Attorney General's News Release

December 15, 2008

Attorney General’s Office reminds Missourians to give wisely to charities this holiday season

Jefferson City, Mo. - Consumers need to do their homework before contributing money to charities, especially between now and the end of the year - that's the advice from the Attorney General's Office. December is typically a big month for charitable contributions, with many nonprofits depending on year-end contributions and stepping up fundraising efforts.

The Attorney General's Web site offers Check-a-Charity, an online database showing the finances of almost 1,000 charities. Consumers can enter the name of a charity into the database to see how much money the group spends on program services versus administrative costs.

Consumers can use these guidelines for donating to charity:

• Research the finances of the charity by visiting ago.mo.gov and clicking on Check-a-Charity. Give to charities that spend at least 65 percent of their income on program services, and no more than 35 percent on administrative costs, such as overhead, salaries, fundraising and rent.

• Never make a decision during a telemarketing call. Insist on written information by mail. And don't give out personal information such as credit card, bank account or Social Security number, to anyone who contacts you by phone or e-mail.

• Don't give into pressure or guilt. Give only when you are comfortable and when all of your questions have been answered to your satisfaction.

For future planning, the Attorney General's Office encourages consumers to decide their charitable giving a year at a time, rather than make on-the-spot decisions from telemarketing calls and mailings. Consumers can file complaints against charity fundraisers at the Attorney General's Web site or Consumer Protection Hotline, 1-800-392-8222.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to the Communications Office.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818