission to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

From the Los Angeles Times, Kim Murphy details the lawsuit.

The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Montana by two Democratic state legislators, Michele Reinhart of Missoula and Jean Price of Great Falls. They said they were moved to buy Mortenson's book and donate to his institute because they believed the published accounts, which included being kidnapped by the Taliban, were true.

The 2006 book sold more than 4 million copies. Author Jon Krakauer and the CBS news program "60 Minutes" said their research showed that some of the central anecdotes recounted in the book — including Mortenson's story of recuperating from a failed ascent of Pakistan's K2 in the small village where he went on to build his first school — did not happen as he described them in the book and in numerous public appearances around the world.

"The law says you cannot make misrepresentations, you cannot tell somebody something's true and have them buy your book and make donations to your institute, when in fact it's not true. That's covered by fraud, deceit, unjust enrichment, many parts of the law," said the legislators' attorney, Alexander Blewitt III.

Mortenson has said that the book is substantially true but that some of the incidents were rearranged.

A look US charity oversight in light of the Greg Mortenson allegations

From Wikimedia Commons

The story about Greg Mortenson has raised questions into oversight of non-profits in the US. It is alleged that Mortensen printed false tales in his book "Three Cups of Tea" The state of Montanta is about to begin an investigation on Mortenson's charity Central Asia Institute over improper use of funds raised mainly fuel his personal book tour.

When any charity files for tax-exempt status, the IRS usually accepts them without much investigation. So a charity that does little to no actual charitable work can be accepted and begin raising money. Experts say that laws already in place need to be better enforced to prevent any future charitable fraud.

From Reuters, writer Michelle Nichols has this anaylsis of US charity oversight.

U.S. tax authorities grant groups charitable status, which exempts them from taxes, and require most to file annual informational tax returns, but experts say the main source of regulation faced by nonprofit groups is at state level from the attorney-general.

"The problem is that very few states have put the resources they should into this part of the attorney general's activities and the quality of regulation ... varies," said Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor of public affairs and philanthropic studies at Indiana University.
...

U.S. tax authorities reject very few applications by groups wanting to become charities, but making it more difficult would raise concerns about what criteria would be used to determine a nonprofit and could hinder efforts by groups to do good.

There are several independent charity watchdogs such as Charity Navigator and the American Institute for Philanthropy, where donors can get advice about larger nonprofit groups.

But their views can differ. The institute wrote a critical report about Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, while the Navigator gave it a top four star rating and then added a donor advisory warning when concerns about the group were raised.

"The vast majority of donors are looking for information that is readily available; they don't have a lot of time to do research for their charitable giving," said Ken Berger, chief executive of Charity Navigator.

"We're trying to oversee what is basically a $2 trillion part of the American economy -- one out of every 10 jobs -- 10 percent of GDP, and we are a very small operation," he said. "Creating further regulation would not be viable unless we get serious about enforcing existing law more rigorously."