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Earlier last month, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) did some solid investigative work and slammed the Virginia-based veteran charity Circle of Friends for American Veterans (CFAV)...

With the recent spate of natural disasters devastating communities both in the U.S. and abroad, many people turn to charities to see what they can do to help those affected by these tragic events. Over the past two decades, charitable giving has grown considerably in the U.S. The number of public charities is up almost 60 percent, from about 643,000 in 2000 to more than 1 million today... 

The onset of sudden disasters, such as Harvey, always results in an outpour of support from people all over the world—people who want to know where they can donate, how they can volunteer and what they can send to help the individuals and families who have been affected recover from such tragedy...

In early February, the Internal Revenue Service and various tax agencies issued an alert warning employers of a Form W-2 email phishing scam. The scam was well known among private-sector businesses—the Democratic National Committee famously fell for a similar version—but the IRS updated the alert to include school districts, health-care providers and, yes, nonprofits...

Today, are your donors feeling like they made a mistake by giving to you? If so, it could be because too many nonprofit organizations have forgotten that the donor experience goes beyond taking a donation and doing wonderful things with it. It has to loop the donor back in—not just ask for another gift. It needs to tell the donor what he or she is making possible...

Everyone is out of the office and the long weekend looms almost within reach. So, we're taking it easy today, and you should too—by kicking back and reading (or re-reading!) some of these stories you may have missed in 2016. These aren't our most-read stories or even the most important ones, but they're a selection of our personal favorites, those we most enjoyed writing and reading...

With the holidays coming, have you checked it twice? I’m speaking of your receipting program, of course, not your gift list. Any regular reader of Old Dog Fundraising knows that I am a fanatic about sending out receipts. Donors stick with an organization past one or two gifts when they have a relationship with that organization, and part of maintaining a relationship is saying “thank you.” If your receipting method or message needs a tune-up before the year-end rush, here are some things to consider...

At what point will the charity watchdogs and, more 
importantly, the general population, understand that “not for profit” does not equate to “for free?” What can we all be doing to help people understand that, like any job, nonprofit organizations want to pay their staff a fair wage with benefits and provide a decent place to work. That good work deserves to be 
rewarded...

The Bruno Manser Fund, a rainforest conservation charity based in Switzerland, wants the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to pay back millions in donations from individuals connected to a Malaysian money-laundering scandal. In an open letter published to its website, the charity called for DiCaprio to "disclose and restitute to Malaysia" any funds the foundation received from Riza Aziz and Jho Low, two key figures in the $3 billion scam...

Leonardo DiCaprio is known for many things—his acting, his philanthropy, his unbridled love for Girl Scout cookies. But now, the actor might be in a bit of trouble over one of them, and it's not the Thin Mints. According to a lengthy piece in The Hollywood Reporter, the U.S. Department of Justice named DiCaprio twice…

Mature charitable enterprises operating in today’s challenging environment view their compliance obligations through the lens of stewardship. They see risk and opportunity as two sides of the same coin. An organization that effectively manages its compliance risk is almost certainly, by definition, an organization poised to take expedient advantage of available opportunity...

In November 2015, a mysterious donor identifying himself as Juan Diaz Romero, a self-proclaimed Wall Street financier, delivered a $1.5 million check to the High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology in Brooklyn, New York. The school, understandably ecstatic, sent the check to the Department of Education, which gave the go-ahead for the school to start using the funds. But there was one minor issue. The check was fake...

Jon S. Petersen, head of Christian charity World Ambassadors, on Monday admitted to embezzling $475,000 in donations between 2010 and 2014, The Associated Press reported. Petersen, who founded the Iowa-based Christian outreach nonprofit in 1993, said he deposited the money into his personal checking account and used it to pay for his "sex addiction" and credit card debt...

It is Friday, Feb. 19, and Michael Thatcher sits before hundreds of nonprofit leaders, fundraisers and marketers at the DMANF Washington Nonprofit Conference, ready for questioning. To say that the former Microsoft official and current president and CEO of Charity Navigator has entered the lion’s den would be inaccurate. He has thrown himself in, walked up to the biggest lion he could find, and jumped into its open jaws. The head of the nonprofit sector’s most controversial organization facing his harshest critics...

In a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the leader of various sham cancer nonprofits has agreed to shut down his organizations in what the agency has called the largest joint enforcement action against charity fraud...

About 15 months ago, my husband and I adopted a rescue dog from a Best Friends Animal Society shelter. Cubbie quickly became part of our family, providing me with companionship, as I work alone most of the time, and giving us another good reason to exercise. But like anyone with an unknown past, she came with some baggage, and it has required patience to get her to fully bond with us....

Rachael Wilkins, director of development for Safe Haven Family Shelter had been going back and forth via email with a potential major donor who wanted to gift $30,000 in memory of his mother. When the gift arrived, the nonprofit told its financial consultant about the big check....

Scams, particularly one involving the stolen identity of a British architect, continue to target nonprofits across the country with "donations" via fraudulent checks and requests for portions to be returned before nonprofits realize the checks are fake. We previously reported on the scam affecting nonprofits in Richmond, Va., and Seattle. Now, reports are surfacing in North Carolina and Georgia....

Cancer Fund of America, one of four cancer charities the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) named in a civil complaint last May, has agreed to shut down. The Tennessee-based charity allegedly was part of a scam that bilked donors out of more than $187 million. Named the second-worst charity in America by The Tampa Bay Times, it is the last of the four charities named in the FTC complaint to cease operations...

A scam targeting nonprofits in Virginia that we reported last week appears to have spread across the country. Authorities in Seattle called the scam “an old con,” but indicated they believe nonprofits are being targeted in Washington and Oregon....