Misgivings About Giving

It’s been a tough month for charities, already taking a beating from the sagging economy. Nonprofit groups have come in for a blistering about how they spend their money, which won’t make tightfisted donors more likely to open their hands.

First it was the celebrities who host or entertain at high-profile charity events. A Times story by James Bates and Michael Cieply told us that sometimes celebrities “giving” their time got everything from costly watches to six-figure payments for those cushy gigs -- a few songs, a handful of jokes -- at charitable balls. Not a complete shock, but disappointing.

Then there are those ubiquitous ads asking you to donate your old car to any of dozens of organizations. A congressional study confirmed what had often been claimed: that charities get little out of these deals. The car owner gets an inflated tax deduction, the administrator gets an inflated fee and the charity ends up with pennies on the dollar, if that.

Now it’s the Salvation Army, whose kettles are already emptier than usual because of the supermarket strike and lockouts. In a story Sunday, The Times’ Bob Pool told us that the Salvation Army is housing its captain for the city of Santa Monica in a new 2,400-square-foot, three-bedroom house with an ocean view and a family room with built-in entertainment center. Total value? More than $1 million. Not shocking in Santa Monica, but enough to raise eyebrows for a local official in a group devoted, in the religious sense of the word, to the down and out.

Selling the house in Santa Monica and finding a more modest home in a not-so-fashionable neighborhood -- Palms? Mar Vista? -- for the area captain could offset much of the loss from the grocery store picket lines. It could also help restore confidence in how the money raised locally is spent locally.

The questions about the Salvation Army are unfortunate in that, nationally, it reports that 83 cents of every donated dollar went to program services last year, a very honorable ratio. As with a United Way embezzlement scandal in 1995, the actions of one wayward executive or local chapter can dig a hole that the charity must spend years climbing out of.

Some people might be tempted to give up on giving. They shouldn’t. As Times financial columnist Kathy Kristof wrote Dec. 7, donors can be more confident by seeking out charities whose missions they believe in and asking upfront what percentage goes to programs. Concentrate on a few charities. And never give to telemarketers asking for donations, because they take too big a cut.

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To Take Action: Go to www.charitynavigator.org or www.charitywatch.org for information and charity ratings.