One of the categories of businesses that my company focuses on is non-profits, especially animal rescues/shelters. Unlike many in the internet industry, we do this because we genuinely care about these organizations and want to make a difference. That is why we give additional discounts to non-profits, find existing tools that they can use that don’t cost them extra (for example, Google Apps has a completely un-advertised premium service that’s available for free to non-profits), and will spend time training their staff to use the tools to maintain their websites on their own, rather than spending valuable donations on site maintenance.

We have seen how many of these groups end up being used & abused by unscrupulous so-called “experts” in the industry. You know the type -- they got some certifications or went to an expensive school to call themselves “experts,” but really they are just highly trained con-artists. They charge way too much money to put up a crap website, promise all sorts of results for SEO (search engine optimization), slap up some bogus contact forms, maybe setup a PayPal account for donations and say they’ve done their job. At worst, they setup a scam of a system whereby they take a percentage of all donations that come in for themselves, while charging outrageous monthly fees for a really, really crappy website.

Sorry, but we don’t do business that way. We actually believe in running a business with a vanishing quality these days: ethics. Now because of this, we will probably never be rich. We realize this and we’ve faced the reality of it. Sure, it would be nice if we could be rich! We have lots of dreams, just like anyone else. We just simply cannot do business knowing that we are profiting unfairly at the expense of someone else. We can’t! Yes, the purpose of business is to make a profit -- that’s a given. But excess profit? No way. I would rather make a little bit of profit and live comfortably with a clear conscience than screw over my customers, make a big profit and live with a guilty conscience. In fact, when working as a wage slave for others, I’ve had to make that decision on more than one occasion and each time ethics won out over the “almighty” dollar.

Whenever I give money to a charity, of any type, I always investigate them to find out how much of my donation goes to the intended recipient and how much goes to “overhead” (e.g., administrative costs, staff salaries, etc.) to really see how effective that organization is. I highly recommend this to anyone giving any charitable donation of any kind. After all, unless you are someone like Richard Branson or Bill Gates, you want your money to count, right? It’s not just a tax write-off, this is valuable money that you are giving to make a difference in someone’s life -- be they 2- or 4-legged “people” .

So, imagine my surprise when I started investigating options for raising some Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief money by auctioning some items at eBay®. I found their “Giving Works” program, administered by MissionFish, itself a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. This, however, is proof that the 501(c)(3) label is not a guarantee of “good” in the charity world! You see, it appears from what I can find out, that MissionFish was created for no other purpose than to administer this “Giving Works” program for eBay® -- and nothing else. In other words, they serve no charitable purpose other than to distribute money collected from eBay® auctions and was setup as a 501(c)(3) organization simply to distribute that money tax free.

Oh, but the worst is yet to come! While all charities have some administrative overhead, MissionFish has made a business out of profiting from your charitable giving! That’s right, They charge a minimum 20% of every gift given to every non-profit recipient organization through sales at eBay®. 20%!!! That is utterly ridiculous! It doesn’t stop there, though. That’s only the minimum, for items that sell up to $49.99. For over $49.99 sale prices, they charge even more depending on the price. For example, for an item between $200 -- $999, they deduct 20% of the first $49.99 ($10) + 15% of the $50 -- $199.99 ($32.50) + 10% of the remaining amount. So, for a $500 sale, they collect from you $72.50, passing just $427.50 to the designated charity. That’s an “administrative overhead” of 14.5% for simply collecting the money and forwarding it to a charity electronically? Can we say “scam“? Don’t forget -- this is on top of the eBay® listing, insertion, “Buy Now” and other misc. fees! Oh, sure, eBay® will credit you some or all of those fees, based on the percentage of your sale that you gave to the charity. Woo hoo! Aren’t they generous? Remember -- this money is coming off the top before your chosen charity gets a dime -- you still have to figure in their overhead, too.

Granted -- “Donate Now” and “Cash Donation with Sale” fees are less, 3.75% and 5% respectively. Why? If you can answer that one, please comment and let me know! I can’t find a logical reason for it myself, since it is still money from an individual designated for a charitable organization in exactly the same way.

On the flip side, in comparison, a really good charity that provides direct disaster relief like AmeriCares®, has a total administrative overhead of just 2% -- with 98% of all donations going directly to recipients. If it were me (and it will be) then I would simply sell my items directly with using eBay®’s “Giving Works” program at all. Once the items sell (which I know they will) then I will take the money and make a direct donation to AmeriCares®, so I know that they get the money now.

Wait -- it gets better!

• Based on the concept that they must give time for a purchaser to return an item and the seller to give a refund, MissionFish holds on to all cash donated to a charity for 45 days. Think you are benefiting Japan Relief now by purchasing something today? Think again! They don’t tell you that on the website unless you dig!
• Of course, while MissionFish holds on to that money for 45 days, they are naturally earning interest on all that money. You don’t think they are holding it in an interest free lockbox account do you?
• When you purchase an item on eBay® through the “Giving Works” program, regardless of what charity you choose to support, you are not making a donation. The seller is making a donation. This is an important distinction, one to keep in mind!
• For sellers, no matter what charity they designate, their donation is not to their chosen charity. It is to the MissionFish-Points of Light Foundation, the 501(c)(3) organization they setup. That is who you will get your tax receipt from. If they cannot deliver the donation to your intended recipient or any reason (hmm… wonder how often THAT happens?) then they choose who gets your donation, at their total discretion.

One has to wonder, even with the processes of distributing funds, vetting non-profits, etc., why would a group like MissionFish need to take so much off the top in order to simply collect and distribute charitable contributions? This isn’t rocket science! This is, when it all boils down, software programming and automation, with some tax accounting thrown in for good measure.

There is one answer I can come up with. Greed.