If, following last week’s death of Olive Cooke, fundraisers in the UK face an image problem involving over-zealous solicitations, their problem pales in comparison to this week’s American version.

On Tuesday the U.S. government’s Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in all 50 states and the District of Columbia filed suit against 4 cancer charities charged with scamming donors out of more than $187 million.

This is not a case of too much solicitation; it’s one of downright disgusting and outright fraud.

For nauseating taste, check out this piece in yesterday’s Tampa Bay Times.

All four charities — the Cancer Fund of America, Children’s Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services and the Breast Cancer Society — are run by members of the same family or their close business associates.

Two years ago Agitator readers were alerted to this scam in a series of posts — here, here, and here — triggered by a landmark investigative report titled America’s 50 Worst Charities by the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

As part of their exposé investigative reporters Kris Hundley and Kendall Taggart reported on the family behind this current sham — How One Family Turned Your Goodwill Into Their Livelihood. Read it and shudder.

This current case represents nothing short of an ‘Encyclopedia of The Tactics of Sham Fundraising’. A partial list of transgressions:

• Abusive, cold-calling boiler room telemarketers moving from state to state one step ahead of the law;

• Targeting of the vulnerable elderly;

• Inflated gifts-in-kind accounting;

• Rampant nepotism, flagrant conflicts of interest, self-dealing and excessive compensation;

• Fancy cars, luxury trips, college tuition for family and friends, and even payment for dating-site memberships.

All the while the Cancer Fund proclaiming in its solicitations that its “number one priority is patient care”. Less than 5 cents of a donor’s dollar went to any form of ‘patient care’.

The four charities have been under investigation and their behavior publicly exposed for years. But when called out by one state’s attorney general or another, they simply shifted their fundraising and telemarketing operations to another state. What broke their back this time was the concerted effort by all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Federal Trade Commission.

So far the regulators have entered into settlement agreements under which the Children’s Cancer Fund of America and the Breast Cancer Society will be dissolved … three of the groups’ executives will be banned from fundraising, charity management and oversight of charitable assets. Judgments against the groups and their executives total $137 million which, if collected, will be re-directed to cancer patients. However, it appears most of the money is gone.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday will proceed against Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services and the president, James Reynolds, Sr.

Is there no shame?

Apparently not. To give you a flavor of this unrepentant gang here’s an extract of a letter to supporters from the Breast Cancer’s Society’s executive director that recently appeared on its website:

“While the organization, its officers and directors have not been found guilty of any allegations of wrongdoing, and the government has not proven otherwise, our board of directors has decided that it does not help those who seek to serve, and those who remain in need, for us to engage in a highly publicized, expensive, and distracting legal battle around our fundraising practices.”

On the face of it there appears to be no similarity between the hysterical UK headlines attributing Olive Cooke’s death to the overly-zealous charity solicitation tactics (an allegation Mrs. Cooke’s family has debunked by confirming that giving to good causes was her passion and the family believes charities do a great job) and the US headlines over this $187 million scam.

However, only the naïve will fail to understand that both these incidents contribute significantly to the public’s ready mistrust of fundraisers and the process of fundraising .

This is why each of us must do our part — go the extra mile, do the extra homework and brain work — to ensure the donors and prospects with whom we deal are treated in the honest and exemplary manner they deserve.

Roger