"We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give."

Winston Churchill

10 Charities Overpaying their
For-Profit Fundraisers

These 10 charities are not living up to their missions. Each spends more than 50% of its budget paying for-profit fundraising professionals to solicit your hard-earned money. They are ranked by the percentage of their total functional expenses spent on professional fundraising fees. As a result, very little of the charity's spending is directed towards its programs and services.
Rank
 Charity Program Expenses Professional Fundraising Fees

1

 The Committee for Missing Children 11.2% 86.1%
2
 American Veterans Relief Foundation 6.4% 85.9%
3
 Coalition of Police and Sheriffs 6.6% 85.3%
4
 Junior Police Academy 3.7% 84.6%
5
 Foundation for Children with Cancer 10.3% 82.8%
6
 Firefighters Charitable Foundation 14.6% 80.7%
7
 National Children's Leukemia Foundation 14.4% 78.9%
8
 Children's Charity Fund, Inc. 10.0% 78.3%
9
 Wishing Well Foundation USA 12.6% 77.9%
10
 National Police Defense Foundation 27.4% 67.8%

...As part of my continuing investigation into the charity chaos, I have zeroed in on "The September 11th Fund" run by the United Way and a New York bank. That's the fund that received all the money from the TV telethon and the big New York concert. We're talking $337 million here. And there is no question that the United Way is having trouble getting those funds directly to the grieving families. The reason is because they contract out to local charities to actually hand the money to the families. And some of those charities are inefficient, to say the least. The entire situation is one big mess.

—Bill O'Reilly, The sign of the cross
Townhall.com, 2001 11 17

Lance Armstrong Foundation: 45% of money raised goes to charity

Children’s Wish Foundation International: 1% goes to charity, 80% goes to fundraising.

Feed the Children: 18% goes to charity, over 80% to fundraising.

UNICEF: 54% goes to charity.

Planet Aid: 23% goes to charity.

www.charitywatch.org