{"id":545,"date":"2018-11-16T10:48:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T15:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=545"},"modified":"2019-11-26T14:45:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T19:45:10","slug":"tips-for-the-charitable-giving-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/tips-for-the-charitable-giving-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for the Charitable Giving Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Don'tAs a little girl, I fondly remember watching my dad open scores of charitable solicitations, some containing gifts of greeting cards or address labels, others with a simple request to help their cause.\u00a0 This giving season, I am now the one who opens the mail with thoughtful poise and consideration, “Which causes should I support this year?”\u00a0 In this time of giving, many of you may be asking the same question.\u00a0 To help you decide, I’ve outlined the steps that I take before giving:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 When I get a solicitation for a new cause that piques my interest, I research the cause before donating.\u00a0 Helpful websites, like Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau’s Giving Wise Alliance (BBB), have information on charities.\u00a0 Charity Navigator\u00a0<\/a>pulls its information from charities’ IRS tax documents and the\u00a0BBB<\/a> has an accreditation program for charities.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 I check and double-check solicitation mailing addresses and phone numbers.\u00a0 I do this even with charities that I regularly contribute to.\u00a0 I always ask fundraising callers to mail me the solicitation so that I can check the contact information.\u00a0 If the mailing address and phone number does not pass this verification test, I contact the charity directly.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 I look for paid fundraiser information.\u00a0 A paid fundraiser is a third-party solicitation company that, aside from the fundraising campaign, is not affiliated with the charity.\u00a0 This means that a portion of the funds raised are split between the charity and the soliciting business.\u00a0 Vermonters can ask if a third-party fundraiser is involved.\u00a0 When they are, however, they should disclose this information upfront.\u00a0 The Attorney General’s Office keeps a record of paid fundraisers registered in our state.\u00a0 All Vermonters can look to see how funds are allocated between the paid fundraiser under the charities section on our website<\/a>.\u00a0 This information can also be requested by contacting the Consumer Assistance Program at 800-649-2424.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 I am mindful about the presence of disaster scams.\u00a0 With the unknown that comes with natural disasters, giving following such events can seem imminent as evidenced by the aftermath of the California wildfires.\u00a0 Unfortunately, less scrupulous efforts may attempt to take advantage of those who want to help.\u00a0 Following the above tips will help to identify the scams.\u00a0 For more on this topic, check out our\u00a0blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These steps help me verify that my money is going to the cause that I intend, and not to a scammer.\u00a0 It’s easy for a motivated scammer to create a realistic looking website to try to legitimize a fake charity.\u00a0 If you receive a solicitation that seems suspicious, but just aren’t sure, give the Consumer Assistance Program a call.\u00a0 We’ll help walk you through the steps that we would take before donating.<\/p>\n

Contributing Writer:\u00a0 Crystal Baldwin is in her tenth year of service with the Consumer Assistance Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a little girl, I fondly remember watching my dad open scores of charitable solicitations, some containing gifts of greeting cards or address labels, others with a simple request to help their cause.\u00a0 This giving season, I am now the one who opens the mail with thoughtful poise and consideration, “Which causes should I support… Continue reading Tips for the Charitable Giving Season<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4480,"featured_media":546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[505519,505444,505527,481474,505525,505526,505521,340377,505520,505530,505531,351617,505522,505529,484616,482450,505523],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-charities","tag-charity","tag-charity-scam","tag-consumer","tag-contribution","tag-disaster-scam","tag-donation","tag-fundraiser","tag-giving","tag-giving-season","tag-holiday","tag-mail","tag-paid-fundraiser","tag-phone-call","tag-scam","tag-scams","tag-solicitor","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}