[gchappel]

Here is the letter I discussed above:


Raffle Ethics

All:

As we all know, there are various raffles involving Porsches,
Merced es and the like as the top prize. This diatribe is over the ethics
demon strated by some of the folks who run these things.

For the disclaimer part, this is all my opinion only. It appears tha t all
the raffles operate within the legal guidelines defined by the IRS and the
501 (c) (301) charity rules. My issue is strictly with the ethics of these
operators.

I for seven or so years have bought a raffle ticket to a group that originally benefited Aids research. The prize either a Porsche 911 or Boxster. Currently, there is a group that helps a humane society that also
has a Porsche as its raffle prize.

I noticed that the name of the group was very similar to a known humane
society, but not the same. I made a few phone calls just to see what
percentage of the funds went to a charitable group and what went
to fund raising. The 800 number in the ad went to an order service that
only took a credit card and processed the ticket. They did give me a phone
number for information that was to the Delaware Humane Society. The Delaware Society knew nothing of the raffle. I called back the main number, and received a different number for the fundraiser. The man at the fundraising
company I spoke with, said that after their expenses a portion went to the
Maryland humane group. The whole thing started to "smell" funny.

The checking into the Aids raffle was more enlightening. I had tried about
a year ago to get the percentage of fund raising of this group. I kept
hitting dead ends on the phone calls, so I gave up. This year, I get another flyer for their raffle for a 911. I started making the phone calls again. I tried looking for the chairpersons' names and phone numbers. Using the Internet, I tried searching for either partner's name in the white
pages. Since theirs is an unusual spelling there should not be too many
listings. No matches found. I know the dealers who supply the cars to the
raffles are not going to cut off their twice yearly sale of a car at MSRP.
So I did not even bother using them as a resource.

I had remembered from the year's previous attempts for contact,
that they were based in Ft. Lauderdale, even though there nothing is listed in their flyers for about being in that city. At least I got a human
being, who could take my number and have someone get back to me. No thanks.

Just for laughs, I contacted my state's Attorney General's Charities
department. The man I spoke with was very enlightening. He knew of the Aids
group. He mentioned how they had been asked (forced?) to change
part of their name of from "research" to "relief". He said he had been
unable to ever verify any person or group that had received moneys from
this raffle.
He summed it up as follows: If the paperwork is filled out correctly, a ham sandwich could be a charity.

The AG's person said that it came down to this: If one dollar is contributed to an Aids group, they have satisfied the legal requirements.

I spoke with the most recent winner of the Aids raffle. He was somewhat
horrified to hear that they may not be as they say. Both he and I felt that
we were contributing to a good cause. It offends me to find out that the
money paid to these raffles really pays the "salaries" of the raffle administrators.

Bottom line? Contribute to a group that you know is legit. I spoke with the
editor of Panorama (Porsche Club of America monthly magazine).
She felt the same way about accepting an ad from one of these groups (the less than ethical kind), but if they meet the legal requirements to the
state or feds, they had to take the ad. In the mean time, she has set up a
raffle for another truly legitimate charity group that did return some
nice moneys directly back to that charity.




Matt Murray