Are you donating a car to charity? Proceed with caution

Vetmade Industries has a vaunted mission: To return incapable warriors to the employees. It boasts that "93 percent of funds go right to the cause of helping our heroes. inches

Well-meaning folks donated automobiles worth more than $2 million to Tampa-based Vetmade in 2015 - but only $91, 348 made it to the charity, according to data from the California Attorney Standard. That's 4. 5 percent.

So what happened to the overwhelming almost all that money? About $1. 9 million - 96. 5 percent of income - was spent by a company called Simply Donated Inc. in Fruit, which focuses primarily on "promoting your cause and creating a steady stream of vehicle donations, inch according to its online pitch.

Vehicle donations are one of the most costly ways to provide in all of philanthropy, those in the industry say. They're complicated and time-intensive, often requiring intensive advertising, expensive towing, mechanical maintenance, storage, paperwork and final sales of what are often clunkers. The non profit organizations usually don't have to whatever it takes at all, leaving all the work to the (usually) for-profit middlemen.

All that costs a lot of money. However as we will show you, some non profit organizations get far more from it than others.

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Just Donated, the Orange colored business that processes vehicles for charities, did not return calls and e-mails seeking detail on the numbers. But Vetmade's exec director in Tampa, Steve Campbell, said that there are many costs sustained by tow truck individuals, auction houses and the companies that run the donations themselves.

Campbell has been happy with Merely Donated, he said; after all is said and done, some companies no longer return anything to the charities at all.

- Another The south company focused in charity car charitable contributions is Fund Raising Associates, long of Los Alamitos and recently relocated to Redondo Beach. Fund Bringing up Partners processed vehicle via shawls by hoda totaling $1. 6 , 000, 000 for the nonprofit Tough Medical Equipment Aid World in Tarzana in 2015, of which the charity got just 1. six percent (or $27, 235), in line with the Attorney General's data.
The charity's executive overseer said the numbers reveal initial start-up costs of running a new car donation program, and that numbers for 2016 will be better.

Fund Rearing Partners also handled car donations totaling $593, 889 for Faith's Hope Basis in Fullerton. The go back to that charity was even lower - just $3, 213, or zero. 5 percent.

- Auto Recovery Services of Westchester, IL, processed donations worthy of $6. 5 million for the National Veterans Assistance Fund in Darien, COMPUTERTOMOGRAFIE. The charity got $1. 2 million, or 18. 5%.

"The amount a charity receives for a vehicle donation is powered by two main factors, 1) the industry value of the vehicle donated, and 2) the cost to solicit the donation, inch said Phil Kraft, professional director of the State Veterans Service Fund Car, via email. "In the present market we are viewing softer prices for contributed vehicles. "

When market prices are soft, the charity focuses on making "donation volume" to struck its financial goals, Energi said.

"National Veterans Solutions Fund has an extremely limited staff and does not have human resources to do hands-on marketing. For that reason we choose to apply larger methods of marketing to solicit donations including SEO and PPC (pay every click). These broader marketing techniques can be more costly, but help us drive higher volumes of vehicle donations. "

- Michael jordan Reese Enterprises in Puerto Mesa specializes in finalizing a very large quantity of low-value vehicles. This handled donations worth $6 million for a charitable called Growing in Sounds in Irvine. The charity got $571, 165, or 9. 5 percent.

- The biggest players on the scene were the Car Donation Foundation, also known as Wheels for Wishes, in St. Louis Park, MN., and its vehicle processor chip, National Fundraising Management in Hopkins, MN. Total earnings was $31 million, of which $14. 1 million travelled to the charity, or 45 percent.