(DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TX) Pete Thomson, President/CEO of McQ Media, recently completed a series of broadcasts regarding charity scams in America. The broadcasts, heard on The Consumer Team radio program, were focused on ratings of US charities and included information on well know national n0n-profits that are receiving low performance grades from national charity watch dog groups. An article summarizing The Consumer Team’s findings has been published by ConsumerAffairs.com
Pete Thomson – CEO – McQ Media
Thomson said the charity scam story has been a priority project for his talk radio program, The Consumer Team. He said, “The more we dug into this story, the more problems we found with big name charities. Some of the best known and respected non-profits in America are doing poorly when it comes to managing the money that they receive in donations.” Thomson said the most common problem with charities was what he called “out-of-control overhead.” Thomson continued, “Many charities have significant issues controlling their expenses. In some cases, over 90% of a person’s donation is being diverted away from programs that help people. The money often goes to travel, entertainment, CEO salaries and non-essential expenses.”
Thomson said that a charity’s overhead should not exceed 25% of total gifts given and that a number of charities limit their overhead to less than 10% of total giving.
In his research for The Consumer Team and ConsumerAffairs.com, Thomson referenced the work of Charity Navigator and The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability as being excellent resources for vetting charity effectiveness. Thomson added, “Charity Navigator and ECFA give consumers objective data to use for rating non-profits. Sandra Miniutti with Charity Navigator was especially helpful for our research.”
The Consumer Team is broadcast Saturdays from 5-7 PM (Central) on 1080 KRLD Radio, Dallas. The Consumer Team is produced by McQ Media Inc.
