Charity under fire for amount paid to fund-raising firm

ST. LOUIS -- A foundation run by some of Missouri's top police officials spends only pennies of every dollar raised on its mission of helping youth and providing training for Missouri police officers, tax records show.

The Missouri Police Chiefs Charitable Foundation employs a for-profit, Texas-based telemarketing company that keeps more than 80 percent of the donations. And most of the money the foundation keeps goes to pay for administrative costs.

Though charities aren't required to give any specific portion of money collected to their target program, the Better Business Bureau offers this guideline: Fund-raising costs should eat up no more than 35 percent of total contributions.

State records show the Missouri Police Chiefs Charitable Foundation failed to meet that benchmark. Of the $3.1 million that was raised for the foundation between spring 2000 and spring 2004, the foundation got $520,000, or about 17 cents of each dollar. The remaining $2.5 million went to United Appeal Inc.

A report for 2004 has not yet been filed, and foundation officials declined to say how much was raised last year.

Of the money the charity kept, tax records show that most was used to cover administrative expenses, such as salaries and benefits, according to the foundation's tax records.

The practice of turning over large chunks of donations to paid fund-raisers has raised concerns from consumer groups, but it isn't illegal. The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down laws intended to regulate how much charity fund-raisers were paid or what donors must be told about the costs. States are limited to prosecuting fund-raisers who misrepresent themselves.

Scott Holste, a spokesman for the Missouri attorney general's office, said the office has received several complaints that solicitors for United Appeal ignored requests from people who didn't want to be called.

The fund-raiser told the state it would fix the problem. But Holste said the office recently began looking at a "newer batch of complaints."

An attorney for United Appeal, Errol Copilevitz of Kansas City, said the company would have no comment on its business operations.

Sheldon Lineback, executive director of the police chiefs foundation and one of three paid staff members, said his office had received "between 20 and 40" complaints regarding United Appeal. Lineback said United Appeal solicitors have been fired in the past over what the foundation considered improper telemarketing calls.

Lake Saint Louis Police Chief Mike Force, chairman of the police foundation's board of directors, said use of an outside fund-raiser had been a "constant topic of discussion" among directors.

"It's not the most desirable way to run an organization," he said.

The foundation is expected to decide in the next several months whether to renew its contract with United Appeal. Lineback said the board has been satisfied with the job the fund-raiser has done.

Hazelwood Police Chief Carl Wolf, who was chairman of the foundation when it decided to contract with United Appeal, defended the use of a paid fund-raiser.

"Any time you have a 20 percent profit margin, that is pretty good," Wolf said.

"In the restaurant business, you only have a 5 to 10 percent profit margin. Grocery stores have a 2 percent profit margin."

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com