Police charities

[Retmilleo909]

Are there others in the forum who receive several requests a month over the phone and in the mail, from solicitors asking for money for various police charities?
They vary anywhere from monies to help the widows and families of police officers killed in the line of duty, to helping to pay for an LEO's retrial when he/she has been unjustly convicted.
I want to help brother LEO's, but which ones are legit and which ones aren't?

[Jackalope]

I think I've heard that a lot of those phone solicitations are just private companies that charge a huge "fee" for collecting donations for the charity. So they collect your $10 and give the charity $1. You could always ask the person for the specific percentage of your money going to the charity. Or you could ask for the name of the charity and do some internet research on it before committing to anything.

[Jks9199]

I don't generally give to organizations that solicit over the phone. As Jackalope said, much of the money raised by those calls doesn't make it to the organization. Also -- I can't help but wonder how much they're helping cops if I've never heard of the organization!

If they won't send me an information packet without me promising money -- they don't get money. That's one broad rule you can try.

[Buttercup]

Both of the above responses are excellent. Any legitimate charity that solicits over the phone should have no problem with immediately agreeing to mail or email details to you and they should not try to discourage you from asking questions. They should also have no problem in telling you the percentage going to administrative costs and to the cause itself, and they should also be able to immediately supply you with a 510(c)(3) number that you can verify. This time of year is one that telephone solicitors love, and the fake ones make it that much harder for the legitimate charities.

Private fundraising groups and efforts are a bit trickier to verify, as in the case of money being raised to offset legal or medical expenses for an individual. Use google to research or get phone numbers from the solicitor to learn more about the alleged charity, or donate to a legitimate nonprofit social service organization that may have an affiliation with a group so you can specify where you want your donation to go.

Here's a link that you can use to verify an organization's 501(c)(3) status.

http://apps.irs.gov/portal/site/pub78/

[Ducky]

If they're collecting for a local officer who's in dire straits (legal, medical, etc) would the officer's department have the appropriate contact info for sending donations? I should think the departments themselves would also have contact info for the legitimate charities. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Just KC]

I never give to solicitors. If you want to donate to the police association, call the station yourself and ask how you can go about donating to them