Where Do Your Donations Go?

Do you ever wonder where your donations go? I do. Everyone wants your time and your money these days. We work hard for our money and are constantly barraged with donation requests. And there are so many scammers, sometimes it’s hard to know exactly whom you’re dealing with. Fortunately, there are groups out there publishing their research on charities. Look for charities that have a very high percentage of donation distribution to their actual mission. Anyone using 10% or less on administration costs is a good cause for donations. Charitywatch.org is a good resource when investigating a new charity.

I bring this up because something happened that surprised me after I left the bar. The skating rinks were sponsored by Dr Pepper while I was there. I talked about our issues with them in earlier posts. All I want to say here is that I’m sure Dr Pepper paid to have their name in big letters on the sides of all the buildings. I had heard that their contract was ending in a year or so but didn’t think anything of it since I was leaving. Much to my surprise, the new sponsor was Children’s Health. Really? I don’t know how things work, but I’m sure that wasn’t free to Children’s Health. Do donors want their money to go to a billion dollar sports franchise in order to have Children’s Health plastered on the walls of skating rinks? And are they hoping for a lot of injuries to generate income? After all, you need a reason to go to the hospital. You don’t just wake up in the morning and decide to spend money at a hospital. Maybe this is a common thing and I’m out of touch with how things work. I don’t know.

I also do a lot of research on the Unclaimed Property websites of various states and Children’s Health and other hospital systems have thousands and thousands of dollars sitting out there. I guess they never check even though most accountants know about the Unclaimed Property website. I’m sure hospitals use the website regularly because they have to send money to the state if an employee never picks up their last check or a customer doesn’t cash a refund check. Maybe they wouldn’t have to rely on so many donations if they managed their money better. They should check that website regularly. If you’ve never checked it, you should. Even if you’re good with your money, you may have family members who aren’t and you may find lots of money for your family. Check it.