Nickel for a Dollar

Ever wonder why a charity would send you a nickel and pay postage (not to mention graphic designers, admin personnel, printing costs) just to ask you for a dollar?

Because it makes them money!

I too, get annoyed when I’m inundated with requests for money from seemingly every charity in the world. I too, don’t much care for the ones that send me a nickel. Gee, wouldn’t you have been better off just keeping the nickel? The whole mailed package had to cost way more than the dollar they requested.

Whenever I get one of these, I always go online to a place such as http://www.charitynavigator.com and check them out.

The mailing I got today, with the attached nickel, prompted me to visit Charity Navigator and this is what I found out.

“We don’t evaluate XXXXXXX. Why not? We only evaluate organizations granted tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and file a Form 990. 501(c)(3) organizations are considered public charities and all donations to them are tax-exempt.

What does this mean? It means that the charity that send me the nickel, asking for a dollar, really isn’t a tax exempt validated charity.

Now, this particular organization is a well known organization and they do provide community service, scholarships and many other civic activities, but a charity they are not.

When in doubt, always check a charities status by using one of the charity search sites available across the internet.