When people ask me what triggered the creation of SGO, I tell them the following story. It’s a true story; the names have been changed, however, to protect me from the innocent. — Ed Long
A while ago, an envelope arrived in the mail from our long-time friends Bill and Melinda. They’re terrific people and we’ve had many fun times together with them. While the years had moved us apart geographically, we had stayed in touch.
The envelope raised the possibility of another fun time. I sliced it open — it was as invitation. Bill and Melinda were hosting an event for a charity they’d connected with. The suggested price of admission was affordable, and almost all of it would go to the charity. Although it would involve a bit of a trip, the travel cost wasn’t a big deal. We’d get to see our old friends.
Not having heard of the charity, I decided to do some quick checking before I responded. It would be easy, I thought. I’d spent years doing “due diligence” on corporations and government agencies. I knew how to read financial statements and tax returns. I’d even filed IRS Form 990 and 990-EZ information returns for a charity I ran.
Turned out to not be so quick, or easy. I spent two+ hours. I looked at CharityNavigator, but the charity wasn’t one of the 5,000+ they covered. I found the charity’s most recent IRS Form 990, and worked my way through it. I googled their name and their EIN, and found more about them. I also looked at a few other charities working on the same issues.
I liked the cause. But this charity wasn’t doing much about it with the dollars entrusted to it. Others clearly were doing more. It became that this charity wasn’t one I’d want to support.
It dawned on me — it took me two hours to screen one charity — and with my experience I had a pretty good idea how to do it. What do other people do, who don’t have the time or the background to check on a charity?
We need a place to quickly and easily screen charities. That realization was the trigger for creating SeriousGivers.org. And it’s fair to say: Bill and Melinda made me do it!
What do you think? Once I knew the charity was not one I’d want to support, how should I have responded to the invitation? Use “Leave a Reply” to share your thoughts.
I would suggest to Bill and Melinda, that, on the basis of your initial research on the charity, and your professional experience in this area, they take a careful and much closer look at the charity before they associate themselves with it or give it their endorsement.