Donating For Disaster Relief - Beware of Donation Scams

Donating for Disaster Relief - Beware of Donation Scams

Whenever a natural disaster leads to devastation either at home or abroad, many Americans are looking for ways to help by donating to a relief organization or charity. The Arizona Better Business Bureau warns that fraudulent charities will likely emerge to try and scam donations from well-meaning Arizonans.

The Better Business Bureau of Central, Northern and Western Arizona offers the following tips to help Arizona residents decide where to direct donations to ensure that their money provides the most benefit to the victims of natural disasters:

Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. Be cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers or Web sites, as they might not have fully researched the listed relief organizations. The public can go to the BBB online to research charities and relief organizations to verify that they are accredited by the BBB and meet the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Find out who will benefit and what type of assistance they will be provided. The immediate needs are usually food, water, shelter, transportation and clean-up efforts.

Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist victims. Despite what an organization might claim, charities have fund raising and administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims 100 percent of collected funds will be assisting victims, the truth is that the organization is still probably incurring fund raising and administrative expenses.

Find out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other groups that are active at the scene of the disaster. Some charities may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations that are already active in the region. If so, you may want to consider “avoiding the middleman” and giving directly to charities that have a presence where the disaster took place. Or, at a minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to ensure the organizations are equipped to effectively provide aid.

Be cautious when donating online. Be cautious about online giving, especially in response to spam messages and emails that claim to link to a relief organization. Web sites and new organizations may created overnight allegedly to help victims.

Gifts of clothing, food or other in-kind donations are not recommended. In-kind donation assistance is not practical. Most foreign relief organizations prefer cash donations so that supplies can be purchased near the relief site. In-kind drives for food and clothing, while well intentioned, will rarely end up being delivered to those in need.

If tax deduction is a concern, donate domestically. To help ensure your contribution is tax deductible, the donation should be made to a U.S.-based charitable organization that is tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Go to IRS Publication 78 on www.irs.gov for a current list of all organizations eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable gifts.

We are luckier than most; people in the Greater Phoenix area face very few natural disasters. While it is true that we have extreme heat, it is predictable and is not nearly as devastating as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, or hurricanes.